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Questions about my ball

Sekani

Sekani

Officially Corn Obsessed
No offence to the people on BP.net, I just like to think i know ye guys better and trust your opinions!
So I don't know what to do about the temps and humidity in my balls tank. I have a quite a bit of aspen, just because I wanted to see if she wanted to burrow (she didnt at all) so im going to take some out. And also, I read on Autumns ball python thread that aspen isnt that great for balls? I think I might switch her to repti bark.

She's currently in a tub but im hoping to upgrade her to a glass tank soon. Currently (as I write this) her temp is 22.8 C and her humidity is 71% on the hot side a good inch or two off the heat mat (on the aspen).
We live in Ireland in the midlands where its mostly just cold and wet (even now its 'summer', its still barely reaches 15 degrees and it rains pretty much every day at some point).

I know these temps and humidity aren't right and I don't want to be given out to, please just tell me what to do! I only have her about two months and she shed the night I got her (full shed) and hasn't since. She is supposedly a 2011 and she never refuses food (weaner rats).

So heres a few pics of the temp (in C) and humidity taken over the space of about a week, a couple of weeks ago:

Her tank:
wp003309.jpg


Hot side:
wp003306.jpg

wp003320.jpg

wp003312.jpg


Cold side:
wp003321.jpg


Do you think I should reduce the size of the water bowl? I was suggested to use a fan to circulate the air but its already so cold and would that not make it colder ?
Thankfully we are moving out in a couple of days back to my mams house where there is underfloor heating. Should I keep her on the floor or up off the floor?

She doesnt seem 'unhealthy' but I wouldn't really know what to look for if she was. She moves around, eats and seems to be happy but the numbers on the thermo/hygrometer don't look right!

Thanks in advance for advice!
 
I know very little about balls, but if my conversion is correct, then 22 Celsius equals about 71 F. That's much too low. You would need to get that up to about 31 C., or 88 F. Is your heat mat connected to a thermostat? Perhaps you need a new heat mat or a larger one.

Generally, moving her from a tub to a glass cage should decrease the humidity; how much I couldn't say. And that water bowl does not look too large to me. Also, perhaps you could add a heat lamp once you move her to a glass enclosure. They tend to reduce humidity as well (and give you some more heat).

I'm afraid I'm probably of little help to you. Good luck.
 
Darn it. I should add that you want to check the temp right on the surface (glass or plastic) to measure the maximum temp that the snake may contact.
 
No the heat mat is not connected to a thermostat and it takes up between half and a third of the tub. So should I put the probe right under the aspen at the heat mat so? Thanks
 
Aspen does not hold humidity well at all. It has also been known to cause irritation to bp tummy and vent area. I would change to either paper towels or coconut husk dirt.

The probe should be directly on the glass above the UTH to get accurate temps.

Ambient air temps should be higher than corn snakes as well. Warm side should be aroun 90 and cool side around 75. I wouldn't let it get colder than that.

Here is a care sheet wrote up by our resident ball python lady Bloody Baroness
http://www.cornsnakes.com/forums/showthread.php?t=128897

IF you have anymore questions I would ask her!
 
Humidity being too high, I wouldn't think is a huge problem. Of course if the substrate is wet all the time it could cause scale rot. But we keep our ball pythons vivs pretty moist.
 
Thanks for that, I messaged her :) Ill have a look and see if I can get my hands on some coco husk, is repti bark ok for them? Because ive definitely seen that in our pet shop
 
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