Hello all,

I went to the pet store to by pinkys...... A bunch of money later I came home with a new enclosure and a new female 6 month old Ball Python. I love her. I think I知 going to name her Tess after my Doberman who was sadly stolen from my yard.

STORY TIME (for those interested, if not please be kind enough to check out my questions)

My girls and the "sweet" shirts I made up for them!!




I feel I have already learned the most important lesson... THEY ARE ESCAPE ARTISTS!! The store gave me a box with the lids folded in that "special" way to stay closed ya know? So anyways I was working really hard with my girls to get the new enclosure ready for the other critters probably about 2 hours worth of work cleaning and whatnot.. (And the fact I知 doing this with my 2 & 3 year old daughters) I checked about halfway through and she was in the box still. So finally all the enclosures are ready old critters moved to the new enclosure old enclosure cleaned out. Now keep in mind Kiah, my three year old this entire time "can we see the new snake dada" EVERY 5 MINUTES.. So finally, "OK Kiah go sit on dada's bed ill bring the box in... She is freaking at this point her face lit up like the morning sun.. Go in to my room with the box and opened it up.. Kiah now is like "ooooohhhh" "dadaaaaaa" "loooooook" those shortly turned to "dada?" "dada is she small??" Dada is she in there??"" Of course I see this unreal look of sadness on Kiah's face and I tear through the box and paper towels NOTHINGGGG!!! ARGHHH!! We freak tear apart the kitchen move EVERYTHING still nothing. Last place I look (and the most obvious to me now) behind the fridge.. BAMM there she was catching the heat from the back of the fridge! !! Oh man the three of us were flipping out now with excitement.. So yea.. That痴 my story..

Now to the more important things... if you made it through that story..

I really want to do things right and have a few questions.

My Enclosure:


1: How does this look? It is a 35 Gallon... The side with the half log is the warm side usually around 75-90 degrees. I use a under the tank heat pad that covers about half the warm side bottom. and a 150W "Red" Nocturnal infrared heat lamp.



2: I am unsure what the humidity should be ? I just took some cold water and sprayed some mist around bringing it up to 55. What is ideal level for this snake??



3: This is the hide / half log. Would she feel more secure it the back was block off by something other than the glass?? Is the glass enough?



4: Her water dish.. Is this big enough?? When she is curled up I could probably fit 4 of her in here.. AND I came home from a job today and she was hiding under this?? it "opens" up at the bottom.. This is what lead me to the fact I may have a humidity problem.




5: In the center I have three log/branches is this to much clutter? Should I take one out? Two maybe?

6: Last Question and the reason I do not have a few nice shiny pics of her is.. She seems to be pretty aggressive. She has striked at me twice. She allows me to hold her however she stays in a ball for the most part. I got her yesterday and have handled her 5 to 6 times.. Am I stressing her out. I think I am thats why I haven't taken her out from under the water dish to show you wonderful people pics.. What is some good advice on handling? I really want her to be tame so my girls can experience her also.

Any other suggestions to make her life a better one would be greatly appreciated!!!!!!!!!!