2019 Update

As we are now almost a month into the new year, I figure I'd post an update on Cheeto and Marbles.

Marbles

I have had Marbles my ball python for about 8 months now and she is doing great. At the end of December I upgraded her from a 20 gallon long enclosure to a 45 gallon enclosure which is is enjoying. She currently weighs 500 grams (about 1 lb.) and measures in at around 2'4" long.

She has been a great eater since the day I got her. Now that she is a bit bigger than when I first got her, I have switched her over to frozen thawed small rat which she seems to be enjoying. Her favorite activity is climbing up her rockwall background, squeezing herself in the two inch space at the top and looking around the room.

Cheeto

Cheeto joined the family a little over a month ago. She is a Kenyan Sand Boa and is absolutely adorable. She is in Marbles' old 20 gallon enclosure and is doing well. She likes to explore- just under her substrate by making tunnel systems to get around. Cheeto weighs 8 grams and is about 7" long. She is so tiny!

Cheeto has somehow learned to climb and wedge herself in the space right under where her enclosure's lid clips on, which is odd because she is a burrowing snake. She is super friendly and is very comfortable with being handled. She is currently eating live pinky mice (even though she can be super picky about her meals).

Going Forward

Goals and events in 2019 that I have to look forward to as far as reptiles go are:

• Getting Cheeto to eat more consistently
• Moving back home
• Possibly getting another Ball Python or venturing out to getting a different reptile

Meet Cheeto!

Now that Marbles is in her new 45 gal enclosure, I have an empty enclosure. Time for a new snake!

After careful research, I decided to get a Kenyan Sand Boa. These snakes are super docile and absolutely adorable. The local reptile expo was in town so I decided to head down there to see if there were any Kenyan Sand Boas (KSB) that I could buy.





I cleaned out Marbles old enclosure with terrarium cleaner and laid down around 3 inches of Aspen. I am not particularly fond of Aspen for Marbles because Marbles doesn't burrow. Also with Aspen, there is a higher chance of impaction, ingestion of substrate. The reason I chose Aspen is because KSBs are snakes are burrowing animals and Aspen is great for making and holding tunnels.




I honestly don't need such a big enclosure right now because KSBs are so small. A mature KSB can live their entire lives in a 20 gal long. I could have used a 10 gal and been just fine but I didn't have one on hand.

I went to the expo and adopted a female KSB who is a few months old. I named her Cheeto due to her natural orange complexion. KSB's natural morph is orange and black, but there are other morphs available. I choose the natural morph because I just fell in love with her color.



Female KSBs get about two feet in length at full maturity. Right now she is about 6 inches long. I don't get to see her much because she is burrowing and hangs out right over the under the tank heater.







Cheeto is so much fun to hang out with because she loves to go in between my fingers. She is a super slow mover and is just really chill. I am super happy with her.


I still love Marbles and she is doing well. Even though I now have two snakes that are two different species I will keep the blog name Python Point because Marbles is the main inspiration for this blog.

Enclosure Upgrade! Part 3

Now that the background is ready to put in, it is time to assemble the new enclosure. I used a terrarium-safe cleaner to wipe down the enclosure. Its previous inhabitant was a turtle, so cleaning before assembly was an absolute must to make sure Marbles stays healthy and happy.

Next I added the substrate. I had previously had Marbles on coconut fiber when she was in the 20 gallon enclosure, so I decided to keep her on the same type of substrate. I added around 3 inches spread around evenly.

 After adding in her hides and plants, Marbles ended up loving her new enclosure! I am super happy with how it turned out! It looks beautiful, it is functional, Marbles is happy, she can stretch out and explore now.










Marbles also is a total drama queen and her new favorite place to hang out is at the top of the rock background.

Enclosure Upgrade! Part 2

Time for the next step! I let the caulk dry overnight to make sure none of the rocks would fall off.


Next step was more messy than I anticipated. I bought some non-sanded grout and followed the instructions on the box and painted it on the Styrofoam rocks.

I applied two coats front and back. This grout ensures than none of the Styrofoam will break off and fall into the enclosure. It took about two days for the grout to dry.

Onto painting! I mixed black and pale gray in a bowl and painted the background. I used Anita's All Purpose paint as it is non-toxic.

Painting took forever because of all the little cracks and crevices. Then I used Mod Podge to seal the paint and grout as a final touch!

Tomorrow I get to add everything and move the enclosure to my apartment!

Enclosure Upgrade! Part 1

As the semester now draws to a close, I've decided it is time for Marbles to get a bigger enclosure. She is currently about 500g and 3' 4" long now.

I am moving Marbles to a 45 gal tank that I got off of Facebook Marketplace (I got a great deal on the tank, lid, lights, and accessories might I add!).

As I did for her current enclosure, I created a custom background. The last one was made with expanding foam, and I enjoyed making it, but for this enclosure I decided to try a new method.

I started out with a base layer of Styrofoam. I then added a few inches to the top to make it to size.

Next, I started carving the rocks out of more Styrofoam into the shapes of different size rocks by pulling out different sized pieces and placing them on the base. To give the rocks a more realistic look, I used sandpaper and a hand file to bevel the Styrofoam.

After I got everything placed where I wanted it, I used caulk to stick the rocks to the base.

The next steps are to cover the background in grout and paint then to clean out the new enclosure and add everything in!

I can't take credit for this idea though. I found a video on YouTube by LizardLandscapes and just modified it a little. You can find their website here to see more of their ideas.

Do I Regret Going Bioactive?

When I first got Marbles, I was excited to make her enclosure bioactive. But, being as frugal as I am, I wanted to do a DIY because I thought it was going to be cheaper- and it was at first. I ended up having to spend lots of money replacing plants and what not.

I actually ordered some springtails to be the decomposers of the enclosure, and the package said to dump the rubber feeling charcoal in there and it'd be fine. Well, my springtailes didn't make it because  I didn't realize you had to feed them things like cucumbers slices. So now I have no clean up crew and just lots of charcoal looking things mixed into the substrate- when I change the substrate here in a few weeks I am gonna get all of it out so the charcoal goes away. It doesn't hurt Marbles and she doesn't eat it, its just annoying and doesn't flow with the aesthetic of the tank.

Before

After

Ball pythons like to bulldoze things. Marbles is four for four on destroying the plants every time I redo her enclosure. I bought some fake vines and put them up high just for now. I really like them because its more green than I have ever put in the pots on the wall and it looks cool hanging down. They're the All Living Things Medium Hanging Terrarium Plants 12". They came with suction cups on them, but I have a dirt and foam background so I just planted them as I would a real vine.




All in all I do not regret trying a bioactive enclosure, I love the idea of it, it is just hard to maintain with a reptile that destroys everything. The next reptile I get in a few years once I am in my own place, most likely a lizard of some kind, I might try going bioactive.

Moving on Over

Alright, so my next step in life is moving into an apartment near my college. After some discussion with the apartment complex manager, he agreed to let me bring Marbles with no pet fee and rent charge.

So to start this process off, I found this gem on the side of the road. Its a three-tier rolling beverage/snack cart. It looked really rough so I sanded and spray-painted it.

This is going to be the stand for Marbles' enclosure.






Then, I put Marbles in the cloth bag I got her in and put that in a open bucket to make transportation easier. Honestly, I thought she would freak out, but she remained calm actually.

Next, along with some help, I dismantled her enclosure and gathered her supplies and headed to the car. The drive was less than a half hour long and I had her on my lap so she did get some heat. She didn't squirm on the ride. I was careful to make sure the driver knew not to go fast around the corners so Marbles didn't slide and become scared.

We arrived at my apartment soon enough and I had my crew get everything inside. We had to set this up a little different than at my house; at my house the dresser that Marbles' enclosure was on top of was longer and wider than the enclosure itself, but the cart was not. So a piece of particle board was put down to steady the enclosure - I wasn't going to take a chance without it and have the enclosure fall. After that it was just the same set up at home, I just put a towel over the board for aesthetic purposes and the supplies on the shelves underneath the enclosure. Then I just slid her out of the bag (notice I didn't stick my hand in the bag with a snake because my mom didn't raise a fool) and she just started exploring then eventually left to open area to go into her hide over the heat pad because that's just what she does.

I am supposed to feed her today, but I am not going to. She is just now is in a new environment even though her enclosure is the same. I could run the risk of her not eating and me wasting a mouse or she could actually regurgitate it due to nerves and anxiety from the new place and the move. I will probably wait 1-2 days for her to become acclimated before I feed her again.

Ball Python Setup #3

So now that the background is complete, I added some begonias that I bought from the local hardware and garden store and one Pothos plant I bought from Josh's Frogs. I also added some spring tails from there as well so they can be the decomposers of the environment.

It looked beautiful!... for about a week. For some reason the begonias didn't like it and decided to die which was very rude but honestly it's okay because I thought they were ugly. I only bought them because I did not know what I was doing.

Okay take two. I went to a different store that had a much wider variety of plants and chose some that were better suited for higher temperature and higher humidity (the names escape me). But so far they've flourished in the enclosure. I water them twice a day and they seem fine.

(also added this light the guy at the expo I bought it from was kinda mean though)

Ball Python Enclosure Background Part #1

Today I started the make the background for my snake's enclosure. I have seen a couple of methods for this but I decided to go with the expanding foam method.

*Please keep in mind this is just a journal of how I am doing things not a how-to*

1.  I put my 20 gallon long on its side after taking off the lid and locking clips. The face its resting on will be the back wall.
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
2. I got my two pieces of cork bark and cut them down to sizes that would fit my tank and my design.
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
3. I then arranged the pieces to make a background. I figured that the large round piece wouldn't fit so I decided it'd serve better as a hide.
   
   
   
   
   
   
4. 
   I cleaned the glass with rubbing alcohol. I put my rubber gloves on and got to work with Great Stuff expanding foam that I got from the local hardware store.
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
5. About 10 minutes later, I was done. I foamed all the areas around the cork bark and all the glass. I have to wait 8 hours for it to cure before I can continue.

Next steps:

• Carving the foam
• Painting the foam with silicone
• Added Zoo Med Eco Earth substrate to the silicone.

Petco Cork Flat Story

I am getting my snake in less than a month! I am almost done collecting the things I need for her enclosure.

Supplies Left

• Thermometer (temperature)
• Hydrometer (humidity)
• Food
• Bioactive kit
• Microorganisms

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Petco Cork Flat Story

All of the local pet supplies stores near me did not have any cork flats- only cork rounds. I need the cork flats for a specific project coming up soon so I decided I'd have to order them. I ordered two large flats from Petco Online. I paid extra for two day shipping so they'd be here within a few days. The next day when I tried to track them online, I saw that one was going to arrive until the original day and the other would arrive a few days later (even though I had ordered them at the same time).

To figure out why, I decided I'd call Petco. Well the number they have posted on their website doesn't work. So after jumping through some more hoops, I managed to reach Petco HQ. After being on the phone for twenty minutes, I explained my situation to a representative. Apparently, one warehouse ran out of the cork flats and it had to be shipped in from a different location. The representative was extremely nice and refunded me half of my shipping cost since one item was arriving late.

Overall it was a tedious experience but I was very happy with the representative that helped me!

Bioactive Enclosures

There are two types of terrarium enclosures I have seen: bioactive (also called a vivarium) and  nonbioactive. These can be used with reptiles other than just ball pythons.They each have their pros and cons to them.

Bioactive

This terrarium is a mini ecosystem that includes:

• Live plants
• Microorganisms
• Different types of soils and substrates mixed together

The goal of a bioactive vivarium is to have the enclosure become self cleaning and almost totally independent with the exception of low maintenance cleaning (wiping the fogged glass, replacing water, etc.) and maintaining the critter's water and food.

Pros

• Aesthetically pleasing to the eye
• Provides more naturalistic environment for the inhabitant
• Provides more enrichment
• Ecologically efficient

Cons

• Initially more expensive
• Maintenance of plants- not just the critter in it

I am choosing to make my terrarium bioactive because of its aesthetics, low maintenance cost over time, and its going to be enriching to my snake. 

I am going to be using The Bio Dude's Ball Python Snake Bioactive Kit. It'll include tropical plants, cork flats, LED, Terra Firma™ (his substrate), sphagnum moss, leaf litter, and BioShot ™ (plant nutrients). I think I'll have to buy the microorganism separately but I am not sure. It was recommended to me by a multitude of experienced reptile owners so I'll keep you updated on that.

Ball Python Setup #1

Buying for a ball python can be cheap or expensive- depending on how much you want to spend. In all practicality, ball pythons are perfectly fine living in a rack system. But, I'd like to have mine in a tank because its more aesthetically appealing to me and more enriching for the snake.

So this blog series will be about my experience buying and setting up my ball python enclosure.

The first items I bought were an aquarium and a screen top.

Aquarium vs Reptile Enclosure

There are a few options when it comes to enclosure type that both get the job done.

Reptile Enclosure

• Front opening
• Screen Top
• Glass
• More expensive

Aquarium

• Open top
• Glass
• Cheap

I personally opted for the aquarium because it was cheaper and I like the glass look of the aquarium more than the black bars that help open the front doors of the reptile enclosures.

Size

From what I was told at the reptile expo I went to, a ball python can live its entire life in a 20 gallon long, so that's what I bought.

Screen Tops

There are a plethora of options when it comes to screen lids: mesh cover, mesh covered with a square hinge, and mesh cover half hinged are some that I found to be the most common. I chose the plain mesh cover just due to costs. Because I have an aquarium that does not have grooves for a slide in lid, this one worked best for me as it just fit over the top of the aquarium.