Hi all,
I'm joining today because this weekend we picked up a female ball python and I want to make sure I'm doing everything I can to take care of her properly. I know that the correct way, would have been to research first and then acquire...but in this case it didn't work like that. Her previous owner was seriously neglecting her. When we picked her up yesterday he "mentioned" that her cage hadn't been cleaned in a year and she would need to be fed very soon. We spoke to him approximately 3-4 weeks ago and at that time he'd just fed her...after about 3 months of not feeding her. I know they can go for quite some time without eating, but this just doesn't seem right. If she's not eating it should be because she doesn't want the food, not because it isn't being provided.

I worked at a pet store quite a few years ago (about 10) and so I have some experience with snakes...but I'm sure it's not nearly enough. I went out last night and bought Nature's Bark (says it comes from fir trees) along with some other stuff-basically it's the husks of coconuts. Is this stuff okay? What's ideal?

I do want to feed her tonight but I don't have a separate cage to put her in to feed. The pet store I was at last night didn't have anything I thought was big enough-any suggestions?

I have a ton of questions

Can I give her a bath? If she was in that cage for a year I'm sure she needs something. She has a water dish, but it is too small for her to completely soak in. Last night she was doing sections of her body at a time.

Can she be chipped? Spayed? Does she need vaccines?

I'm pretty sure I saw her yawn last night-do snakes do this?

How humid do I need to keep her?

The set up she came with seems pretty basic. I would like to improve it. The piece of log might have been good for her when she was little, but she can't fit all the way under it now...and the water dish seems too small. Do pythons like to hang on branches and such? There is a heating lamp, but its set directly on the metal mesh top. I don't really like that idea. Any ideas on a set up for that?

I was under the impression that heating rocks and pads were bad for them, that they could burn themselves...is it true or a myth?

I think that's all for now. I'm sure there will be more.