New to Ball Pythons, a couple small problems?

[riffraff]

I got my 3 month old male pastel BP a few weeks ago...he seems to be doing alright so far, but I'm having a couple little problems:

1) Trouble keeping the tank warm at night...the combination of the heat lamp and natural light warming up the room seems to do the job during the day (the tank isn't in the direct path of the sunlight from outside, but the room isn't very big, so it gets reasonably warm during the day.) I have a UTH on the warm side, but the temp there is only about 75 when I wake up in the mornings...any ideas?

2) He just shed for the first time....it seemed like he was having a little trouble, so I soaked him in some warmish water and that seemed to help, but he still has a little stuck right behind his head (which he's not too thrilled about me touching.) If it doesn't come off within the next few days, is there anything else I should do, or just let it clear off during the next cycle?

3) He hasn't eaten yet...it could just be the combination of the stress of getting settled in here and then the shedding (I've heard some BPs don't eat right before/during their shed cycles), but it still worries me a little. When I've tried, he seems interested in the food (small frozen thawed mice), and will come up to smell it, but he hasn't tried to strike yet.

Advice is much appreciated :]

[BbyBoa]

75 on the hot side, at night is way low, you need to look at other more powerful heat sources if yours is not cutting it.

If your getting stuck shed your humidity is to low. If it doesn't come off by itself, soak your snake in warm water, then rub the skin off or peel it off very gently.

Your snakes not eating could be due to any number of things, but the most obvious thing i would get right first is the habitat. Once you correct your bad humidity and bad heating, then if its still not eating then we can figure out why.

GL to ya .

[Tekko]

I'll take a wild stab at it:

1) I will assume you have a grilled open top tank or enclosure...if it is the case try closing it off partly, try a damp(not wet) cloth/tower it helps with the humidity and prevent some of the warm air from raising away from your enclosure.

2) unless the bits of stuck shed are constricting the neck area it should be fine until your ball shed again. If you really want if off, try making your snake crawl thru a warm damp tower.

3) some sankes will not strike, I have one of mine that will only eat if the prey is dropped in front of it's hide and no one is in the room for a good 10-20 min. Keep offering prey overy week or so while makign sure they are completely thawed and warm enough. A snake that is in a newish environement might take a while to get used enough to it's new accomodation to be at easy enough to eat. just make sure you don't offer prey items too often as it might be a cause of stress as well.

[Crazy4Herps]

Hi riffraff. Congrats on you're new little guy!

1) You're welcome to experiment with combinations of heat sources (different things work for different situations), but I personally recommend using only a UTH with a thermostat (if you're interested, I can recommend brands). If set up properly, this will be sufficient heating. I'm guessing you're problem is that a) there is too much airflow, b) the UTH is a dud, or c) the brand / wattage simply isn't powerful enough. Is the UTH itself hot to the touch? If not I'd recommend buying a new one. I like to keep cages elevated half an inch to an inch above the surface that the UTH rests on to allow airflow to prevent fire hazards but it's close enough to keep it warm. Another option to use during the night is a ceramic heat emitter, which is basically a light bulb that doesn't provide light, although CHE's can be tricky because they tend to dry out the cage.

2) As long as it's just a patch and not a strip going all the way around his neck, don't worry about it. As long as humidity levels are high enough (it can be tough, I know), it will come off during his next shed.

3) Don't worry about it. This is completely normal.


Good luck! If you have any more questions, we're here to help!

[riffraff]

The UTH is warm to the touch but definitely not what I'd call hot...It and the light have been keeping the tank between 86 and 92 during the day, but when I turn the light off at night, it doesn't do great. This may not be a problem for much longer, as the heat in the house has not been turned on yet (I live in VT so the nights get pretty cold, but I'm a full time student, and therefor frequently short on cash). Once we turn it on, the ambient temp in the room should go up, and help keep him a little warmer. If not, though, would you recommend a different UTH or a ceramic bulb? (The one I have now is ReptiTherm I believe.)

[gardenfiend138]

I live in a place that gets into the 50's at night regularly, and heat pads don't do squat for raising ambient temps. I use a night bulb on a dimmer for my cool side to keep it at 80 which also raises the ambient temps a bit (you could also use a CHE). Even though it doesn't help too much, I drape a heavy towel over the hot side (with a heat pad, can't on the cool side because of the lamp) which helps insulate the tank a bit from cool temps in the room. I also had issues with hot-spot temps because I had thick substrate over the UTH, so I removed most all the substrate in the hide so the reading I take is the reading I get. I also cover 3/4 the screen lid with plexi-glass (cost about 5 bucks; wet towel method works well too but it does take daily maintenance). Hope you can glean something from this! Congrats on your ball

[BeastMaster]

For your heat issue at night, you can get a simple (and fairly inexpensive) ceramic heat emitter and use a cheap lamp fixture from your local hardware store. If you want to make life easier for yourself, get a little dial type timer for $5-10.00 to switch between day and "night" heating sources.

If your UTH is a "rain forest" type, I have found the ones I have had do not get as hot as the "desert" models. A good thermostat is a must with either though.

You mentioned temps, but not how you got them. What type of device are you using to measure temps / humidity with? A decent digital thermo/hydro is great to have, but not a necessity. You can get by with good quality analog gauges, but for about $12 and 20-30 min of your time, you can get a Accurite In/Out thermo + hydrometer, mod it and have all three digital sensors needed to monitor your enclosure (Hot side, cool side and Humidity). This is cheaper than almost any other method I have found.

As to your snake not eating....what prey item(s) have you tried feeding? How often are you handling your snake? How many hides does your snake have? How often have you been offering prey items?


BTW, BP's are amazingly resilient, Simon (my Pastel) has refused food in the past for months and didn't loose but a few grams of weight. And when I say a few, it was only 20-30 grams over a 4 month food refusal stint.

[mattchibi]

If youre using a glass tank, probably a 20 gal, with a screen top, here are some really helpful things I am using right now to keep the temps up at night.

First off, if your temps in your house get lower than 75-77 at night, I would suggest getting an infrared or CHE & a heat lamp with a dimmer. These are easily bought at a petsmart, and without these, your ambient temps will be way off. 75 is the absolute lowest it should go, on the COOL side, at night.

Second, get some corrugated cardboard and some newspaper. Cover every side of the glass tank, except the front, with corrugated cardboard. Then tape some newspaper on top for further insulation. This is a quick fix to keep the temperatures up.

If you have a screen top, I suggest you get a bunch of aluminum foil and tape it to the top. You want about 1/2-2/3 of the top covered with tin foil, and the tin foil should be folded three times so it's thick enough to work as insulation. This will also help your humidity a tiny bit. Make sure there is enough room at the top for sufficient air circulation (stagnant air causes bacteria to breed) and make sure theres enough room for a heat lamp as well. Good luck!

[Crazy4Herps]

The UTH is warm to the touch but definitely not what I'd call hot...It and the light have been keeping the tank between 86 and 92 during the day, but when I turn the light off at night, it doesn't do great. This may not be a problem for much longer, as the heat in the house has not been turned on yet (I live in VT so the nights get pretty cold, but I'm a full time student, and therefor frequently short on cash). Once we turn it on, the ambient temp in the room should go up, and help keep him a little warmer. If not, though, would you recommend a different UTH or a ceramic bulb? (The one I have now is ReptiTherm I believe.)

In that case it doesn't sound like too dire of a problem. Although ambient temps in the mid to low 70's at night are fine, there should be a spot that's at least 83 throughout the night for the sake of digestion. A ceramic heat emitter may be just what you need.
ReptiTherms are fine, I use them, though I have come across a few duds. But it doesn't sound like you need a new UTH; hopefully a ceramic bulb will fix the problem.


Just as a side note, VT is the best!! I grew up in Shelburne, by far the greatest place I've ever lived!