I just joined the forum today and I love it already, anyways after months of research and preparation I got my first ball python about a month ago from Pet smart, I would have gotten one from a reputable breeder but I felt the need to rescue one from a chain store, and so far so good with minor problems but I'm looking for suggestions or advice. For my set up I first had him set up in a tub but I didn't like it so I switched to a 10 gallon tank, I'm using aspen bedding, a heat mat with thermostat set at 92 degrees, I mist every so often to keep humidity around 60 (70 during shed), Hot and cold side obviously, large water dish changed daily. For the first month I had him I was starting to become concerned because he hadn't eaten while in the pet stores care for 2 weeks according to their feeding chart, I offered him a frozen/thawed hopper that had been warmed on three different occasions with no luck, he seemed to be afraid of the mouse i wiggled in front of him. I found out about 4 days ago that he was in the shedding process so this could have been why but im not sure. So two days ago after he had no shed stuck around his face (whole lower body was shed free but upper body and neck area still was fully covered in bluish grey skin)(he also had been without a meal for about a month) I dropped a smaller adult mouse in the tank which pet smart said would be too big of a meal but I had no other choice after 3 frozen meals had been rejected, and in less than 10 seconds he snagged it and was done feeding within about 8 minutes from the first strike, so I was happy with that, I guess I got a picky snake. The snake is doing great today and I just gave him his first bath, I put him in a tub with a wash cloth and luke warm water and he seemed to be very unhappy trying to keep his body as much out of the water as he could, I left him in there for about 45 minutes and he stuck skin was loosed and I just let him crawl through my hand with the wet cloth to peel it all the way off, he seemed very agitated and tried very hard to get away (the fastest iv seen him move lol) so i was just wondering if that was normal for them to be unhappy during a bath? other notes are he has pooped a little but it was smaller than I was expecting and I also noticed that his vent was a little swollen a few days ago but it seems okay now, maybe because he was on the verge of pooping? idk?... Ill post a few pictures to show you what iv got and any suggestions will be much appreciated!! Thank you!!
-Stefan