new parent jitters

[nighttrain_1991]

I'm pretty sure this is just new paernt jitters, but my recently acquired and first bp has been exhibiting some abnormal (at least for him) behavior. He's a normal bp appoximately 140 grams 21.5 inches. I got him a month ago and he has eaten every week. When I got him they said he was eating f/t fuzzies, so that's what I got. They were obviously too small, so I moved up to medium mice. His feeding response was not as strong as with the smaller prey, but I just left the mouse there and within 15 to 20 minutes he ate it. He is currently in shed, and I was debating about whether to try feeding him. I took him out to see if his eyes had cleared yet and to mist the cage clean up etc. and he didn't seem edgy or anything. He was alert and responded to visual stimulus so I decided to feed him. I had one of the fuzzies left so I decided to go with a samller prey item since he was in shed and had responded better to them before. Just as before he struck fairly quickly but he has a bad habit of not getting the head and having to work the prey around to swallow. I'm pretty sure he swallowed tail first I didn't think it would be a problem because it was a smaller prey item, but he seemed to struggle a bit getting it down. The first week I had him he cruised the tank at night exploring and looking for ways out of course but since then he spends all his time in the hot side hide. Sometimes after he eats he cruises around a bit drinks some water then back to the hide. Last night after I fed him I came back to check on him before going to bed figuring he was in the hide but he was strectched out across the back of the tank. I didn't think that much of it, but this morning he was still there. I confirmed temps with an IR gun and everything looked good. Not sure if this is just due to being in shed or I'm just a paranoid worrier.

[Neotetro]

Nothing sounds odd to me. A lot of snakes have their quirks and sometimes they don't want to be in their hides for whatever reason.

[TheSnakeGuy]

Everything you have just described is normal ball python behavior.

[Willie76]

Welcome to the club! My BPs seem to hit the neck or chest once in a while but work around to the snout eventually and get it down. My Spider female has even hit the butt a time or two and swallowed her rat backwards and all went well. I feed f/t rats (mice are fine if that's what's available); 10%-15% of the snake's body weight every 5-7 days until they're around 500 grams then move to large rats every two weeks. My spider girl is a very active girl. while my normal is a hider...she loves to hide where ever she can. Just individual differences between the individual snakes. As long as your husbandry is good, they are fed regularly, and the health of your snake is put above all else...they're happy as can be.

Everything seems normal to me...

[nighttrain_1991]

Thanks for the replies. Glad to hear theres nothing to worry about.

[sharkrocket]

Sounds normal. Oh, and...your first year of owning a ball python will probably wreck your nerves as you worry. Try not to let that happen. They are odd animals with odd behaviors that you shouldn't read into too much.

[nighttrain_1991]

It turned out to be a night of firsts...first pee, first poop and first shed. The boy just had a lot going on. Even though it came off in two sections it looks like it was a good shed. He was a little irritible this morning so I didn't pick him up to check the eyes, but from what I could see everything looked good.