New snake behaviour

[Emcneice]

Hello,

i just want to make sure that ball python is set up properly as I am new to all this and want to make sure she is in the best possible environment.

i have a female normal ball python that is 1.5 years old. I have her in a 40 gallon tank with three live plants (which are quite small right now but will grow vines that will provide cover when they start to spread), a rock hide on the cool side, a large water dish and a large piece of drift wood that doubles as a hide the hot side. I cant remember the name of the substrait that we are using but it is made to simulate a forest floor and holds humidity quite well. we also have some sphagnum moss around the base of the plants to help keep them moist.

I have a UVB bulb for the plants and a 100 watt basking bulb over the drift wood (we keep our house quite cool so the 75 watt was not bringing it over 80. Now it is about 95 at the top of the drift wood and about 75 on the cool side (temp inside her hide) ). She has a 50 watt night bulb for over her basking spot. Her basking spot goes down to about 80 at night and the cool side tends to drop to 72. We keep the humidity between 58-68%. There are pictures of her enclosure in my gallery. Sorry for all the details but I didn't want to leave anything out.

For the first couple of weeks she stayed in her hide on the cool side. For the last week she has been a little bit more active. She comes out late after noon and curls up in the plants or on the drift wood on the hot side. When the lights go out she seems to explore her cage for about an hour then curls up in her rock hide on the cool side.

She moves around very slowly and flicks her tounge.

I have handled her a little bit and she is very docile and curious. She explores the couch and seems to wonder. I have not handled her for about 3 weeks. I stopped handleing her about a week before her first feeding with me. I didn't want her to be stressed before feeding time. I don't want to handel her until she has a meal.However I have had some trouble getting her to eat. The place I got her from said she was a good eater and she had an adult mouse the day before I brought her home. I have attempted to feed her twice, the first time she had no interest in the mouse, I waited a week and gave her another mouse (a hopper I thought the adult may have been to big). She seemed very interested in it and played with it for a while. It looked like she was trying to suffocate it but gave up and was opening her mouth then completely lost interest. I left the mouse in there over night and it was still there in the morning. I am feeding her frozen thawed she has never had live.

Just one more note she has not pooped since she ate three weeks ago. The area around her vent is very soft doesn't feel like it is obstructed.

i know they can be picky and will try again next week. I am. Just curious if you have any ideas or if anything I am doing seems alarming to an experienced keeper. I am trying my best with her but would love some advice.

thanks for reading through the worlds longest question.


Cheers

[MootWorm]

First off, welcome! I really like your enclosure, nice naturalistic setup. One thing you might want to try is blacking out 3 sides of the tank and/or cluttering up some of the free space. Your humidity and hot spot look good, but I would bump up the cool side a bit. I like to keep mine at 80-82. Sometimes they won't eat if it's too cool.

Also, she looks a bit thin for a 1.5 year old. She definitely looks like she can take down an adult mouse. Would you be able to get a weight on her? That would really help to recommend the correct size feeder. I would try again with an adult mouse after blacking out/cluttering her enclosure, and if still no go with that, try for a freshly weaned rat. It'll be much cheaper in the long run to feed a good sized rat over multiple mice Good luck, I hope she eats for you soon!

Feel free to ask any other questions you might have!

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[Emcneice]

Thank you so much for your reply. How would you suggest I bump up the heat on the cool side? I have heard mixed messages on under tank heating. Also should I wait to try and feed her again or should I try again tomorrow after putting a background on her tank?

Pas for her weight would a digital scale that reads in lbs be accurate enough?

Cheers

[Crazymonkee]

What are your concerns with the under tank heater? Most use digital scales that weigh in grams (like kitchen scales).


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[MootWorm]

Thank you so much for your reply. How would you suggest I bump up the heat on the cool side? I have heard mixed messages on under tank heating. Also should I wait to try and feed her again or should I try again tomorrow after putting a background on her tank?

Pas for her weight would a digital scale that reads in lbs be accurate enough?

Cheers

If you already have a digital scale, see if there's a "units" button. It usually has the ability to measure pounds, grams, etc. UTH work fine as long as you have a thermostat to regulate it. You can pick up a hydrofarm Tstat for around $30 on amazon.

I would wait another week before attempting to feed, let her get settled in and de-stressed.


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[Emcneice]

I have not found a under tank heater that has a heat control feature. I just don't want her to get to hot in there. For a 40 gallon tank what size pad would you suggest? and do i put it on the hot side or cool side?

I pulled out my kitchen scale but she looks pretty comfy in her basking spot right now so I am going to wait until light out to take her out and weigh her.

Cheers

[Emcneice]

If you already have a digital scale, see if there's a "units" button. It usually has the ability to measure pounds, grams, etc. UTH work fine as long as you have a thermostat to regulate it. You can pick up a hydrofarm Tstat for around $30 on amazon.

I would wait another week before attempting to feed, let her get settled in and de-stressed.

HD

Thank you for the advise I am going to get a back ground tomorrow. If it is okay I will let you know her wait as soon as lights out.

[MootWorm]

Yeah you have to purchase the heat control separately. I would buy a larger one to cover the majority of the cool side and set it ti about 87. You'll have to play around with your settings until it gets to the ideal temps.