Unusual BP Behavior?

[NuttyMuffins]

Hi guys! So a couple things! My ball python, Pixel, got here yesterday morning. When I took her out of her bag that she was shipped in, the bag was wet and the paper towels in there were also yellow. I'm assuming she urinated while in the process of being shipped. I know its not great to handle new BPs until after they have eaten the first time, especially babies (Pixel turned one month yesterday). My first question is, should I take her out and clean her now or should I wait until she has eaten for me first? My goal is to keep her as calm as possible, shes scheduled to eat tomorrow and I really want her to eat for me.
Okay, now on the to next thing. So when I first popped Pixel into her terrarium, complete ball. Not surprised, she was just crammed in a box for the past 24 hours. She loosened up within a couple of minutes and immediately went into her warm hide. From there she explored the cage, she found both of her hides, warm and cool. In the cage, I have some fake ivy put up, there's a suction cup that you stick to the side of the cage and the leaves hang off of it. When she was finished exploring her cage, she completely ignored the hides and curled up in between the leaves and the corner of the terrarium, basically completely exposed and very visible. It's almost like she created her own hide spot, in a place that's not very hide-y. Shes been there pretty much every time I've seen her now. And when I come up to the cage to look at her, sometimes her breathing will become heavy. I haven't ever really heard of this before, so is this normal or is it an indication that she may be stressed out already? I'm not too concerned, primarily just wondering if I should change up the cage, get new hides, or leave it be.
Thanks guys! Sorry for the long winded post that probably means I have nothing to worry about. #NewBPowners

[NuttyMuffins]

photos for reference.

[Stewart_Reptiles]

How big are your hides? Typically when a BP does that it is because the hides are not tight enough which means touching all side of their body.

By the look of it you are looking for something no bigger than a 6 inches wide plastic flower pot saucer to use as hides.

[NuttyMuffins]

How big are your hides? Typically when a BP does that it is because the hides are not tight enough which means touching all side of their body.

By the look of it you are looking for something no bigger than a 6 inches wide plastic flower pot saucer to use as hides.

The warm hide is relatively small, it doesn't look a whole lot bigger than she is. I now see that the cold hide was definitely too big. Luckily I still have the box for my "Night time heating bulb" which is much smaller, almost her size. I replaced that with the cold hide, put her next to it, and she was in there within a couple minutes. Also put in my other bulb box right next to her warm hide in case that one was to big as well. Hopefully that will do until I can get her something a little more sturdy and we'll see how she handles it. Thank you! Any thoughts about cleaning her now or after she eats the first time?

[Stewart_Reptiles]

The warm hide is relatively small, it doesn't look a whole lot bigger than she is. I now see that the cold hide was definitely too big. Luckily I still have the box for my "Night time heating bulb" which is much smaller, almost her size. I replaced that with the cold hide, put her next to it, and she was in there within a couple minutes. Also put in my other bulb box right next to her warm hide in case that one was to big as well. Hopefully that will do until I can get her something a little more sturdy and we'll see how she handles it. Thank you! Any thoughts about cleaning her now or after she eats the first time?

Problem is you ideally want hides the same size so your BP does not have to chose between security and thermo regulation. If a BP that young does not use a hide in a glass tank that's because the hide do not suit your BP's need.

As for cleaning just wait until after you feed there is no rush now, offer food and do not handle your BP until it eats, getting on track as soon as possible with you is the priority.

[PythonBabes]

Yeah, I think that younger ball pythons are more particular about their hides simply because they like more security. I've seen people use hides meant for small animals for their ball pythons. The only thing my BP will accept for hides are macaroni boxes

[NuttyMuffins]

Problem is you ideally want hides the same size so your BP does not have to chose between security and thermo regulation. If a BP that young does not use a hide in a glass tank that's because the hide do not suit your BP's need.

As for cleaning just wait until after you feed there is no rush now, offer food and do not handle your BP until it eats, getting on track as soon as possible with you is the priority.

Yeah, I think that younger ball pythons are more particular about their hides simply because they like more security. I've seen people use hides meant for small animals for their ball pythons. The only thing my BP will accept for hides are macaroni boxes

Thanks so much for the input! Like I mentioned earlier, I swapped out her cold hide for one of these boxes and had an extra one so I put another bulb box right next to the warm hide that I got when I bought the terrarium as a "snake starter kit." She crawled into the box I had put in on the cold side, and a little while later I saw she had moved to the warm hide/fake rock that I got with the cage, and now shes pressed up next to the glass again in her original spot. As far as I know she hasn't "tried out" the bulb box on the warm side. Since she doesn't seem interested in the hides I have readily available, I taped up some paper towels on the outside of the cage where shes been staying in hopes that it may feel a little more private for her. Should I remove the fake rock hide? When shes pressed up against the glass shes also pressed up against the fake rock hide, so I don't want to take it out if shes not going to be interested in the bulb boxes because that will "destroy" the only place she is consistently staying. So, is it worth moving the fake rock hide, even if it is too big for her?

Sorry for all the questions! I just want to make sure shes as comfortable and happy as she can be especially since shes so young and just went through a probably petty traumatic time with shipping. Before I got her I thought I was as prepared as I could be, I was really reading into husbandry trying to make sure everything would be great for her. But, man, I think I forgot to factor in that just because everything looks good to me, doesn't mean a scared little snake with its own personality might have a different opinion. Anyway, I'm still going to try and feed her tomorrow, hopefully that will go well and she'll take it. But again, thank you thank you, for all the information, it's been helpful!