New Ball Python Owner...Any Advice?

[Slugger04]

WARNING: THIS POST IS REALLY LONG

Hi,

I'm a new BP owner as of yesterday (I'm also new to this forum, so I apologize if I there some norms here that I don't know yet). Her name is Piper, I don't know her age, but she is about 3.5 feet long and, according to the previous owner, about 1700g. I got her from another student at my university who is graduating and needed to sell her before he leaves, but today I am starting to think that he may not have been taking great care of her. Like I said I'm really new to owning a snake and I have some questions/concerns about her behavior that I was hoping someone here could help me answer. I really want to make sure that she is happy and healthy in her new home.

TEMP
So when I bought her she came with with a tank, water bowl, UTH, hide, etc. and everything in it seemed totally fine to me. She liked to stay curled up in her hide which I figured was normal. I was concerned about the temperature though; despite the UTH being plugged in and turned on, the tank thermometer was telling me that the tank was at about 70 degrees on the "hot" side even thought the thermometer on the UTH said 95. Today I discovered that the UTH wasn't working at all which told me that the tank thermometer was correct and the poor thing was freezing cold all night! So I freaked out and went to buy a heat lamp and another thermometer. Now I've got the UTH working and the lamp on which brought the hot side to 86 and the cool side is at 75. The weird thing is, now that I've got the temp up in the hot side, she seems to want to spend all of her time on the cool side. To test this I turned the lamp and UTH off and she went back to the hot side. I turned it back on and she went back to the cool side. Any Idea what's going on?

HAPPINESS
I figured her not wanting to be handled was a combination of a) being in a new home and b) just being a ball python. When I got home today, though, I started to realize that her cage (which I got from the guy yesterday) was actually really disgusting. Like I realized there was poop near the water bowl and some shed under her hide from god knows how long ago, and the humidity was at 90% so the substrate was totally soiled. The second I noticed this I cleaned and disinfected the heck out of the whole tank and replaced the substrate. Now she seems to be more active but she doesn't seem to like it in there as much, like she keeps sniffing around the edges of the tank like she wants out and tries to hide on the cool side. Do you think she is just getting used to being in a clean cage or is she unhappy? Humidity is at 55% now and temp gradient is 75-86.

Also she really doesn't seem to want to be handled by me. I don't know her very well yet, so maybe that's just how she is, but I think it could be because her last owner hadn't been taking care of her. How could I make her more comfortable with me?

FOOD
According to the previous owner, Piper hasn't eaten in about 4 months, which I know is normal for BPs, especially for this time of year. He said that he stopped trying to feed her every single week after two months of fasting and that I shouldn't be concerned until June. That seems a little crazy to me. What do you think about that? Also how often should I be attempting to feed her if she is older and apparently on a serious fast? She doesn't seem skinny at all or overweight.

I know that was a lot, I'm just really new and have a ton of stuff to learn. I really appreciate any advice you all might have.

[the_rotten1]

TEMP
Do you have a thermostat to regulate the UTH? If not you should unplug it and get one. A UTH can overheat and burn your snake if it's not regulated. You may have just gone from too cold to too hot. Also, what kind of thermometers are you using and where are they located in the tank? Digital thermometers are typically better than analog and you need some way of getting the temp right against the cage's hot spot. Either a digital thermometer with a probe or a temp gun will allow you to do that.

HAPPINESS
Sadly, I've found this to be the case with a lot of rehomed snakes. I got a rosy boa in the same condition, minus the high humidity. There's no reason for a tank to be damp and contain old sheds and poop. That's negligence. She could've gotten an RI if left in those conditions.

She's probably active because she noticed that you've cleaned. Any time you make a change in a snake's environment they'll go out and explore. You've improved her living conditions, that's a good thing! And if she seems reluctant to be handled then daily handling can help.

FOOD
Piper sounds like a fully grown adult female with respectable weight. A lot of snakes fast during the winter. As long as she looks fine I wouldn't be worried. I have a female about that size who just came out of a fast that was several months long. I offer all my snakes a meal every week whether they're interested or not, and yesterday she was suddenly interested. You never know when they're going to change their mind.

That said, some people offer their snakes food every other week, or even once a month because they don't want to stress the snake out. Some are more temperamental than others, so I suppose some of them dislike repeat feeding attempts. My female didn't seem to mind too much. Waiting until June sounds ridiculous though. I wouldn't wait that long.

Do you know what she was eating before she stopped? Often they have a preference. If you offer a mouse to a snake that eats rats they may just turn up their nose at it until you offer rats again. Also, some people have snakes that will only eat live rodents while others prefer frozen. Ball pythons can be finicky. Every now and then you'll find one that will eat anything, but they tend to be the exception rather than the rule. Some of mine will even turn down their regular thawed rat just because it's not hot enough.