My new family members.

[rubbertoe]

Well, I signed up last night and today we brought home 2 baby balls. They are SOOOOO CUUUUUTE. Yes, they came from the local PetsMart. I hope I didnt get harvested balls, as I was told there supplier only sold cap. bred. The one I am calling the "boy" is very shy and the one I am calling the "girl" is VERY active. She is so cool about being handled. She wrapped herself around my left wrist and stayed there for 2.5 hours. After I put her up I noticed the boy was kind of not doing much compaired to her. She was exploring the whole 55 gallon tank and ha was just kind of laying there not even moving to avoid her trouncing over him in her search for an escape (I suppose). When I handle him he just puts up with it not as her wrapping around my hand and wrist.
Yes, I am new to snakes but I have raised 2 Iggies and a Monitor (big boy). I am totaly in love with these balls and hope I'm right about the sexes even though I know it's only guessing at this point. Any help I can get as far as heat control, humid control, feeding frozen fuzzies, and any thing else you can think of. The book I bought is not that helpful as far as detail on these subjects. Thanks in advance for any help given and I hope to be an active member here for a long time.

[JamminJonah]

Well I can't make any comparisons to Iguana or Monitors but snakes especially ball pythons are quite susceptible to stress resulting in possible feeding problems. Just be sure that they are in seperate enclosures with at least two hides and a water dish - try to keep the humidity about fifty percent and up it around sixty for shed times (you will be able to tell by dull skin and blueish eyes). Temps should be around ninety on the warm side with a tank average of about eighty throughout the tank. Seventy-five or below can put them at risk for respiratory infection. As far as thawing there are many teqniques. I personally take the prey item out and leave it at room temperature for about four hours and then warm with a hair dryer for about three to four minutes. This is with a small size rat obviously the larger the prey the longer defrost time and the smaller the prey the less time. I guess it helps to think of the prey item as a steak for your snake and thaw it accordingly. Avoid the microwave unless you don't mind cleaning exploded mouse . Here is a link to our care sheet you can use the search function to find more thawing techniques. Welcome aboard!

http://www.ball-pythons.net/modules....warticle&id=52

[tigerlily]

I would also advise not handling for a week. What you may interpret as active may just be a stress response. It's recommended to leave them alone for 1 full week before handling. Also go to Walmart or other such store and get an outdoor thermometer and humidity gauge. They're like $12 at Walmart and will digitally display two temps and humidity. They're great and cheap. Don't use those dial things. They're terrible. Make sure you get you're hot side around 92 and cool side 82. It's incredibly important to keep the environment stable and accurate. If you have any other questions, just let us know and welcome to the site!

[frankykeno]

Welcome to the site. The brand name for that item Christie mentioned is Accu-Rite in case you need that info. Home Depot and Lowe's also sell similar ones under different brand names but all are under $20.00. You can also make hides out of many things from Wal-Mart or your local dollar store.

I know it's awfully hard to not handle a new pet at first but that advice is really good. Balls need some time to settle in and feel safe. Leaving them be and providing the right temps and humidity and hides will really help when it comes time for feeding or gentle handling and will be worth the time you put in now.

Best of luck with your new baby balls and please feel free to post questions. This forum is truely wonderful about helping new owners with all the stuff that comes up.

~~Joanna~~

[Adam_Wysocki]

I hope I didnt get harvested balls, as I was told there supplier only sold cap. bred.

As far as I know, the national pet store chains that do sell ball pythons sell captive hatched imports.

Most Pet<fill in suffix of your choice here> store employees know very little to nothing about their reptile suppliers. Their reptiles are bought in large quantities by the national corporate office.

-adam

[rubbertoe]

Thanks everybody. I have not messed with them any more and the temps are good. Humidity fluctuates between 35-50. How do I keep it stable? Also, can I not keep 2 In a 55 gallon with no problems. They seem to not mind one another, or even aknowlage one another. They sometimes curl around one another and sometimes they are at opposite ends of the tank.
Also, about pine. The book I have says it's okay, just don't use cedar. It even has pictures of the habs w/ pine in the bottom. I am switching it out with that ground coconut stuff a few days after the first feed, it just takes FOREVER for that crap to dry (even in our Texas heat of 101 today). I put 3 bricks of it in a 5 gallon bucket and added 3 gallons of water. In about an hour it busted the bucket open and dripped out the water it hadn't soaked up. This was a thick, new bucket too. Go figure! Any-way, again, thanks for the help.

[gncz73]

house to balls is not a good thing. for a lot of reasons.
1) if one gets sick the other one will too.
2) if you find poop in the cage who did it.
3) they may seem to like or even enjoy the other in ther but they are under stress and sometime what we see as enjoyment is not it's really one be more dom then the other.
4) one could eat the other it has happen before so why take the chance.

[gncz73]

as far as your book goes it's out of date they have found that pine is not as bad for them but it's still bad. i myself use newsprint it's cheap easy to clean and you can get it on most sreet corners.