My first ball python!

[Rpelfrey]

Hey guys! I bought my first ball python a week ago at petco. I did research quite a bit before I got her, but have been doing tons of research since I got her. I put her cage in the corner of my bedroom, and covered the back and sides with cardboard, I can also open a closet door to cover the front to offer more privacy if I’d like.. I have a UTH on the left side with a thermostat set to 92. I also have one of those nocturnal red light bulbs. (which I tried to replace with a 100w ceramic heating lamp yesterday, but it wasn’t getting the ambient temperature high enough, so I ordered a 150w ceramic heat lamp, which will arrive at my House tommorrow, and I will replace the red light.) the lamp is also on a thermostat set to 90 degrees. I covered the top of the screen with tin tape, the kind you use on vents, like on the back of a dryer. For the substrate I used eco earth, and forest floor cypress mulch.

[Rpelfrey]

[Rpelfrey]

Sorry I wanted to put everything on one post, but my fingers and my screen aren’t working together very well. But also I’ve tried to feed her twice, with no success, but I’ve been working on the tank a lot over the week, and haven’t really given her a week of 100% peace. But after I put the ceramic heat lamp on the tank, that’s exactly what I’m going to do. I will only get in the tank to change the water, and maybe occasionally spray some water. Oh, and also I’ve been trying to keep the humidity around at least 50-60. But I usually have to spray a couple times a day to achieve that.

but one of my concerns is about her weight. She looks really skinny to me, am I right, or am I worrying a too much? Also she hasn’t struck at me once the few times I’ve picked her up, I think she hissed at me once, but that’s it. Could that be a sign somethings wrong? Is she supposed to be more defensive?

[Rpelfrey]

By the way her name is Daisy

[Rpelfrey]

UPDATE. I got my CHE in the mail, and just put it on the tank, I also got a infrared heat thermometer to check everything more accurately, and a scale to weigh her after she’s had a while to relax more. Because of the tanks placement to the window, I put a small hole/flap in the cardboard on the side to let in some daylight, just to help her with the day/night cycle.

If she doesn’t eat the next time I offer her some food, I will do the small tub method I’ve seen on here. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

anyways here’s a new picture of the tank. She’s currently hiding somewhere inside the tank, I didn’t want to disturb her to find out, but last time I saw she was poking her head out of her warm side hide, the tree stump.

[Serpentine_Queen]

She looks lovely! I just recently got a pastel lesser ball python (January)! I'm sure you will take good care of Daisy, and I did the same thing: research for a long while and then once I got him I was like freaking out so I have been doing some more research.

[Caitlin]

You can try mixing some sphagnum moss in with the substrate to stabilize humidity, or just put some sphag moss in a low, wide bowl and keep it moist.

I wonder whether your snake is feeling secure enough to eat - they like hides that touch their back and sides, so you might offer her something that can do that, and perhaps add a little more clutter to the tank. Then give her several days of peace and quiet before offering food.

This stickied post by Deborah still comprises the best advice I've found about how to persuade a reluctant youngster to eat: https://ball-pythons.net/forums/show...-hatchling-101

[Rpelfrey]

You can try mixing some sphagnum moss in with the substrate to stabilize humidity, or just put some sphag moss in a low, wide bowl and keep it moist.

I wonder whether your snake is feeling secure enough to eat - they like hides that touch their back and sides, so you might offer her something that can do that, and perhaps add a little more clutter to the tank. Then give her several days of peace and quiet before offering food.

This stickied post by Deborah still comprises the best advice I've found about how to persuade a reluctant youngster to eat: https://ball-pythons.net/forums/show...-hatchling-101

I forgot to mention that I already had spaghnum moss in the tank, do you have to keep taking it out and resetting it? It seems to dry out, and then the humidity returns to ~40 in a couple days. It might not evaporate as much now that I have a CHE Instead if the red lamp though, and maybe I was messing with the tank too much, opening the lid and letting the humidity out?. I also cut a cardboard box that the red bulb came in in half, and cut an opening in it, and then glued them secure making 2 small hides. They seem big enough for her to barely just fit in. Would it be hard for her to get in, and move her body around to get comfortable though?




and I want to try frozen thawed rats, and a live rodent first, but if those don’t work, I will happily go by deborahs advice.

[Rpelfrey]

Those small cardboard hides were meant to be temporary, to see if she wanted somewhere a smaller, but she’s done nothing more than stuck her head in them and leave, and is just chilling in her tree stump when she wants to be on the warm side. The cold side hide is one of those wood half logs, but it broke in half, so I leaned it on the glass, and secured it with substrate. And put it in the corner where the outside of the cage is covered, so it’s one way in and one way out, and a very tight space, and also the coldest spot in the cage. She goes under there when she wants to cool off, but she spends most of her time in the tree stump on the warm side. She does tend to stay in the front side of the tree stump, where I can’t peek in and see her.

[aerie]

Although this doesn’t seem reassuring, I recently got my first bp a month ago and I worried day and night nonstop because she wouldn’t eat + other diseases I were scared of. However, after maybe 6 times of failure, she had a great feeding response for the first time last week and even bit me, thinking I was food (I had only seen her calm and docile, so her biting me made me happy and surprised, meaning she was hungry) I think it’s best to be patient and do the absolute best you can husbandry wise but after a few weeks as she calms down and becomes more comfortable, she should eat fine in no time. Remember ball pythons aren’t like humans, so patience and perfection is key. The most you can do is the most you can do! Good luck


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