New Baby Ball, Basic Questions

[ArmyWife98]

Hello Everyone,

My husband and I recently bought a baby ball python. We did our homework and knew what we were getting into.

We discovered on the second day we had him that he had a serious mite infestation. We attempted to treat at home but were not successful, subsequently he spent 2 weeks with the vet and is now mite free. He is getting ready to shed, his eyes are milk and his scales "lack-luster."

We did handle him frequently before going to the vet then we learned to let him be while he adjust to his new home. Since he has been home he has "looked" at me (meaning facing ME) and opened his mouth very wide. It alarms me and I am sure he smells fear pheremones (of course I know my 18 inch snake is not going to eat me). He did not strike or lunge at me in any way. Occasionally he appears to star gaze, the vet said he's fine though.

Here are my questions:

1. Why would he open his mouth towards me like that? I handled him many times before he went to the vet (yes we are sure we got the same snake back). It took me some time to get the nerve to handle him but after I did it I was fine with it. Now I am nervous with him again and do not want to handle him until I can do so without being afraid of him. I would hate to have a knee-jerk reaction and drop the little fella.

2. Because his eyes are cloudy is it still ok to feed him? I have understood he cannot "see" me as clearly and I do not want to startle him or risk being bit. Actually, I will not be taking part in the feeding process as my husband is in charge of that. I would just like to know if pre-shed is a bad time to feed. I know we should move slowly with them and not startle them, it would seem this is a bad time to offer food but we are newbs.

4. How do you keep a tank at 70% humidity? I am in southern Florida, the humidity here is at 60%, his tank is at 55% right now. I know it needs to be closer to 70%. Am I not misting it enough?

Thank you so much for your help, I appreciate it.

[LadyOhh]

If he's trying to bite you, he is stressed out. Leave him be for a while, as he is in shed and more "pissy"

You can try and feed him, but he more likely will not take it than will. It wouldn't hurt to try if you really feed the need.

There is no number 3

Put a water dish over your warm area. They will help.

[littleindiangirl]

More than likely he was readjusting his jaw, or yawning. It's common for them to do, it's just his way of stretching.

He would have struck at you and remained highly agitate if he was acting defensivly.

You can cover most of the tanks screen lid with either foil or plexi glass to hold humidity up to 65% for shedding. Just mist once or twice a day and your all set.

[Peter Williams]

I wouldn't worry about him "opening his mouth" it just sounds like he's yawning. It's not like a dog bearing it's teeth at you.

[ArmyWife98]

There is no number 3

.

LOL! Yes, I had a number 3 and then answered my own question with a bit more research.

[ArmyWife98]

What each of you has said makes sense. He did not strike at all and has not done it again since the day we brought him home from the vet. My husband had him out last night (he seems to like television) and Max paid me no attention whatsoever. They did tell us the medication they rub the snakes down with to treat mites can make them grumpy. And yet, they insisted it did not irritate the skin. Hmmm...that sounds fishy to me.

I did assume it was something comparable to a dog bearing it's teeth. We kept joking that he was sizing me up and deciding if he could take me. I feel much better with this information. I didn't want to handle him again until I felt confident doing so.

We have decided to feed frozen mice, we're going to try one tonight and see how it goes. If he refuses to eat we'll try again in a week.

Thanks to all for taking the time to reply.

[JLC]

Hi and welcome to BP.net!

If you've got a consistent humidity of around 55%...you probably don't need to worry about it. He should shed fine. If he turns out to be a difficult shedder (uncommon but not unheard of) then you may need to work on raising the humidity each time he goes into shed. But I wouldn't go to that effort unless you really need to. He should be fine at 55%.

You also may find that you have a new infestation of mites in a couple of weeks from eggs hatching in the enclosure he was kept in before the vet treatment. Do a google for Provent-a-Mite and order some....read the directions carefully and treat his enclosure and you should be mite free for good.

Good luck with him! Let us know how his first feedings go!