new to BP's

[lee]

Hello everyone I'm new here. I recently(two days ago) purchased my first snake a 4yr old BP. She has been handled a lot but I'm not sure how much time she needs to get used to me and how soon I should try to handle her. She doesnt seem agressive but I am not sure how to tell the difference between aggressive or nervous. Any help or advice will be greatly appreciated guys and girls

btw her name is Cleo...

[FatBoy]

Give Cleo about a week to get settled in before handleing her. Good luck with your new addiction.

[Ed Chisholm]

Lee,

I am not an expert, relatively new to BP's and this site, but I hope I can help. From reading a LOT of these threads to gain the knowledge I hope to use to make my BP, aka "Viper," a happy little snake, I think I my be able to give a bit of advice. The experts say to leave your BP alone and do not handle for at least a week after bringing it home to it's new enviornment. If you adjust or change it's surroundings, they say to give it a week to re-adjust.
My snake has not ever struck at me or my children (fingers crossed), but they say the bite is not bad if it happens. I have also read that if they do strike to go ahead and handle them so that they do not "learn" to strike to get what they want.
I hope this helps, and that I did not offend any of the crew here that know a GREAT deal more than me.
Good luck.

[spiderfan]

The good part about Bp's is their mostly docile nature so i wouldn't be too afraid of it being aggressive. i would definately give it atleast a few days to settle into its new enclosure/surroundings and de-stress. when you do go to take it out move in slow and go from there. be gentle and smooth and keep it close to you and supported and it should do just fine. Good luck and welcome to the bp world.

[lee]

Hey thank you everyone for your replies. I did get her out this evening cause I couln't help myself and she was awesome!! really calm she was but she is used to being handled and I set her home up like she is used to so it should be somewhat familiar. Thanks again everyone and I'm sure I'll have more questions in the future :p

[blackcrystal22]

I'm sure, as a new time owner, your husbandry will be a bit bumpy. Our job here is to help smooth that out for you.

A first step would be to take a picture of the snake, and the enclosure you have her set up in.

Take a good look at this care sheet and follow it down to it's last period.
http://www.ball-pythons.net/modules/...warticle&id=59

Good luck and have fun!

[NeGum]

The good part about Bp's is their mostly docile nature so i wouldn't be too afraid of it being aggressive. i would definately give it atleast a few days to settle into its new enclosure/surroundings and de-stress. when you do go to take it out move in slow and go from there. be gentle and smooth and keep it close to you and supported and it should do just fine. Good luck and welcome to the bp world.

I agree with this. She will not bite you unless you have the smell of food on your hands or you just do somethine stupid.

Good luck with your new BP!! If you have any more questions just ask around, everyone here is a great help!

[llovelace]

[RebelYell83]

i cant say ALL ball pythons are nice,i have a pastel that used to be anything but nice,and i have seen some nasty tempered ones,,but luckily,those arent very often.I ususally dont handle at all until they take thier first meal,once they do that,,then let the fun begin

[lee]

I will be postin pics of Cleo and her enclosure as soon as I can. Its not like it should be I know. I bought her with the tank, a water bowl, a screen top, some plastic grasslike underlayment, a stick, heat lamp, and a heat rock.

I've taken the heat rock out and put a UTH in but its not good enough to keep the heat where it should be so I'm till using the lamp for now. I will be getting a red heat bulb to replace the light in it. with a humidifier beside the tank i can keep the hum. 40-50% but thats about as high as i can get it. If I put a wet towel over part of the top it jumps to about 90% so some suggestions would help me there. I fashioned a crude hide out of a shoebox for her as she had nothing and I thought coming into a new place she would want one. I put foil over 3/4 of the screen top to help with temp and hum. and with the setup i have I am at 75-78 at the cool end and 85-89 at the warm end. let me know what I can do different