New BP and First Setup

[DustinB]

I bought my first BP about 4 weeks ago at Petco. I know it's not the best place but they had him on sale for $29.00. Cheap considering I've spent just over $300 on him. He eats very well and seems to be in excellent health.

I fed him the first 2 times in his tank because he wouldn't take the pinkie in a feeding tub. I tried f/t fuzzies in his tank because he is about 18 in long and about a little thicker than a quarter. He took the fuzzies easily in his tank.

Yesterday I switched him to a feeding tub and I bought a live hopper the ensure he would eat in his tub instead of his tank. I put a hide in the tub with newspaper and a heating pad under the tub (Regular heating pad on low). He took the hopper quickly and without incident.

The only thing is he is still a bit jumpy and strikes at me sometimes so I've been forced to wear gloves when I handle him. I always wait 2 days before handling him after feeding and wait til he wakes up at night before I get him out. I only hold him for 15min at a time and only put him back in the tank when he is calm(not rewarding bad behavior). What is the best way to make him snap out of trying to bite me?

Also, I had one question about my tank setup. I have 2 digi therms and a thermostat. What is the best place to put the temp probes in the substrate? I want to make sure I'm setting the thermostat for the right temps. As you can see in the following pic I've got a 20 Long zilla snake kit with 2 different hides than the one it came with, a small UTH on a thermostat and a heating lamp on the same side as the UTH. Other side is a night bulb. Aspen bedding, 80 degrees on one side and 90 on the other, around 55-60% humidity. Also have a small piece of cardboard on the top middle to trap some moisture.

Thanks

[Kaorte]

Temp probe for the hot side goes right on the glass above the UTH.

An aggressive snake probably means that he is stressed or feels unsafe. Try getting some tighter fitting hides. Sounds like you have a tiny baby on your hands.

It really isn't necessary to feed in a separate enclosure. You can feed him in his home enclosure with no problems.

The cardboard on top will just absorb the moisture, you want something that will keep moisture from exiting the tank. Plastic wrap or tin foil work well.

[bob351]

For the probes i would say one in his warm hide one in the cool hide and one in the middle a bit above the ground for ambient temp. Your ball will eventually get use the handling try to avoid him as much as you can while he is a baby and he should come around on his terms when he is more comfortable with you and his surroundings. Although some snakes just are like this and will never snap out of it only time will really tell how he will turn out.

[k2l3d4]

I bought my first BP about 4 weeks ago at Petco. I know it's not the best place but they had him on sale for $29.00. Cheap considering I've spent just over $300 on him. He eats very well and seems to be in excellent health.

I fed him the first 2 times in his tank because he wouldn't take the pinkie in a feeding tub. I tried f/t fuzzies in his tank because he is about 18 in long and about a little thicker than a quarter. He took the fuzzies easily in his tank.

Yesterday I switched him to a feeding tub and I bought a live hopper the ensure he would eat in his tub instead of his tank. I put a hide in the tub with newspaper and a heating pad under the tub (Regular heating pad on low). He took the hopper quickly and without incident.

The only thing is he is still a bit jumpy and strikes at me sometimes so I've been forced to wear gloves when I handle him. I always wait 2 days before handling him after feeding and wait til he wakes up at night before I get him out. I only hold him for 15min at a time and only put him back in the tank when he is calm(not rewarding bad behavior). What is the best way to make him snap out of trying to bite me?

Also, I had one question about my tank setup. I have 2 digi therms and a thermostat. What is the best place to put the temp probes in the substrate? I want to make sure I'm setting the thermostat for the right temps. As you can see in the following pic I've got a 20 Long zilla snake kit with 2 different hides than the one it came with, a small UTH on a thermostat and a heating lamp on the same side as the UTH. Other side is a night bulb. Aspen bedding, 80 degrees on one side and 90 on the other, around 55-60% humidity. Also have a small piece of cardboard on the top middle to trap some moisture.

Thanks

Hey dude where are you located at? I just got my little guy on May 14th through that same sale...... RWC, CA. Ummm I am not sure where you goy yours but if you got him the same place then as far as I have been able to figure on them is a hatching month of late feb to early march. As far as snapping at you..... Let him bite you a time or two... My little guy tagged me for the first time yesterday. I let him get me a second time and then I let him be for the time being. When I went to pull him out later he did not strike... maybe he realized that I am not going to hurt him and that I am not food.

[RoyalGuardian]

They are snakes.. Snakes bite and there is nothing you can do besides let him be and let him get to know you. He doesn't trust you yet and the gloves wont make that any better. So lose the gloves and give him some time to acclimate to his new house. 1-2 weeks without handling is best for when you first get them. good luck!


Bites really don't hurt all that bad.

[hawaiianice99]

You should replace that dial hydrometer with a digital one, you can get them for like $6 at walmart. I tested both the dials and the digis and the dials were always off, sometimes as much as 20%.

[DustinB]

I'm in Houston, TX. I guess all petcos were doing this sale. I took the advice and made his tank a bit more concealing and put some substrate on one side of his hides to make them a bit smaller inside. He seems to be doing a bit better now.

I only take him out after he wakes up and sticks his head out of the hide. I hold him for about 20-30 min. The first couple of minutes he just sits still until I move a bit and them he starts to explore around my arm, etc... He has also stopped pulling his head back into the S shape so much. I can put my other hand in front of him and he will just stop for a second and move onto it after tasting it. I guess he's mellowing out fairly quick. The leaves definitely made a difference, he comes out of his hide and moves around freely more, mostly behind or partially behind the leaves. I guess they never really stop the S shape though, they just don't bite?

I fed him again today and like the last time he ate without a problem, another live hopper. I decided to keep feeding him in his tub to keep mouse crap out of his tank. Just a little worried about him getting bit by the mouse. He grabbed the mouse on it's side today but wrapped around it in a way he was constricting his own face too, so the mouses head was still away from him.

I've been reading about what to feed him and how much. I know he can eat hoppers ok and I think they are the perfect size for him, but I don't even see a buldge in his body after he eats. Should I maybe be feeding him a mouse or 2 hoppers? He does continue sniffing around his tub after he eats. I don't know if you can judge the size of him properly in this pic but the leaves by his body are about 1 to 1 1/4 inches wide. He's about the same width or so.

[Spaniard]

For dealing with the aggression a snake hook is a great tool to have around. There have been many situations where my trusty snake hook has come to my aid.

You can offer slightly larger prey if you don't see a bulge, especially if he's still roaming. I like to see a bp head for that warm hide after a meal for a nap.

[DustinB]

I've been holding him with bare hands now and he seems to like it alot better than the gloves. He doesn't really try to get away, just explores around me, stopping every now and then to absorb some heat from my hands I'm guessing. I still take him out of the tank with one gloved hand though, I don't know how we would like a stick.

I'm really wondering about his age, they don't have any idea at petco. Did petco tell you anything about age k2l3d4? Mine is about 18" long and about 1 to 1 1/2" thick. I'm guessing somewhere around 6 months? Breeding season in africa is in december right? I think all petco snakes are captive hatched.

[DustinB]

I've had my BP about 6 weeks now and I noticed he still hasn't pooped yet. He has left urates in the tank about 3 times so far. I've fed him 5 times so far, a total of 3 f/t fuzzies and 3 live hoppers. The last time was a left over f/t fuzzy and a live hopper because he still seemed to be hungry. I've actually noticed he looks a little bigger.

He still hasn't shed and doesn't appear to be going into shed yet. How often should a baby BP poop?