New here, with a baby bp, few nervous questions.

Okay!!! Hello everyone ^_^;

Ive done alot of researching and just because i don't put blind faith in the internet, Ive come here. I even asked the pet store a few things about him/her?
Not sure yet. Vet visit is tomorrow :D Lets call my BP a she for now.

So I chose her because... well, she seemed shy. I should have known better than to go straight to the least active one, but i have a thing for those who are shy. and her colors are a bit mor yellow and vivid.

Things ive noticed though is her breathing seems to be rather hastey. Like quick deep breaths in patterns of 4-5 then a pause for a bit, rinse repeat.

I hope its not a respitory infection or anything like ive read about, and maybe she's just nervous. I'll get back to the nervousness later.

Other thing is her skin seems.. too big. Its not wrinkled or wripple, but in some places it just seems like theres just a pinch extra. Pet store says that can happen with babies sometimes. But again... Vet visit tomorrow. Any word on this?

Ive been having trouble keeping her humidity at 70% so i just bought some tropical substrate dirt mix (just add water stuff) and plan to mix that in with the dry wood shavings as recomended by the pet shop. But while ive been asleep the past 3 nights her humidity drops to 40-50% and her temp stays at about 80, but i put a towel over the tank last night to try and keep the moisture in, and all that did was raise the temp to near 100, and I almost had a heart attack. Never doing that again, I should have known better once more.

I wanted to make sure she was okay, so i picked up her crawl rock and revealed her, she seemed nervous and when i began misting the other side of the tank she made a few quick strikes from the other side of the glass. I probably woke her up and scared her half to death...

But there it is, you guys now know everything, it hasnt come feeding time yet so i dont know if she'll eat, when she's comfortable she'll explore and climb up the glass sides, so she seems pretty active.

Opinions please if you don't mind? >_<;; sorry if i sound like a terrible owner, i promise im trying D:

Well my first word of advice would be to leave her alone completely for over a week, like no checking, touching, petting, uncovering..nothing. She is stressed. Going from one place to a whole new home is a big thing for a snake. How long have you had her? As far as her skin seeming "big", she may be ready to shed, she may be dehydrated, or she may be underweight. It depends on where you got her from, if it's Petco or the sorts she is probably a mix of dehydrated and underweight. They have no idea what they are talking about when it comes to husbandry.

As far as the humidity, are you using a heat light? What is your heat source? The lamps dry out humidity, what are you using to measure humidity? Analog guages are not accurate, for humidity or temperature. They make these neat digital ones, they are cheap at Walmart or online that you should definitely get.
http://www.amazon.com/Chaney-Instrum...6265089&sr=8-3

If she active anytime except for a small window at night, that means she is stressed out. A hiding ball python is a happy ball python.

I don't advise you to feed her until after you've left her alone for a week. Give us more info on what you use for heat, measuring heat and humidity, how many hides does she have, etc. And don't be sorry, we all start out somewhere, we were all new once. You learn as you go, just let us know what your setup is like and we'll do our best to help you change it if needed. And welcome to the site :D

first off, congrats on your new baby!
alright, a lot of your concerns are actually normal python behavior. Most species of snakes only have one functioning lung, and the way they breath is a rhythm close to what you described, with a small period of apnea. The skin is normal, even my 3 year old has loose skin; especially after eating. The humidity in your tank does not need to be as unchanging as your temps (though 100% isn't good). In fact, most owners like to offer their snakes higher humidities (70%) only during shed. To help with the taming process, only use slow and measured movements around her for now (never touch her head unless she really calms down with you). Do cage maintenance in steps, allowing her to deal with the intrusion. But for the most part, leave her alone until after she gets used to her new home

There have been some good points made here already, but a picture of her "pinched" skin will help us identify that problem, if there is one. What comes to mind is dehydration. Sometimes they'll appear a bit wrinkly in places if their humidity was too low, which is very common in pet stores. It should be kept between 50-60% while not in shed, closer to 70% during entire shed cycle. You can cover the majority of the top of the tank with a towel or aluminum foil, just be sure you have the under tank heater on a dimmer or thermostat so you can lower the temperature after covering the top.


Sounds like this new baby is in good hands :) Glad to see you're trying so hard to get everything right. It will probably take at least a few days to get temps/humidity stable, which is why most people recommend setting up the enclosure before bringing home the animal, but that can not always be done. All you can do is keep tweaking it a bit at a time until it's in the proper ballpark. :)

Congrats on the new 'girl.':gj:
I don't have anything to add. You have great advice from everyone:)
I know that you're still wrangling things but when she's ready we would love to see some photos of her.

the bulb is a 65W daylight heat bulb, its a mere 5.5 galon tank at the moment, was going to purchase a $159 one today with front opening doors, but Im a tattoo artist and my income fluctuates, so I figured Ide give it a week and make sure my bills are stable for the moment.

I'm uploading pictures currently, i didn't wish to disturb her so i didn't take her out of her thing for the pictures. but I hope you can kind of see what i'm talking about with her skin ^^ Pictures may be about 5-10 minutes

EDIT!

Forgot to mention, i have a dual temp / humidity meter thing, its like 2 spedometers.
and i bought her from B&B they seem to be REALLY good with their care for animals.

The people there will not let you purchase an animal if you seem unfit. But i bought her when i went in for some crickets for my girlfriends beardy, and they were having a reptile show/convention. and many baby snakes and monitors, and... roaches. *shrug* but i think they said she's about a month old.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Iaunu

the bulb is a 65W daylight heat bulb, its a mere 5.5 galon tank at the moment, was going to purchase a $159 one today with front opening doors, but Im a tattoo artist and my income fluctuates, so I figured Ide give it a week and make sure my bills are stable for the moment.

I'm uploading pictures currently, i didn't wish to disturb her so i didn't take her out of her thing for the pictures. but I hope you can kind of see what i'm talking about with her skin ^^ Pictures may be about 5-10 minutes

EDIT!

Forgot to mention, i have a dual temp / humidity meter thing, its like 2 spedometers.
and i bought her from B&B they seem to be REALLY good with their care for animals.

The people there will not let you purchase an animal if you seem unfit. But i bought her when i went in for some crickets for my girlfriends beardy, and they were having a reptile show/convention. and many baby snakes and monitors, and... roaches. *shrug* but i think they said she's about a month old.

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She definitely needs a bigger tank...if you are going to have a tank a 20 gallon long will suffice. I wouldn't go much smaller as she will grow out of it quickly, and I wouldn't go much bigger as she will not feel secure enough. Those guages are junk...they are inaccurate. Like I said in the last post you will need the digital thermometer/hygrometer. As far as your heat source, not only are they tough to get the temps right, but they will kill any humidity you do have.

I advise you to get an under tank heater connected to a thermostat/rheostat/dimmer. The lamp dimer is the cheapest, you can find one at Home Depot or the sorts for under $10. You will need to check the temps multiple times a day. Thermostats are more expensive, cheapest being $30 on amazon to about $120, but all you do is set the temp and leave it. Belly heat is more beneficial to the snake as it helps with digestion, and keeps all humidity inside the tank.

You should have two identical hides, one on the cool side and one on the hot side. This allows the snake to thermoregulate their body temp without feeling insecure.

Edit: Also when you get your new tank (which you can probably find cheap on craigslist, they are everywhere with the locking screen lid for dirt cheap) you should get some black Con-Tact adhesive paper from Home Depot for about $6...black out the sides and back on the tank, it helps them feel more safe and can help with her skittishness.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Iaunu

Im a tattoo artist and my income fluctuates, so I figured Ide give it a week and make sure my bills are stable for the moment.

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On a side note...I'd love to see pics of your work! I love tats:D

http://a6.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphot..._6223004_n.jpg


http://a5.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphot..._3302496_n.jpg


Perhaps you can sort of see the wrinkle in this one? the lengthy one in direct focus, then just a little above where she bends, its hard to see, but its there.

http://i71.photobucket.com/albums/i1..._7228246_o.jpg

Her terrarium is kindof pathetic looking now that i'm posting it... @_@;; one more good tattoo and i can upgrade to something much better, but i'll not move her anymore for atleast a week as was guided, but i'll set up the terrarium and make sure its perfect long before the move!

she says " Oh hai..."
http://a2.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphot...8_510284_n.jpg

Honestly, she can do fine in that (not happily, but fine, I've seen ball pythons survive in much, much, much worse), but once you change it you'll have to wait another week before handling or anything, so there is no harm in doing it asap. Especially since you don't know the temps or the humidity, which is a very important thing. Those lights get hot, especially for such a small tank, and the guage is not accurate.