Making sure everything is Legit

Hi everybody! I'm new to Ball Pythons and to this forum. Just yesterday I bought a Black Eyed Leucistic BP from pythonregius.com. I named her "Ghost". She is a beautiful snake! I just wanted some feedback on some things I was curious about. After dropping $1400 on her I want to make sure I'm doing everything right.

For starters, when she was delivered to me yesterday she was very cold when I took her out of the baggie she came in. The night she was shipped to me it got pretty cold, and no heat packets were packed with her. I instantly put her in the basking spot of her enclosure where she layed for a good half hour before moving. She explored a little bit, then found a nice high place in the tank to hang out. One thing I noticed is that she seems to be taking semi-deep breaths. She isn't wheezing or yawning indicating a respiratory infection. Just what seems to be deep panicked breaths to me. So I want to make sure that is not something I should worry about.

as for the past day she has been chilling in her cave with the heat pad, and hasnt moved much. I've noticed she seems to throw a hissy fit (literally) when I put my hand in the tank. She has struck at me a couple times so far. even when I'm observing her from outside the tank she strikes. But if I'm not mistaken it may be just because she is getting used to her new home. I'm trying to give her some space to acclimate

As for her setup, I've got her in a 40 breeder with a deep layers of coco husk mixed with eco earth soil. She has plenty of vines and plants. As for lighting I have a 75w red bulb. her heating seems to be where it needs to be, but I was worried about how deep of water I should have for her. What I did is I glued a peice of glass to modify the tank to have 1/4 of it have water in it. It has a waterfall filter and a fogger to keep up humidity and water quality. I was just wondering if 3 inches would be too deep for a ball python. Could I go deeper if I wanted? I just dont want her to drown.

Just let me know if any of this throws up red flags with you guys so that I can make the proper adjustments to her needs. Thanks!!

-Joe

That sounds cool, but that much water isn't really needed. A water bowl would be fine, and damp eco earth would keep the humidity pretty close to where it needs to be. And don't worry about the breathing, what you described is normal. mine do it everytime I open the tubs on my racks.

Oh, but overall. If your temp. and humidity is correct then your set and make sure you have a hide for her.

It's a pretty sweet setup, shes got a warm dry hiding spot and a cool damp hiding spot. the water section was just a way for me to utilize the extra space so she could go for a swim if she wanted too. Plus it just straight up looks cool! I might get a few feeder guppies to put in there if it doesnt sully the water. I think the waterfall filter should work well enough.
But should I b concerned about her arriving so cold when she was shipped to me?
She is being pretty active now that its dark. I saw her drinking from her little pond :)

A 40 gallon is pretty big for a hatchling. It might make her nervous and/or snappy. The water shouldn't be too deep, as hatchlings can drown. It also sounds like your setup might have humidity that's too high (the waterfall/fogger are probably unnecessary), what's it at currently? The heat lamp isn't necessary unless you have low ambient temperatures, although it will probably help keep the humidity from getting too high.

In a nutshell, make sure the ambient temperature is 80, that the hot spot stays at around 90, and that the humidity is 60% (give or take a bit). Make sure she has plenty of hides in such a big tank.

Congrats on getting such a beautiful morph. :)

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Singularity28

It's a pretty sweet setup, shes got a warm dry hiding spot and a cool damp hiding spot. the water section was just a way for me to utilize the extra space so she could go for a swim if she wanted too. Plus it just straight up looks cool! I might get a few feeder guppies to put in there if it doesnt sully the water. I think the waterfall filter should work well enough.
But should I b concerned about her arriving so cold when she was shipped to me?
She is being pretty active now that its dark. I saw her drinking from her little pond :)

---

I would love to see pictures; it sounds pretty amazing!

If she seems fine now, she probably will be, but it doesn't hurt to be vigilant about such things. It's a shame they didn't give her a heat pack. :(

Okay! I'll get some pics up tomorrow. Maybe even a youtube vid. I like showing her off.
But yeh, I only run the fogger for total of like an hour a day to jump the humidity if it falls below 50%
I have a Panther Chameleon and he has pretty high care needs as well, so Im sure I'll do fine.
Just wanna make sure the experts give me the thumbs up

Depending on temps heat packs arent usually required in summer. If lows dont drop below 60F heat packs arent required.

Remember its best the snake arrive cool than warm. Overheated snake has more problems than one that got cold for few hours.

Well actually The weather pulled a fast one and it got damn near freezing the night she was shipped.
When she got here she was inside of a box, inside of styrofoam, surrounded by newspaper in a inside of a little pouch. So i'm sure there was somewhats of some insulation. Plus she was overnight priority shipped.

She didnt feel frozen, but she was cold. Colder than a snake should be. But I think she is acting normal now

I am sure she is going to be fine with time sounds like you got everytihing set up correctly and you have a great addition to your house
Robie