Update on my Ball Python Duke

I've had duke for almost three months, he is doing very well. He hasn't missed a feeding and eats every 5-7 days. I recently moved him into another room and had some concerns with him not using his cool side hide but I replaced it with a slightly larger one (same as on his warm side) and he now uses them both. In the past few days he has been soaking in his water dish but I can't find anything wrong with him so I'm assuming he just likes it since he seems exactly the same otherwise. He has grown quite a bit in thickness and length.

He loves to climb and almost every night he'll make his way up the vine in the first picture or he'll climb the plant on the cool side. He doesn't seem to mind being handled and a I hold him 4-5 times a week for 10-15 minutes at a time. I'll often see him with 2-3 inches of stuck out of the hides just looking around or smelling with his tongue. He seems to be pretty active in the night, I never know where to find him in the morning since he could be almost anywhere. Also during the day he is rarely active so I'm thinking everything is going great.

Here is a picture of when I first got him in May and a few shots from today. What do you think of the progress?

Duke about a week after I got him:

http://img23.imageshack.us/img23/702...3210475444.jpg

Duke today (entering cool side hide):

http://img36.imageshack.us/img36/312...4150506503.jpg

http://img36.imageshack.us/img36/993...4160527489.jpg

http://img22.imageshack.us/img22/651...4170548094.jpg

http://img31.imageshack.us/img31/132...4190564102.jpg

What do you think?

duke is cute and thats a nice enclosure

Very nice looking snake!

luv the enclosure. is it hard to clean?

very nice looking good

Duke is a cute little guy, keep up the good work with him.:gj:

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Originally Posted by DarkComeSoon

duke is cute and thats a nice enclosure

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Thanks, I think so too.

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Originally Posted by python1024

Very nice looking snake!

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Yeah, he's easy to love.

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Originally Posted by h4y4sh1

luv the enclosure. is it hard to clean?

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Not really hard to clean. I clean the substrate by spot cleaning and replace as needed. The trees, water dish and caves are cleaned regularly. The glass is super easy to clean because of the front doors and easy to remove screen top.

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Originally Posted by luna13

very nice looking good

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Thanks.

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Originally Posted by Oroborous

Duke is a cute little guy, keep up the good work with him.:gj:

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Yeah, he seems to be doing well. He is my first reptile so I sometime worry too much when he changes his habits. I guess I'm over protective. He has been soaking in his water dish these past couple of days and I've really never seen him stay in the water for more than a few minutes before this. Everything seems to check out with him so I think he just likes in, in fact my wife started saying "Oh look Duke is in his pool again". LOL.