Help! I've never heard of this before.

There's no reason you can't continue to feed him mice if he's intimidated by rats. But he does need more than 3 or 4 a month. 3 a week would be better. Get a gram scale and weigh him. He should get about 10-15% of his body weight each week. My 1 1/2 year old female is a mouse eater and she gets 3 jumbo mice every Sunday night and she's nice and plump and happy with that.

Please don't poke those swellings yourself - have a vet do it. There is a lot more involved with lancing than you might think and lancing can cause more trouble than it's worth. Sounds like a vet visit is in order. Keep us posted!

Nani is in a 55-gallon tank with an infrared heat lamp (on at night), broad-light heat lamp, and an undertank heater (not all of these are on at the same time--ever). He has a large water dish that he wants nothing to do with, a log hide that he spends most of his time at, and a piece of driftwood that he likes. Three sides of it has a background. His original owner had him on gravel -_- but I switched it to sand, and he really likes it. Average temperature floats between 80-83 degrees, sometimes more or less.

I have a separate tank for feeding, which is only lined with paper towels/junk mail/nothing. Sometimes, he gets fed in the bathtub, as that tank is going to be a home for my tarantula when he is big enough.

Also, he recently defecated, so I know it's not impaction (something to look out for with sand-I know).

Get rid of that sand. Its going to hold bacteria from his poop/urine and may be causing infections/scale rot. Put him on paper towels or newspaper for now.

I would also suggest getting him out of that big tank and setting him up in a tub set up. Tanks are very bad at holding heat and humidity.

No bright lighting, they do not like it. Only use red bulbs if you have too. Like if your house is too cold to keep the ambient temps up. But the bulbs are going to sap the humidity out of his air and cause him to have bad sheds.

You need to go out and get a couple things.

1. Lamp dimmer. (Get at lowe's or home depot for about $10)

2. Accurite thermometer with probe (Get at walmart/lowes/depot for about $10)

Hook your heating pad into the lamp dimmer. Tape the thermometer probe to the heat pad directly. NOT in the tank, tape the probe on the heating pad outside of the tank.

Fiddle with the dimmer for a while until your temps are about 92-95. I keep mine at around 96-97 because of the air pocket in between the pad and the tub/tank. This way it's about 93-95 in his tub.

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Originally Posted by AkHerps

Get rid of that sand. Its going to hold bacteria from his poop/urine and may be causing infections/scale rot. Put him on paper towels or newspaper for now.

I would also suggest getting him out of that big tank and setting him up in a tub set up. Tanks are very bad at holding heat and humidity.

No bright lighting, they do not like it. Only use red bulbs if you have too. Like if your house is too cold to keep the ambient temps up. But the bulbs are going to sap the humidity out of his air and cause him to have bad sheds.

You need to go out and get a couple things.

1. Lamp dimmer. (Get at lowe's or home depot for about $10)

2. Accurite thermometer with probe (Get at walmart/lowes/depot for about $10)

Hook your heating pad into the lamp dimmer. Tape the thermometer probe to the heat pad directly. NOT in the tank, tape the probe on the heating pad outside of the tank.

Fiddle with the dimmer for a while until your temps are about 92-95. I keep mine at around 96-97 because of the air pocket in between the pad and the tub/tank. This way it's about 93-95 in his tub.

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Absolutely agree with this! Sand = big no no. Put him on the paper towels for now til you know what's wrong with him. Once he's better or deemed ok by your vet, you can use aspen or cyprus mulch if you prefer something more natural. But you won't be sorry you used the paper towels in the meantime.

And do get the dimmer and accurite. You won't be sorry you did this either.

He may not have an impaction, but that sand could be causing other issues such as scale rot or a bacterial infection. Sand harbors all kinds of bacteria even when you think it's really clean. Just an fyi....

You definately need a digital thermometer with a probe so you can accurately measure the ground temps. The lamps get way to hot if not controlled and this could have burnt your snake which is what it sounds like to me! I would get rid of the lamps! You also need better hides! You need one on the cool side and one on the warm side which has only one opening and just big enough for the snake. A five year old ball that is just under 3 feet is definately underfed! He should be about 4 feet and I would start by feeding two mice a week then go to 3 mice after a few weeks! Pics of the snake, his injury and the setup would be great help in finding the problem! Here is a caresheet which will help you have a happy snake if you follow it: http://ball-pythons.net/forums/showt...ius)-Caresheet GOOD LUCK!!!