What are some signs of a stressed ball?

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Originally Posted by Mjohnston

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I have had my juvenile ball python almost a week. He ate on day 2, sleeps in the corner (not under but behind the hide) the entire time the basking light is on, has never balled up, hissed, or struck at me. He passed the rat pup on day 4, and I have only rubbed his back on day 4 and briefly held him on day 5. When the light goes out, he wakes slowly and then spends a couple hours trying to find a way out. He will rest in between attempts but generally works at it pretty hard...climbing the sides and falling down a lot. I'm worried that he's stressed because I generally see much less activity in videos of other snakes. Is this pretty normal or should I be concerned?

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How big is his enclosure? How secluded is it? It's relatively common nature for ball pythons to sniff around and even attempt to find escape routes at night, but if he's doing it too much it could be because he doesn't feel secure where he is.