Plans....

Yeah, I think that's a good plan. Poor guy probably hasn't been socialized properly and is way stressed out over the move. You can try throwing a washcloth over his eyes when you open the cage if you need to handle or move him. It may calm him a little.

well i am off to bed, thanks for all the advice

Sure, good night.

Maybe something like this...

https://ball-pythons.net/albums/albu...and_bottom.jpg

Sure, that would definitely work. I had envisioned something even simpler, like just two sheets of hardware cloth composing the top of the enclosure. You could also do one sheet of hardware cloth and then two inches above that the solid top with the mesh circles as you illustrated above.