(Semi) newbie here with many, MANY questions!

Congrats! He's gorgeous and I'm super jelly! I always had a thing for Bananas!

He has a name too. Zebes (zeh-bess), after the planet from the Metroid games.

Funny story, I nearly fainted right after taking that pic (also why it looks unfocused and the fuzz at the bottom). I'm not a morning person but I got up early since he was supposed to arrive around 10:30AM, but he didn't get here until after 3PM. And all the while I was sleep-deprived while dealing with the excitement and anxiety of the wait and the rush from holding him in my hand for the first time was too much all at once. :oops:

Everything's okay now though. He's safe and sound exploring his new home so I'm going to see if I can't take a nap.

Okay, I REALLY need some sort of lighting in there, can't see him at all without fuddling around with the lid and stuff. But might as well leave things as is for now since the darkness makes him feel more secure during the acclimation period. In fact he feels so secure that after his initial survey of his new home he seems content to rest just outside the log hide in the hot spot area since there's so much fake foliage that covers him.

All's gone well so far. He's spent all day sleeping in his warm side hide so he's gotten cozy, but I think he might be hungry. Checked on him just now and he tried to strike (and bonked the glass). Did the same thing last night but I think he was just startled because I heard a bump and he apparently had a little tumble from one of his climbing branches. It's been a week since his last feeding before he made the journey home so should I feed him tomorrow or should I wait a couple more days?

Those sounds like defensive strikes. Give him a week to really settle in and then try to feed next Thursday or Friday.

What was he taking from the breeder?

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Originally Posted by Mr. Misha

Those sounds like defensive strikes. Give him a week to really settle in and then try to feed next Thursday or Friday.

What was he taking from the breeder?

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You're more than likely right. He didn't act defensive when I first got him out of the box despite being quite active (it was perfectly warm weather when he traveled) but I guess that was more out of surprise and shock from the trip. At any rate I've been doing as much as possible to not disturb him while still checking in periodically to change the water and monitor the enclosure. The most I did was when he had the little tumble last night and I gave him a slight poke to see if there was any injury when he moved, but he was fine.

And the breeder had him on live hopper mice, so I'm going to feed him accordingly for the initial couple feedings before attempting F/T just to make sure he starts eating first. Figured that I should wait the full week before his first meal as per instructions, but I asked just in case the strikes were a feeding response or not. I have studied up on snake behavioral signals but of course, watching videos can only do so much compared to live experience.

So, I was out of the house most of the day and when I came downstairs he was actually out of his hide in full view for the first time since he arrived. But he quickly slinked back into his hide a couple minutes later with the nearby lamp on and it made me wonder, is a little bit of light leeching into the enclosure from stuff like shaded lamps and a TV okay during some of the night? Or is that too much of a disturbance? Also the TV is right next to the tank (but horizontally so the tank isn't directly facing it) so is that also a noise issue? It's not all that bright and the enclosure's still pretty dim unless I have the direct overhead lights on (which I rarely turn on anyway). Three sides are blocked by black foam board so really only light from the front gets in.

I'm likely worrywarting again and he probably simply wanted to hide from the giant scary human more than anything else, but I'm just trying to make sure I'm doing everything correctly.

Oh, I forgot to do one last important thing. Keeping records.

Got an unused notebook and wrote down all his information. Hatch date, arrival, last meal, current weight, ect. Actually just weighed him now since I forgot to do it when he came in and he's 95 grams at 2 months old. That's normal right? I looked him over and he doesn't appear thin otherwise so I'm assuming he's normal weight. Will give him his first meal on Friday so hopefully that goes well.

I'm having humidity issues. It was staying in the 50's for the most part but the weather's been warmer so the AC is on, which means the inside air is dryer even in the basement. That and I turned the thermostat up a couple degrees as it kept dipping below the desired ambient temperature for some reason despite setting it at 80, which obviously saps the moisture even more and now it's dipped into the 40's. What also doesn't help is that the lid clamps I have on either side get in the way of the foil panels just slightly so they aren't properly flush with the top.

Been spritzing with the spray bottle periodically to make sure the levels don't get too low for now, but when I go out to get his first meal (remember he's on live from the breeder and I want to make sure he's eating first) I'll pick up some sphagnum moss to distribute around the tank plus make a humidity box for him.

What kind of substrate are you using? I use a weird combo of ecoearth, cypress mulch, sphagnum moss and some coconut husk. It holds humidity pretty decently for me.