Stupid Question

Ok, so I'm gonna ask this, and it's probably stupid but I'm gonna do it anyway. How do you know when your BP is upset or agitated? I have had mine for literally 3 days. She's the first one I've ever had so I'm not to sure at all what to expect :confused:.
From what I can tell from what I have read so far they tend to get kind of upset when you first get them home because of the new surroundings. Angel hasn't done anything that would make me think she was upset, I've even had her out of the tank several times (by several I mean 3 :oops:) and no reaction.
Should I try and feed her and see if she will eat? She's just completely mellow and acts like nothing about her life has changed. Could it have something to do with the store owner giving me the tank, water bowl, and light she had while she was in the store?
I have since added a rock hide and an under tank heater because my apartment is freezing. She digs the rock, although it's really too small for her to get all the way inside, I haven't found anything else to use as a second hide just yet :snake:.
I hope I don't sound like a complete idiot, just in the time I've had her I'm pretty much obsessed with her and I really don't want anything to go wrong. I'm so nervous hahaha! :oops: :D

lol, I have one that has been calm like you described from the moment we got her, she ate the day after we got her and has never missed a meal.

she will need two hides eventually ( I have a girl who loves tissue boxes lol) but there is no harm in offering her food.

Well you really won't be able to tell that she is 'upset' but you will be able to tell if she is frightened. For example if a snake is alert and looking around and you move too quickly they will jerk their heads back into their body, almost balling up. This means they are frightened. When they are balled up, they are being shy. Some ball pythons stay balled up forever and some don't! It really depends on the snake.

As for feeding you should probably wait a week and then feed. She may have the original tank she was in, but I'm sure the temperature change could've been stressful. After a week I'm sure she won't refuse a meal. :)

What kind of temps do you have setup for her? Cold side and warm side? Also if you have a UTH (under tank heater) I would definitely recommend using a thermostat otherwise your ball python could get burns.
What substrate do you have?

Sorry for so many questions :)
Congrats on being a new owner. You will love you new ball python shy or not.

Where the under tank heater is it's about 92 and the other side is 80. I need to get a better thermometer or something I don't think the one I have right now is right. I was thinking about getting ZooMed Rheostat to plug the UTH and the lamp into. I was kind of nervous about that UTH because the directions said they "preferred" it to be placed on the side of the tank, but I didn't really see how that was going to do her any good since she's not really hanging out on the side of the tank...
The substrate they changed out and put new stuff in the tank before they gave it to me. It reminds me of the shaving you can buy at farm stores for horse stalls :D. I guess pine maybe I honestly can't say for sure :oops:...
She's just so... I don't know doesn't act like she cares about anything. Loud noises, people walking around, the dog barking, she doesn't even flinch :cool:.
The store owner said the last time she ate was last Wednesday and she typically eats about every 2 weeks.
I'm just so new at this I feel like I'm fumbling around in the dark to a point. The last reptile I had was a green iguana in high school and he was pretty easy to deal with... although he really enjoyed smacking the cat in the face with his tail :D ;)

Hahah I would love to have a house roaming iguana someday.
It's normal for her to ignore the rest of the world. I think it's better that way.
Pine shavings might now keep humidity up the best since it tends to dry tanks out so much.

How old is she? I think for almost all ball python sizes and ages the minimum is once a week for feeding. A picture of her next to a dollar for size reference would help the most to judge her size, what she should be eating, and how often.

Well, getting the picture next to the dollar was tricker than I thought it was gonna be, she was gonna make her way off the counter at all costs :oops:. So sorry for my failed attempts, hopefully you can get a general idea of how big she is. The store owner said he wasn't exactly sure how old she is since she was an owner surrender, he said she's 2 or 3 years old though...
http://i172.photobucket.com/albums/w...3/IMAG0032.jpg
http://i172.photobucket.com/albums/w...3/IMAG0033.jpg

She is pretty good sized I think she could handle small to medium rats.

That does look like pine shavings for the substrate. I am no expert on this but some say pine is bad for snakes because of the pine oils when you go to buy more if you want to stick with wood chips I would get aspen.

A lot of people here like to use news paper or paper towels on the bottom of their tanks when the snake makes a mess you can just replace it.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by tequilasunrize03

Where the under tank heater is it's about 92 and the other side is 80. I need to get a better thermometer or something I don't think the one I have right now is right. I was thinking about getting ZooMed Rheostat to plug the UTH and the lamp into. I was kind of nervous about that UTH because the directions said they "preferred" it to be placed on the side of the tank, but I didn't really see how that was going to do her any good since she's not really hanging out on the side of the tank...
The substrate they changed out and put new stuff in the tank before they gave it to me. It reminds me of the shaving you can buy at farm stores for horse stalls :D. I guess pine maybe I honestly can't say for sure :oops:...
She's just so... I don't know doesn't act like she cares about anything. Loud noises, people walking around, the dog barking, she doesn't even flinch :cool:.
The store owner said the last time she ate was last Wednesday and she typically eats about every 2 weeks.
I'm just so new at this I feel like I'm fumbling around in the dark to a point. The last reptile I had was a green iguana in high school and he was pretty easy to deal with... although he really enjoyed smacking the cat in the face with his tail :D ;)

---

just a fair warning pine/cedar or other scented substrates are generally a no no. it is believed that pine/cedar shavings contain certain properties that could cause long term damage. I myself have never thoroughly researched the topic in depth but the way I see it why chance it when there are so many other substrates to choose from. in my opinion I'd dump the pine pretty soon and pick up either some aspen if you are liking the shavings substrate, Aspen holds humidity well. another great substrate is shredded coconut husk which is very superior at retaining humidity as it will absorb the water you mist onto it and put it back in the air for long periods of time. so yeah recap, get rid of pine.

hope this helps and have fun with your new girl!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk. Xan Powers!

she is a great looking snake. Once a week is fine for her I think a small rat or a mediam rat.

I'm just guessing on the pine substrate, I'm not entirely sure that's what it is cause like I said, the store owner put brand new substrate in the tank when I bought it. He had this stuff in quite a few of the tanks in the store though, even with his 16 year old, 13' long boa (I think it was a boa I can't remember now) that was in the doorway to the reptile room.

He gave me two small rats to feed her and told me she had eaten last Wednesday. I guess I will just wait and feed her on Wednesday and try and stick to what she's already use to. ;) I didn't realize how big she actually was hahaha, she looks huge to me in those pictures with the dollar :oops:!!

Thanks for all your comments and help!!

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by tequilasunrize03

I'm just guessing on the pine substrate, I'm not entirely sure that's what it is cause like I said, the store owner put brand new substrate in the tank when I bought it. He had this stuff in quite a few of the tanks in the store though, even with his 16 year old, 13' long boa (I think it was a boa I can't remember now) that was in the doorway to the reptile room.

He gave me two small rats to feed her and told me she had eaten last Wednesday. I guess I will just wait and feed her on Wednesday and try and stick to what she's already use to. ;) I didn't realize how big she actually was hahaha, she looks huge to me in those pictures with the dollar :oops:!!

Thanks for all your comments and help!!

---

no problem, if you start having humidity problems/bad sheds I'd go to Aspen or coco husk. also verify with the store owner what substrate he uses and go from there


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk. Xan Powers!

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by TomC

She is pretty good sized I think she could handle small to medium rats.

---

I agree, she looks to be of a pretty good size. Try out small rats first, and see how that goes. You should also try to feed her once a week, that should put a bit more weight on her.

She looks very beautiful! :)

I would also say try to find a new bedding, or just use paper towels. I think if you use paper towels you will definitely need a thermostat as the UTH could cause a burn with the substrate being so thin. They tend to get very hot! I measured mine without a Tstat one day and it was 114 degrees! :O So a thermostat is a necessity!

This is the bedding I use for ball python rack...

http://www.petco.com/product/10791/C...1#BVRRWidgetID

It holds humidity well and is white! So it's very easy to spot clean as you just have to look for anything that's not white. :P

When I do feed her is it better to move her to a different place like a tub and then put her back in her normal tank after she's finished? Or if you do this do you leave them in the tub where they ate for a few days before you move them back?:bow::bow:
I really don't want her to start striking at my hand when I reach into her tank because she thinks I'm going to feed her there...

Hmm... well I've done it a couple different ways.
When I just had glass tanks I had problems feeding in the tank. When I would thaw the mice/rats, they would be a little wet and when I put them in the tanks the substrate would get stuck on them! That scared me enough, I didn't want my snakes to swallow the substrate along with the mouse/rat.

Then I switched to moving the snakes to a separate feeding tub. This became a problem too because they got so used to this that I had a couple that would strike at anything that moved. Also a problem because moving them back afterwords was a pain. I was just not comfortable moving the snake back into the tank once it had a full meal in it's belly.

So now what I do is thaw my mice/rats, make sure they are completely dry, which can take a good amount of paper towel. Then I feel comfortable letting the mice/rats touch the bedding. No bedding sticks! It's been working for me ever since.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by tequilasunrize03

When I do feed her is it better to move her to a different place like a tub and then put her back in her normal tank after she's finished? Or if you do this do you leave them in the tub where they ate for a few days before you move them back?:bow::bow:
I really don't want her to start striking at my hand when I reach into her tank because she thinks I'm going to feed her there...

---

as the user above me has already stated it's a pain trying to move them after they eat. hatchlings arent so bad but when you're trying to move a fully grown adult that just ate a medium rat but could definitely eat another if she wanted to she will most certainly be in strike mode for awhile. point is, I've used both ways and I feed out of the normal enclosure since about 3 years ago, saves time and you don't have to worry about trying to put them back in. they shouldn't confuse you with food when you reach in to grab them, just make sure you wait a day or two after feeding to get them out. some people will say less some will say more but in my experience a day or two is plenty. also remember if there is any blood/other excrements from the rat in the tank after feeding it's probably best to change it after that one to two day period.

hope this helps


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk. Xan Powers!

When I first got my BP, the first day I got her, I would take her out of her cage and hold her constantly. I know I shouldn;t have done this, but she didn't seem to care. She has never once missed a feeding ever since I got her about 2 years ago. NOT ONCE. That snake could easily get down a small or medium rat. You sound like your doing fine with he snake.

Just put the f/t mouse on like a paper towl of a paper plate something like.

I'm definitely going to get a different substrate. Last night she decide she was gonna get completely inside that rock at all costs, so she flipped it upside down and now it's laying against the glass and she's underneath of it, hahaha!

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by tequilasunrize03

I'm definitely going to get a different substrate. Last night she decide she was gonna get completely inside that rock at all costs, so she flipped it upside down and now it's laying against the glass and she's underneath of it, hahaha!

---

hahaha yeah my female used to flip her log too.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk. Xan Powers!