Unsure about some things...Some input would be awesome- New-ish Owner

I've had my first ball python for about 5 months now. I've moved to a new house and my ball was acting fine for the first few weeks since the move but the last few weeks he's been behaving...differently. He's been very inactive. I haven't seen him leave his hide voluntarily in at least 2 weeks and I haven't been able to find any stool in his tank. He eats once a week and usually poops in between feedings. So 2 weeks ago I fed him and he didn't poop that week. I waited a few extra days and decided to offer him food and he took it no problem. Its now a week after that, time to feed again, and still I can't find any stool....I soaked him in warm water hoping that would help but its been 2 weeks and 2 mice and no poop! Is that weird?? Should I offer him food again?
Also he hasn't shed or shown signs of preparing to shed in about 2 months....
Tank humidity is 71
Warm side is around 81F
Cool side is around 67F
He looks perfect and is active and inquisitive when I handle him. I have heard of snakes going off food in the colder months of the year but he's still eating fine....just a slower metabolism maybe and thats why hes staying in his hide and not pooping? But should I keep feeding him if he's eating?? I just want to take care of him properly...any input would be awesome.
Thank you.

Temps are low

Temps are too low, and I'd switch to rats as soon as you can. He can eat more than a small mouse a week. I wouldn't worry about the lack of poo, mine go weeks without defecating sometimes. Also, ball pythons are nocturnal, if you see him active during the day that could be a sign of stress. Other than the temp problem, I don't really see much problem just yet.

Caresheet

raise temps 10 degrees on each side

X3 temps need to be raised a little bit :P

x4 kick the temps up, especially cool side. I would probably lower the humidity below sixty as well. You want to be at 50-55. High humidity with low temps can lead to a respiratory infection.

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Originally Posted by emeraldwinter

He's been very inactive.

I haven't seen him leave his hide voluntarily in at least 2 weeks and I haven't been able to find any stool in his tank....s that weird?? Should I offer him food again?

Also he hasn't shed or shown signs of preparing to shed in about 2 months....

Tank humidity is 71
Warm side is around 81F
Cool side is around 67F

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A hiding ball is a happy one: you want them to be inactive because that's how they are suppose to be. They arn't suppose to be roaming constantly as that's a sign of stress or being hungry (perhaps underfed)

Some snakes will go a looong time without pooping. A month+ so I wouldn't be worried. I would continue feeding him.

Same with pooping, some snakes won't shed consistantly - one of mine didn't shed for 4 months. Some will shed on que every month. Depends on the snake and how often you're feeding and what size.

Bump your temps up and lower humidity. Please specify how you are montioring temps (via a digital thermometer with a probe, temp gun, or with those sticky guages you get at pet stores). Also note how mant grams he is so we can determine what prey item(s) he can be on and how often he can be fed. If I have a snake who will only take smaller items I tend to feed them more, also if they're babies they're on a 5 day rather than a week.

I would say your humidity is alright, slightly on the higher side but its fine with them. Your temps however needs to be raised. And considering those are your normal temps, I would say that using UTH's alone is not enough even if floor temps get to desired temps of ~90 on the warm side and ~80 on the cool. Try not to let your ambient temps (or air temps) drop below 75 either, and since UTH's are rather bad at raising ambient temps, you might have to look into lamps or heat panels or heating your entire room. This could however cause problems for your humidity, but then again there are many ways around this problem, most of which you can easily find in the forums threads - its a frequently raised issue.

I feed him a mouse the same size as his width at his thickest point about once a week. I'm going to switch to rats as soon as I use up the mice I have. I got a bundle of free mice a few months ago and I'm almost out. I know rats are better nutrition for them and I have a supplier.
And I do find that he moves around more if he's hungry, I guess he's just a bit cool and not as hungry maybe...and possibly starting a shed...so hiding.
My heat lamp just broke so I'll get a new one hopefully in the next few days. The ambient temps are usually a bit higher, especially on the cool side, but I'm also having a bit of trouble with mulch decisions. I have a bunch of cypress mulch which I got for free as well but I'm finding it hard to keep it at a proper moisture level. I think his temps are lower b/c my lamp broke obviously but also b/c I tried putting in more substrate the last time I changed it all for a higher humidity. So he's further from the UTH with more mulch and the cooler side is minus a heat lamp for the moment. I've heard coconut husk substrates are easier...
I'm using a probe for temp readings and a little sticky hygrometer gage for humidity readings.
I'm not sure how much he weighs...he's grown quite a bit in the last few months and I haven't weighed him in a while. He's getting so big :P
One more thing, I've heard that alot of snakes can get fairly pink bellies before a shed but have never seen his belly pink before. Today his eyes are slightly clowdy which is normal but his belly is quite pink. This will be his 3rd shed with me. Just wondering if thats normal...he hasn't shed in a few months like I said earlier and this is the first pink belly he's had. And no poop.... sorry if I'm annoyingly paranoid. Just the bunch of small changes recently make me nervous.
Thanks again for all the advice :)

You can probably put him on a 5 day if you like: that way you can use up your mice and get him on rats.

Ditch the sticky humidity gauge - it's worthless. Pick up a digital one.

I'd pick up a digital food scale too for weight readings - I like to monitor weights to see how much mine are growing and they're helpful if you have a snake that stops eating so you can make sure they're not loosing a dangerous amount of weight. I use mine to weigh my feeders too as I go by the 10-15% rule.

Shedding wise he sounds fine, you might have missed his pink belly during his other sheds.

He'll poop when he's ready.

Thanks so much :)
I know I'm new at this and it'll be awhile before I've seen enough to know how to handle most things, I just don't want to make any big mistakes and I definately don't want to hurt my snakey in any way. Access to experience is invaluable :)

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Originally Posted by Daybreaker

Ditch the sticky humidity gauge - it's worthless. Pick up a digital one.

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I tried to let it go by but just can't. Analogue instruments are not worthless. A Ok analogue hygrometer either bi metal or hair are often more reliable and contestant than the typical used resistive type found in cheap digital hygrometers that drift with time, dirt, dust, contaminants and abuse (bending wires).

The problem is there are a lot of lower quality analogue on the market the difference is the face card. On a decent one it will be metal so not to interfere with the needle. Card board tends to swell and jam the needle, however if the card is free they are often fairly good at least as accurate as the cheap digital ones that are +/- 5-10% if they are in perfect shape.

Many analogue ones can be calibrated to be perfectly correct some digital ones can as well but cost much more. Being very fussy with such things and having spent many years calibrating a whole variety of instruments I much prefer calibratable analogue hygrometers over digital I have had only one digital remain reasonably accurate (it is about 8% low my worst one is about 55% high) The re-calibratable analogue ones can be adjusted back to correct if they wonder but typically they don't shift much less than 5% a year, unless it gets dropped hard.

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Originally Posted by kitedemon

I tried to let it go by but just can't. Analogue instruments are not worthless. A Ok analogue hygrometer either bi metal or hair are often more reliable and contestant than the typical used resistive type found in cheap digital hygrometers that drift with time, dirt, dust, contaminants and abuse (bending wires).

The problem is there are a lot of lower quality analogue on the market the difference is the face card. On a decent one it will be metal so not to interfere with the needle. Card board tends to swell and jam the needle, however if the card is free they are often fairly good at least as accurate as the cheap digital ones that are +/- 5-10% if they are in perfect shape.

Many analogue ones can be calibrated to be perfectly correct some digital ones can as well but cost much more. Being very fussy with such things and having spent many years calibrating a whole variety of instruments I much prefer calibratable analogue hygrometers over digital I have had only one digital remain reasonably accurate (it is about 8% low my worst one is about 55% high) The re-calibratable analogue ones can be adjusted back to correct if they wonder but typically they don't shift much less than 5% a year, unless it gets dropped hard.

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Ditto! Totally second this. The problem with digital humidity gauges is that its sensors and probes and wires have to be kept in pretty prestine conditions to maintain its calibration, and that hasnt even gotten to the part of calibration accuracy yet! Off the rack, you would see the same kind, same brand, reading humidity with differences of up to 40%. And if they are off by say, -20% on a certain reading, it does not mean that at another reading at different humidity levels it will be off by -20% as well, because of the way digital hygrometers and sensors work. An analogue is much simpler, and if reading 30% at 10% humidity, will be much much more likely to read 85% at 65% humidity as compared to digital, because, as kitedemon mentioned, the problem is mainly with the cardboard and not the needle itself. So it is easy to correct on your own as well.

OP sorry for the divert. Instruments are an important addition and because of that and the wide range of what is available and massive amount of mis information they open a great amount of debate.

^ Perhaps I should rephrase....by "worthless" I didn't mean all analogs (I apologize for not clarifying); I was just talking about those funky little cheapo ones that many first time snake owners buy at petstores - me being one of these new owners and not knowing better. After comparing it to my acurite digital temp/humidity thermometer I realized how off it was and I do trust my acurite more than the stick on one. Sorry for the confusion.

I have had very bad run with accurites I'd trust the little stick on ones more based on what I have seen. They are so easily tested there is no reason not to know. The cost of a calibratable analogue one is very low.

http://www.amazon.com/Cheaphumidors-...8348674&sr=8-6

I don't know what the shipping is but...

FYI http://cigars.about.com/od/humidors/qt/hygrometers.htm

^ Do you use the little stickies in your snakes tubs too? Or what temp/humidity thermometers have you had success with that you can recommend (or is just any stick-on one okay when tested)? I haven't had trouble with my acurites so now I'm kinda worried :oops: