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BP overly excited
I have had my BP for 2 years now she is a great snake! But she has been getting way to excited when we go to get her out of her tank, she starts shaking and [deleted] her head back. Her usual behavior is calm and relaxed... Is this because we feed live and she can sense the mouse and just excited? Or is this the start of cage aggression?!
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Is she a morph? Particularly the spider morph?
Doesn't sound like aggression of any form (cage aggression is a myth)
How do you pick her up?
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Don't think she's a morph or spider morph she's in my profile pic... We use our hands... just gently slowly making sure she see's our hand and then stroke her and pick her on up she is calm and wraps around and just a big sweetie :) but when she does that shaky intimiding look I don't even want to change her water I don't get it she never used to :(
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Your profile picture is hard to see, but I'm seeing a Spider? Anybody else with better eyes? :P
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I can't tell your profile picture is too small... Does she look anything like this?
http://i1186.photobucket.com/albums/...n/efd50d75.jpg
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Srry all my pics r under red light
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it looks like a spider to me and I have beter than 20/20 could be wrong
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its hard to tell with that tiny picture though.
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ok, so then it isn't spider wobble (a neurological issue all spider ball pythons have)
can you give us some details on your husbandry?
Type/size cage, heat source, is the heat source regulated, what you re using to measure temperatures/humidity, what your current temperature/humidity readings are.
Also it would be good if you could tell us how, what, how much, and how often you feed her.
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Sorry to butt in, but I recently read this in my Ball Python care book. The author said he had a python that was acting aggressive, and they finally realized that because his cage was in the laundry room, and they had just gotten a dryer, that it was vibrating his cage. They moved him into another room and he calmed down and stopped striking. The point of the story was that there can be a strange, but very real reason for the change in your snakes behavior.
I hope someone who is an expert can help you out more!
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Knowing everything about your enclosure, your temps, humidity, what your feeding , what size, how you heat the enclosure, how your reading the temps, etc., would really help out.
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Shes in a big tank :) with the warm side with a heat pad and a heat lamp her basking area is monitored with a thermometer kept at 90 and then the middle she's got a big log and little logs by her hide so when she shedds she can rub on stuff then the cool side with her water kept at 75 behind her dish she has leafs to hide in and a couple sticks to climb on/ still adding slowly and that side has a thermometer as well and in the middle there's a humidity gage... She has 12 hours light 12 dark feeds live mice every week... She was my boyfriends sisters snake she was in a tiny little tank and it was being neglected :( she's always been kind and calm except for feeding latley oh ya and feeds in a separate box not environment!
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how big of a tank? big tanks can actually be bad for them
Does the heat pad have a thermostat controlling it?
Check out this thread I wrote on cage heating:
http://ball-pythons.net/forums/showt...04#post1845904
Do you have a probed thermometer? or just stick on ones?
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And she's in the living room/kitchen it's a quite household and not near anything that could upset her? No speakers or appliances just a hallway
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The tank was recommended by our pet store who sells snakes and what not... But it's a purty big tank! And the heat pad is just one setting... The thermometers is just little one that sit wherever we put it till moved by her also the only ones available in this tiny town we don't even have a vet that deals with reptiles if anything happens to her we will have to travel witch will prob stress her more! :(
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Oh and the heat pad is user the tank so there's glass separating her and what is the best bedding? We use wood chips for the entire tank
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most pet stores know nothing about snakes... from the pictures it looks really big. Your heating pad is a huge problem (it's capable of killing your snake right now) it must be controlled by a thermostat.
From my thread on cage heating:
Quote:
Under Tank Heaters (UTH's)/Flexwatt:
UTH's are by far the most popular heat source for ball pythons since they do not effect the humidity levels in the cage. UTH's attach to the bottom of the cage (on the outside) and heat the floor of the cage. They do NOT change the temperature of the air in the cage so if the air temperature in the cage gets below 75 degrees an additional heat source (usually a heat lamp or radiant heat panel) will be necessary. UTH's get very hot, in fact they can and will get hot enough to kill your snake if they are not regulated. A thermostat is the best way to regulate a UTH. Lamp dimmers will work but the heat output of UTH's changes when the temperature of the room they are in changes so lamp dimmers will have to be constantly monitored/adjusted. Thermostats on the other hand automatically adjust the amount of power going to the UTH so you won't have to adjust them once they are dialed in. You will also need a good probed thermometer. because UTH's do not change the air temperature in the cage the stick on/non-probed thermometers will not be able to tell you how hot the UTH is making the cage floor. If you do not know hot hot the cage floor is your snake can easily get burns (which can be fatal)
I will go over thermostats and thermometers at the end of this write up.
Pros:
Does not produce any light
Does not reduce humidity at all
Uses very little power
Cons:
Must be controlled by a thermostat (which can be expensive)
Malfunctions can be hard to notice
Quote:
Now I'll go over thermostats and thermometers.
Thermostats are devices that use a temperature probe to measure the amount of heat that a heat source is outputting. They them vary the amount of power going to said heat source to keep the temperature in the desired range that you set it to. There are 2 major types of thermostats. On/off style thermostats, and Proportional thermostats.
On/Off Style Thermostats:
On/Off style thermostats such as true Hydrofarm, Ranco, and Johnsons thermostats are cheap but lack accuracy. they work the same way a home A/C thermostat works. They run the heat source at 100% power until the set temperature is achieved. The thermostat then turns the heat source completely off until the "swing" is reached. The swing refers to how many degrees below the set temperature the thermostat lets the temperature fall before turning the heat source back on again. This is why they are inaccurate.
Pros:
Cheap
Will do the job
Cons:
Inaccurate
Usually don't have some of the additional safety features that proportional thermostats have.
Here are some good on/off style thermostats:
Hydrofarm: http://www.amazon.com/Hydrofarm-MTPR.../dp/B000NZZG3S
Ranco: http://www.reptilebasics.com/ranco-etc-111000-pre-wired
Proportional thermostats:
Proportional thermostats such as the Herpstat, Helix, and VE-200/300 are extremely accurate and much safer than on/off style thermostats do to more advanced design and high build quality. This does come at a price though. The cheapest I have seen a proportional thermostat sell for (new) is $99. The cost is worth it though. These thermostats especially the herpstat have far more capabilities than on/off thermostats and as I already said are more accurate and safer. Instead on simply running the heat source at 100% power or 0% power proportional thermostats adjust the amount of power in small increments. this allows them to maintain the correct temperature very accurately (usually to a fraction of a degree off of the set temperature)
Pros:
Safe
Accurate
More features (such as the ability to automatically drop temperatures at programed times/regulate humidity/turn lights on/off/etc.)
Cons:
Cost
Here are somme good proportional thermostats:
Herpstat: http://spyderrobotics.com/
VE line: http://www.reptilebasics.com/thermostats (note the VE-100 is not a proportional thermostat)
Helix: http://www.helixcontrols.com/DBS1000.htm
Quote:
Thermometers:
Thermometers are very important they tell you exactly how cot/cold your cage is. You should never guess how hot/cold your cage is. The stick on thermometers sold in pet stores aren't very good. they are terribly inaccurate, overpriced, and don't measure in the right places. What you want is a good digital thermometer with a probe like this one:
http://i1186.photobucket.com/albums/...nt/photo-3.jpg
This particular thermometer is sold at Walmart for $12 and measures 2 temperatures, and humidity. A single unit is all you need in the typical ball python cage set up. The probe will go on the hot side (directly over/under the heat source) and the unit will sit on the cool side and measure the cool side temperature/humidity.
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Alison
The tank was recommended by our pet store who sells snakes and what not... But it's a purty big tank! And the heat pad is just one setting... The thermometers is just little one that sit wherever we put it till moved by her also the only ones available in this tiny town we don't even have a vet that deals with reptiles if anything happens to her we will have to travel witch will prob stress her more! :(
Your uth needs to be regulated by a thermostat. Uth's can get extremely hot!
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Re: BP overly excited
Quote:
Originally Posted by Alison
Oh and the heat pad is user the tank so there's glass separating her and what is the best bedding? We use wood chips for the entire tank
I prefer paper substrates (paper towels, newspaper, butchers paper, corrugated wrap)
what type of wood chips are you using? some woods are toxic to snakes. (cedar)
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Re: BP overly excited
Quote:
Originally Posted by Alison
100% natural fir bark
ok, that should be fine but your heating pad is not.
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So u think I should get a way smaller tank? What's the appropriate size? And would she be better of without the heat pad for now? Until I can find a proper one?
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Can you tell me how big it actually is? it might be ok.
The heating pad itself is fine, but it needs a thermostat to regulate it. Until you have a thermostat I suggest unplugging it. your heat lamp should be enough until you can get a thermostat.
Here are 2 good thermostats. Don't bother with the junk sold in pet stores. It is overpriced and short lived.
http://www.amazon.com/Hydrofarm-MTPR.../dp/B000NZZG3S
http://spyderrobotics.com/
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4 ft length 3 ft height and 1ft 8inch in width
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The heat pad sucks up 25watts max that's all I know about it
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ok, so then it isn't as big as it look in the pictures. A little tall for me but that really doesn't matter. I personally use 4 x 2 x 1 foot cages (L x W x H)
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Well that's good to hear! :) spent a lot of money thinking we where doing every thing right... Shes a tuff girl previous owners didnt even moniter her heat she lived in her rock :( I'm glad I found this forum it will be nice to be able to ask questions and get good feedback! Thank you for all this info won't be listening to the pet store as much!
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so do you have any questions on the thermostats?
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Oh ya! I have one of these in the cold side and one by her basking area http://img.tapatalk.com/18cf131c-d90e-0e97.jpg
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And the humidity gage is the same kind just ment for humidity
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Re: BP overly excited
Quote:
Originally Posted by Alison
that's a thermoMETER you need a thermoSTAT
that thermometer isn't very good anyway, you want a digital one with a probe. I get these at walmart, though they can be ordered online as well. (they usually run about $12)
http://i1186.photobucket.com/albums/...nt/photo-3.jpg
A thermostat on the other hand is a completely different animal. here are 2 good ones:
http://www.amazon.com/Hydrofarm-MTPR.../dp/B000NZZG3S
http://spyderrobotics.com/
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Srry thought I saw thermometer its been a long week... And I'll look into getting a new thermometer going to town tomorrow. What about the thermostat where can I find a quality one?
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O never mind the q bout the thermostat I see it links
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Re: BP overly excited
Quote:
Originally Posted by Alison
Well that's good to hear! :) spent a lot of money thinking we where doing every thing right... Shes a tuff girl previous owners didnt even moniter her heat she lived in her rock :( I'm glad I found this forum it will be nice to be able to ask questions and get good feedback! Thank you for all this info won't be listening to the pet store as much!
One thing to note is when a ball python is happy it will be hiding. By nature it will be in it's hide most of the time. More then likely it is now out and about but when it is happy with it's environment you won't see it often. :)
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Just a quick note on the hydrofarm thermostat, they are actually intended hydroponics so if you are trying to find one locally you would look at a hydroponics shop, not a pet store!
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Ok so my BP bit my boyfriend I don't understand she is always so gentle but past few months she has still been shaky when we go to take her out usually she has no prob... Whent to take her out for feeding and had her in hand just going to bring her over to her feeding box an she struck at my boyfriends hand then started constructing his other hand :( y would she struck it was calm and quite when we took her out :(
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Someone please help :( I'm sad :(
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Re: BP overly excited
Had she been fed recently? is she opaque/blue looking? when they bite and coil that is usually a feeding response.. just don't bother moving her to a different cage when feeding, you're more likley to ge bit that way, and they WILL NOT become cage agressive.
I'd say leave her alone till you update her enclosure, and it's inevitable that you will be bit at some point.
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She just shed last week and we fed her a week today (one mouse)... She never used to b like this tho... She had no problem letting us go in her tank and grab her now its a fight every time now :( thinking about getting a snake hook it just saddens me that she's been so aggressive to the point of not being able to just pick her up free handed :( I feel like my bond with her has been destroyed :( and I don't understand y it's changed? Someone said she could b in heat? And she's just hormornal? She's going to b 5 this year
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Feed her in her enclosure and you won't be putting yourselves in the position to be confused for a tasty rat.
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"She just shed last week and we fed her a week today (one mouse)..."
Question: How often and what are you feeding her?
If that is the case, it sounds light for a 5 yr old Ball IMO. Others would have more specific feeding advice.
-Yar
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She is probably hungry! A single adult mouse isn't really enough for an adult ball python. I woud bump her up to two mice a week or a small rat. I don't know why someone didn't notice this a couple months ago when you first posted.
Also, feed in the home enclosure. You just set yourself up to get bit if you feed in a separate container. Your snake will not become more aggressive if you feed in the home enclosure, contrary to popular belief.
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She looks too big to only be eating one mouse a week. Try offering her two or three mice instead and see if she takes them.
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Ok we will try doing 2 mice or a small rat if possible/week? Just last time prob 2 months ago we tried doing two mice at once and she ended up getting diarrhea... The pet store said because 2 mice is to much on her digestive system?? She has grown a lot since then tho...
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Re: BP overly excited
Quote:
Originally Posted by Alison
Ok we will try doing 2 mice or a small rat if possible/week? Just last time prob 2 months ago we tried doing two mice at once and she ended up getting diarrhea... The pet store said because 2 mice is to much on her digestive system?? She has grown a lot since then tho...
The petstore doesn't know what they are talking about. I have never heard of more food leading to diarrhea. If you have a scale, weigh her and try to feed 10-15% of her body weight.
I am willing to bet if you feed her more she won't strike at you anymore :)
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