Please HELP!!

My ball is acting real shady. She ate last saturday and temps/humidity have been good. The only thing is I upgraded to a bigger cage for my 19" ball a couple weeks ago. Before i only used the basic troipcal set up you can pick up at any pet store with no uth n reptibark substrate! Now i have a very large exo terra with UTH, gravel with an a/c filter for a filter then my substrate(mix of potting soil, peat moss, cypress mulch, eco earth, repti bark) live plants, thermostat, 1. exo terra thermo/hydro 1. zilla thermo and 2. zoo med thermo/hyrdos. daylight i use reptile 2.0 n use the same night bulb that comes with tropical setup.

I have not seen her out all week, she just sits in a ball under a rock on her hotside. Even when i take her out she stays in a ball but like wants back in her cage. Her skin seems to have gotten darker n eyes are hazy but no signs of shedding. Temps under the rock are 82 and she has about 4inches of substrate, filter n gravel before the uth so could she have burns or be affected by the UTH? Humidity is 70..with the live plants i have not had to spray the cage much but not understanding what going on...Thanks!

A uth should have a very thin level of substrate over it. Less than 1/2 inch, I have about a 1/4 inch. A four inch substrate will not allow any heat from the uth to reach the surface.

I'm not familiar with the tropical setup you had or what it comes with it. I would unplug the uth and use a heat lamp to get a proper hot spot.

Not being able to see your setup I'm blinding going to suggest having secures hides and alot of cover for the snake to move through. If the new cage is a good bit larger than the old it may not be feeling very secure and adding tight fitting hides (atleast 2) and cover (more plants, driftwood, fake plants, etc) can really help reduce stress in your snake.

what type of potting soil o.O....some potting soils have added chemicals that are toxic to animals/reptiles.....4 inches is too much substrate.....1/2 inch or less over hot spot...which should be regulated with a thermoSTAT and be at 88-90 degrees...82 is too low for a hotspot temp...what are the ambient temperatures?..whats the cooler side of the gradient?

also realize it can be days to a week before they actually shed once the eyes go foggy/gray.

What size cage to what size cage did you upgrade?....how cluttered is the new tank? remember they love closer in type spaces....wide openness isnt a good thing for BPs.

gravel and a/c filters??? can you get us picture and explain the a/c filters a bit more? your setup sounds a bit overkill just from the written description.

how do I upload pics? n I have 3-4 inches of substrate bc of the plants n was trying to make a self sustaining ecosystem. The new cage is a 36x18x18 with a few different hides n things to climb on. the soil I used is gardners pride from walmart. it says it does not have any additives or fertilizers. yes it may b over kill but she liked all the plants when they were in pots in her old cage(18x18x18) I think. I still use a 75watt night bulb for hot spot. 89 degrees.hot side is 85 cold side is 75. I do use a thromostat for uth.

Yea, i figured that was your setup. I Think you should bring the cool side temp up a bit but other than that it sounds good. The uth should just be removed it is doing absolutely nothing but heating the water running through the eco system you built and maybe growing bacteria or mold.

I have live plants too and understand why you do. As for the snake. A hiding ball python is a happy ball python. The cage sounds good so not seeing your snake roaming is a good thing. Mine only will go from hide to hide at night. Very rarely will she just explore, unless she is hungry.

You upload pics to a site like photobucket and then copy the img code and paste it in your post. It will be a link in your post text but a pic once posted.

okay. so I should just get a little bit bigger Bulb to keep my temps up Instead of the uth? and my ball is usually out and about in the evening. Hardly ever does she hide but she has been hiding for a week now.

Honestly, I don't really see why you're worried that your snake is hiding more.
I would be more worried if she was roaming more than usual.
A happy ball is usually a hiding ball.

Heat promotes digestion (activates metabolic activity).
Since your temps are lower than ideal, she's probably still trying to digest that last meal. Snakes don't move much when they are digesting.

im worried bout it bc she doesnt look good. Her eyes are all cloudy n skin is very dark.

I did see you mention that in your original post. But you also said that isn't a sign of shedding. Color darkening and cloudy eyes are a sign of shedding in my opinion. :\

If she isn't limp, wheezing, popping, and is somewhat alert when you touch her (tongue flicking, flinching), then I personally wouldn't worry about it yet. If you're really worried, then take her to the vet.

I still think shed, however.

Sounds like she is about to shed. My balls look dark and washed out and hide most of the time during shed. Hiding is normal anyway, but mine stay cooped up in a ball even more before a shed.

I would take her to a vet but I have to wait till friday bc I work 2nd shift 12hr days and the closest vet is almost 50miles away. Just figured I could get some advise on here before I did take her. My sister lost a snake a few months ago who looked exsactly like myn does now so that good be why I was worried.

Before work today I put her back in the smaller cage with no uth. I was told a couple weeks ago to get a che and I did. After a couple days I notcied my plants were starting to die so I switch back to thr night light. Now I have a blue daylight on 14hrs n I believe a black night light on her the other 10hrs. I wiuld upload pics but dont get off work till 4am eastern time(im from ohio) Thanks evrryone for you input!!

Do what is good for the snake, not the plants. Find different plants that don't kind the heat from your fixtures.

I have had some plants not do well under the heat. I moved them as far from the heat as possible and all was well.

well I have had the plants in with her for a few months n they were great. Everything was great until I was told to use a che instead of my night light for heat.

You can use bulbs or che. I use both and even have one setup that has one of each.

Why were you told to switch?

I was at a petstore checking out bulbs n an lady said a che would be best and would not destroy my plants

It may be the best in some situations but won't be for all. Neither should destroy your plants though. What will hurt your plants is the heat from both types.

Use the heat element that works best to create the right climate. Then get plants that can take the heat from whatever you choose. If your plants were good and your cage temps were good then use the bulb. Just always keep a spare of what you use so you have it when your goes out on a holiday weekend at night.

If this advice was given at one of the big box pet stores be very careful in what you listen to. Search either name here and you will see story after story of these type stores proving they really don't know what's best for some animals. Do what you did and come here for help.

Sorry about not replying. Here are a couple pics.



- - - Updated - - -

http://i1301.photobucket.com/albums/...ps30b8134f.jpg
http://i1301.photobucket.com/albums/...ps86f4c6ad.jpg

Very nice job! I like how you used the two different substrates.

Where do you buy your plants?

if you look at the first picture..the one in back right hand corner and the one infront of that came from walmart the other five came from a terrarium package on ebay.

this is what she looks like now...looked alot worse a couple days ago

http://i1301.photobucket.com/albums/...ps765112b0.jpg

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by martin07

this is what she looks like now...looked alot worse a couple days ago

http://i1301.photobucket.com/albums/...ps765112b0.jpg

---

She looks like she's going through a shed cycle.

She's shedding. Make sure her humidity stays high for the next few days.
http://ball-pythons.net/forums/showt...edding-Process

Normal oncoming shed. Expect a freshly shed snake within a week or so.

Sent from my DROID RAZR using Tapatalk 2

Thanks..I have been keeping humidity at 80% and never dropping below 60%..Now that hopefully shes okay on to other problems..

what should I do with these dying plants..they are all droopy and not alot keeping them alive. I did take them out of the viv n put in seperate pots. should ibjust throw them out n get new ones or wait it out n see if they survive(from the looks of it very doubtful but may have 2 come out of it).

Also, to keep the viv alive should I get rid of the uth n repti 2.0 bulb n just use day n night bulbs sincethe plants was surviving fine before the transfrr to new terrarium?

If your temps were good and the plants were fine I would use the cheapest bulbs possible.

As for the plants. Its been my expierence that my plants have not come back after they started to die.

When you remove plants be sure to keep the roots intact. I have some plants in one tank that have branched roots almost a foot long.

everything was fine in the little tabk but since the move to the big tank 2 weeks agoI havnt quite got everything figured out. I think im just going to use day n night bulbs n get rid of the uth n che n 2.0 bc everything was fine prior to adding these. Any other inout u may have for making my eco system complete? like substrate, drainage layer, screens...where do u get your plants?

thanks a bunch. you all have been such great help!!!

My local Petco carries plants, but I have found not all the stores do. I will only buy them when they are fresh. Like their animals they trend to neglect the plants and they end up beyond saving. They have tropical and arid options and are about $2 each so if a snake destroys one or it dies its not a big deal.

Its funny. My ball leaves the plants alone and crawls around them but my gtp makes it his duty to pull every plant out of place when he comes down for exercise. He has also started swimming in his water bowl regularly. He is a trip.

This is my bp tank. Just a thick cypress mulch bed.

http://i1151.photobucket.com/albums/...psa5797386.jpg

yea no stores around me carry them. The petstores that are an hr away do but they are 6.99. I ordered some off Glass Box Tropicals along with some abg substrate to try. Hopefully it works. Thats a nice set up u have there.