First BP for me!

Hello everyone, I have been browsing this site over the last few days for helpful hints as I just set up my first bp home on Monday. On tuesday I tried handling him just to change out his water dish, and he was a little hissy. Right back in the habitat for him after that and my first snake bite. One thing I have not seen addressed is the fact that I wear gloves when I handle my bp. I gave him a few days off to get settled in, checking by his cage a few times at night when he is active, and he seems to be reacting less and less aggressively to my movements. I gave it a go again tonight, and picked him up for a little bit, only a minute. He was not terribly offended, but he did try slithering away. He did not coil up though or hiss and no bite this time. I put him back near his cage and he slithered to his hiding place for a little bit then came back out.

I have been monitoring my cage stats and the humidity seems to be good around 70 percent to 65 percent. Temp is in mid to low 80's near the middle of the habitat (20 gallon with hiding place on cool side).

Jub Jub prefers the warm side under the red light during the day curled up near the fake plant and under the reptile gym (wood log type structure, pretty cool). That seems to be his hiding place even though it is a little more exposed than the half bark hiding place I have set up for him on the other side.

Now I have two questions:

1. I have not heard any use of gloves on this site, I use non powdered latex gloves so I can feel more. It is more for my well being than Jub Jub, something makes me nervous a little about snake strikes even though I did have an inguana for 3 years, and was accidentally bit twice by him which draws blood, and their tail lashes were pretty good too. So, should I quickly get away from gloves, or should I take my time? I'm willing to do either which ever is best for the snake.

2. Should I ask the pet store guy (who was really cool, and owns about a dozen snakes himself, so he is very knowledgeable) if they fed Jub Jub live or dead mice? I am leaning toward dead feed myself, from what I have read, but if the transition is hard then I want to know.

Any feedback would be great, hope to hear from ya soon.

Welcome, Jub Jub!

To get down to it... honestly, I've never seen a need to wear gloves. I don't know anyone else who does, except my friend who has a mean WC Corn that strikes at anything that comes in its cage. Most BPs are totally chill and won't bite, especially after they feel settled in. I wouldn't worry about it.

In the long run, its best to start your snake on F/T in the beginning. Its safest for the snake, convenient (no trips to the pet store), and ultimately cheaper. I'm putting in my first order to rodentpro (www.rodentpro.com) right now. Even though I'm paying $60 after a $45 shipping charge, its 5 months worth of food that I would pay $80+ at Petco not including the gas I burn to drive across town. And I'm only filling up 18% of the container!


Also, I would lower your humidity a little bit... 55% is optimal during non-shedding time, and staying over 65 constantly can leave your snake prone to respritory infections.

(I'm new to answering questions around here, so feel free to correct me folks!)

I have never worn gloves. I really think it's up to you, if it makes you feel more comfortable, I don't see a problem with it.

As for the humidity issue, mine is usually around 60-65 and I haven't had any problems. 70 sounds a little high though.

A suggestion for you: You should have 2 secure, enclosed hides available for your snake, one on the cool side, and one on the warm side. Your snake will greatly appreciate it and be less stressed. I'm not sure what the reptile gym is without seeing a picture, but if it provides a nice hide for your snake, fine!

A question for you: What are you using to monitor your temperature and humidity? If you don't have one already, I would get a digital thermometer/hygrometer from Walmart. They are accuruate and can measure both sides of the tank (which should be ~80 on the cool side and ~90 on the warm side) AND it measures the humidity, all in one!

About feeding: You should try either fresh killed or frozen thawed mice. I would not suggest feeding live. The transition varies for each snake, he might take a f/t or p/k mouse readily. Or there may be more work/tricks involved such as doing the "mousie dance" to make it look alive.

Welcome, and continue to ask questions. We'll help you out the best you can.

The others have already given you excellent input, so I'll just second what they said and say welcome to the site! Also, for what it's worth, I had to buy a pair of teflon gloves to handle an iguana I kept for a friend for several months (talk about a mean critter!), but I've never seen any point to it with ball pythons. You might want to just keep the gloves for cleaning out the cage time. :)

Thank you all for the great input. I will water his cage a bit less, was doing everyday, will switch to every other day to lower the humidity. I did get my instrument at Walmart. I have it located right in the middle of the cage to monitor my stats, so I can assume that the cool side is a degree or so cooler, and the warm side a degree or so warmer.

I have place a couple of things on the outside of his cage around where he usually hides to make it even more secure for him, but he seems to be doing fine.

Now, I should probably check around the site more for this question, but if I freeze a mouse how long does it take to thaw the mouse.

You would be much better off measuring the temperatures at both ends of the tanks. You can get thermometers that have a probe coming out as well as a sensor on the base unit. This way, you can monitor both ends at what and have a more accurate read on your temperature gradient. Just monitoring the middle relies a bit too much on guesswork, and won't tell you if either end goes beyond the acceptable range.

Also, thawing is covered in another thread:
http://www.ball-pythons.net/PNphpBB2...ic-t-3837.html

Congratulations on the new addition, and Welcome to the site!

Welcome Jub!
I agree w/hhw. I (and many of us) use the thermometer/hygrometer w/the probe that runs about $15 @ Walmart. I attach the unit to one side and attach the probe to the other side. Take most of the guesswork out.

Just wanted to second all the great advice given so far...and say Welcome!! :)

Hey welcome to the site!
Everyone as covered everything real good.
Good Luck and don't be afraid to ask :)

Thank you all for the advice, actually I do have the unit from Walmart that has the wire that can be placed somewhere else. I will put it on the cool side of the tank. Also, I have a themometer that is on the warm side of the tank, so all in all that is one (themometer strip that changes color) on the warm side, one (Walmart digital readout) in the middle, and finally the third (wire from the digital) on the cool side. All are within about 2 inches of the substrate, the strip being the closest to the substrate as I did not want Jub Jub rubbing on the other two so they are about a little less than 2 inches off the substrate.

I suggest putting the digital readout on the warmside instead of the stick on change color one. Those can be very innacurate! Or you could try putting the digital readout on the warm side temporarily, just to see if the stick-on thermometer gives you the same reading as the digital. If so fine. But I think it is more important that you accurately measure the warm side of the tank as opposed to the middle, as you do not want your snake overheating or not having enough heat. I think that if you know with complete accuracy that your warm side and cool side temperatures are okay, than naturally the temperature in the middle of the tank should be fine too. You probably don't even need a thermometer there.

Also, just out of curiosity, why don't you want your snake rubbing against the digital read out unit or probe? In my experience, I have the digital readout and probe directly on top of the substrate, and they haven't caused any harm to my snake. I put them there because I want to know the temperature my snake is experiencing, not the temperature 2 inches above that.

By the way, I love your snake's name, how did you come up with that?

The readout is not totally secure, it just hangs on the piece that is stuck to the glass and I don't want spooking the snake if he bumps up against it then it falls off on him, that would happen if it is low. I considered putting it a bit lower then tapping it to the glass, but if the tape comes off that causes a whole new problem. Figured my system was the least problamatic.

So far my readings have always indicated in the low to mid 80's in the tank with all three readouts being around that same temp, not much difference on the warm and cool sides, less than a degree.

Oh, tonight I fed him for the first time, it was really cool. I killed the mouse, got the snake into the feed box, let him get comfy in the feed box (about 2 min was all it took) then dangled the dead mouse about 6 inches away or so and within about 2 seconds, BAM! Struck the mouse right in the middle, coiled, and waited for a while. I had the lights alread off, except for a light in the other room to leave me enough light to mostly see. After a minute or two he uncoiled and found the mouse's head then began gulping him down. About 2 minutes after he totally consumed the mouse I brought him back to his habitat and slowly began rotating the fed box over so that he would slither back into his home. That took a little work, as he kept trying to move to higher ground for some reason, but after a minute or so I got him in there, and he went to his hide area on the warm side.

The name Jub Jub is from the Simpsons, it is Aunt Selma's iguana's name. I'm such a rip-off, but oh well.

Doesn't sound like you have much of a temp gradient there if they're always around 80 all over, with maybe a few degrees difference. Do you have a UTH on one side for the warm side, so it makes a natural heat gradient to the cool side? And if you can, see if you can get the temp on the warm side to somewhere around 90-95, and 80-85 on the cool side, that way the snake can go to a warm hide if he's cool, and a cool hide if he's warm.

And as soon as I heard "Jub Jub" I thought of the iguana on The Simpsons. Nice. ;) And congrats on the successful feeding.:)