Is this normal?

So my wife and I purchased a ball python from petsmart along with its 30 gallon tank that came with the lamps, carpet and thermostat and humidity gauge. We have a large log hide, rock, branch for climbing and water bowl. We put shavings in there and let him settle for a few days (3) and tried to feed it. First time nothing, the last time it did strike and ball up.. let let it go. We have tried pinkies and fuzzies. Are we doing something wrong?

You should let it settle for a full week. The strike you got is just defensive.

Find a tight fiting CLOSE hide that will touch him on all sides when he's in it and put on on the hot side, one on the cool side. Don't drag him out. Don't peek. Don't prod. Don't handle at all. Leave him completely alone for a full week (from NOW), and when you do offer food make sure you're offering food the same width as the WIDEST part of your snake and that it's warmed up to 102 or so degrees (should feel warm to the touch).

Ok thanks a ton, we will be doing that. :)

We need a lil more information to help you .... How old is your ball python? A picture of the snake and the cage set up would be a great help...... Typically after getting a new snake and changing to a new home you want to wait for about 7 days before handling it or feeding it . Just let it completely be for that week. Even tho you got the same cage it had been in previously you have to look at ALL the changes it is going to endure. Did you add any new items to the enclosure? It needs this 7 days time to become accustom to the new smell of your house , noises it is not used to, even vibrations from ppl walking throughout the house can sometimes come into play especially with baby ball pythons. It they are nervous or scared they will not eat. It is possible the strike it took at the feeder your talking about was simply a fear/defensive strike.

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Originally Posted by CptJack

You should let it settle for a full week. The strike you got is just defensive.

Find a tight fiting CLOSE hide that will touch him on all sides when he's in it and put on on the hot side, one on the cool side. Don't drag him out. Don't peek. Don't prod. Don't handle at all. Leave him completely alone for a full week (from NOW), and when you do offer food make sure you're offering food the same width as the WIDEST part of your snake and that it's warmed up to 102 or so degrees (should feel warm to the touch).

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Nice advise :sweeet:
Evidently you type faster than I .... In my defense I am using my phone right now LOL

http://img.tapatalk.com/d/14/07/29/zary4uga.jpg

This is what we have so far. I'm aware we need to add some plants. As far as age.. We got it from petsmart so they didn't know.

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Originally Posted by T_Sauer

Nice advise :sweeet:
Evidently you type faster than I .... In my defense I am using my phone right now LOL

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There is a picture for you.

Yeah, get that guy some tight fitting hides (plastic bowls with an entrance cut out and sanded work well). For now, cover the backside of that log so no one can see in the back (I just tape construction paper on the outside of the tank), and maybe stuff it with paper towel or moss to make it fit. Identical hides as soon as you can is important too, so he doesn't have to choose between security and thermoregulating.

The other thing you can do is, until you get plants, just loosely crumple some newspaper and fill in the space so he's not so exposed.

Check your temps (and get a digital temp gun or thermometer if you can, those dial things are trash) and a thermostat on the heatpad if you're using one. Once you've got him at 80 cool side, 90 warm, and he's secure you should be gold.

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Originally Posted by CptJack

Yeah, get that guy some tight fitting hides (plastic bowls with an entrance cut out and sanded work well). For now, cover the backside of that log so no one can see in the back (I just tape construction paper on the outside of the tank), and maybe stuff it with paper towel or moss to make it fit. Identical hides as soon as you can is important too, so he doesn't have to choose between security and thermoregulating.

The other thing you can do is, until you get plants, just loosely crumple some newspaper and fill in the space so he's not so exposed.

Check your temps (and get a digital temp gun or thermometer if you can, those dial things are trash) and a thermostat on the heatpad if you're using one. Once you've got him at 80 cool side, 90 warm, and he's secure you should be gold.

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Will do. Thanks again

Yes a lil bit of plants or something to clutter the cage up a lil more would help your ball feel a lil more secure. I suggest getting a digital thermometer and hygrometer. You can get one that is a combo that reads both , it comes with a probe you bury the wire under the aspen shavings and put the probe under the hot spot . This will give you the exact temp on ground level of the warm side of the enclosure. You also need to have a slightly cooler side for the snake to go to if it's feeling the need to cool down. I couldn't see the lighting in the pic but only one heat lamp is usually necessary, and put it on one end of the cage. The problem with the thermometer hygrometer that came with it is that a lot of them are not very accurate and after time the can wear out and give false readings.

I agree with cptjack. Clutter it up so he feels more secure. For thermostat/ humidity gauge u can go to Wal-Mart or home depot and get acurite it's a digital humidity and temp gauge. It's cheap and good. Put hides on both hot and cool sides. And if u have a screen top covering 3/4 of the top with a damp towl. Also put moss in there. I use to make a hide out of some sticks and moss that she can lay in when she was in shed. What type of heat do u have? U cant really see in the pix. Congrats on the new bp.

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Originally Posted by CptJack

Yeah, get that guy some tight fitting hides (plastic bowls with an entrance cut out and sanded work well). For now, cover the backside of that log so no one can see in the back (I just tape construction paper on the outside of the tank), and maybe stuff it with paper towel or moss to make it fit. Identical hides as soon as you can is important too, so he doesn't have to choose between security and thermoregulating.

The other thing you can do is, until you get plants, just loosely crumple some newspaper and fill in the space so he's not so exposed.

Check your temps (and get a digital temp gun or thermometer if you can, those dial things are trash) and a thermostat on the heatpad if you're using one. Once you've got him at 80 cool side, 90 warm, and he's secure you should be gold.

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LOL :gj:

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Originally Posted by CptJack

Yeah, get that guy some tight fitting hides (plastic bowls with an entrance cut out and sanded work well). For now, cover the backside of that log so no one can see in the back (I just tape construction paper on the outside of the tank), and maybe stuff it with paper towel or moss to make it fit. Identical hides as soon as you can is important too, so he doesn't have to choose between security and thermoregulating.

The other thing you can do is, until you get plants, just loosely crumple some newspaper and fill in the space so he's not so exposed.

Check your temps (and get a digital temp gun or thermometer if you can, those dial things are trash) and a thermostat on the heatpad if you're using one. Once you've got him at 80 cool side, 90 warm, and he's secure you should be gold.

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Just added the paper to the back of his aquarium and added crumpled newspaper. He's out exploring it now. Thanks again

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Originally Posted by jasonmcgilvrey83

I agree with cptjack. Clutter it up so he feels more secure. For thermostat/ humidity gauge u can go to Wal-Mart or home depot and get acurite it's a digital humidity and temp gauge. It's cheap and good. Put hides on both hot and cool sides. And if u have a screen top covering 3/4 of the top with a damp towl. Also put moss in there. I use to make a hide out of some sticks and moss that she can lay in when she was in shed. What type of heat do u have? U cant really see in the pix. Congrats on the new bp.

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Just the two lamps right now. A heat pad is on our list. We just have to get to the pet store. Our temp stays where it needs to be, it's the humidity that we are having issue keeping up. I have misted it and it goes up to 50-60%, consistently stays at 40%.

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Originally Posted by T_Sauer

Yes a lil bit of plants or something to clutter the cage up a lil more would help your ball feel a lil more secure. I suggest getting a digital thermometer and hygrometer. You can get one that is a combo that reads both , it comes with a probe you bury the wire under the aspen shavings and put the probe under the hot spot . This will give you the exact temp on ground level of the warm side of the enclosure. You also need to have a slightly cooler side for the snake to go to if it's feeling the need to cool down. I couldn't see the lighting in the pic but only one heat lamp is usually necessary, and put it on one end of the cage. The problem with the thermometer hygrometer that came with it is that a lot of them are not very accurate and after time the can wear out and give false readings.

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It came with a normal heat lamp and black light.

Looks similar to my set up except I do have enclosed hides, and no branches..I don't clutter up my enclosures, and have never had a snake that was a problem feeder..Maybe I have weird snakes :rofl::rofl:

I'd agree with the othes here. The feeding issue is most likely a security issue. 30 gallon is alot of room for a little snake. Clutter it up some and cover the back / sides of the tank

Here are some of the issues the tank is too big this is what you need for an adult not an hatchling even with clutter it will still not be cramped enough.

The hide is too big also, they need to be tight touching the animal's body for security

The temps are likely off, you need a digital thermometer and get a reading on the cage's floor on both side.

The prey items are also inappropriate.

Here is what I would do

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Originally Posted by Deborah

Get a 6 quarts plastic tub (15 quarts at the very most)

Use aspen as bedding

Provide 1 or two PLASTIC flower pot saucer

Provide a hot side of 88 degrees. (Heat pad plus t-stat.)

Leave your BP alone for a week, NO HANDLING

Offer a live appropriately sized mouse (equal you BP's girth size)

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The majority of people buying animals at a pet store get the wrong advice and are sold thing that are I appropriated for the animal they purchase.

The number one issue for new owners is to get their animal to feed and in most cases improper husbandry is always the issue.

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Originally Posted by Deborah

Here are some of the issues the tank is too big this is what you need for an adult not an hatchling even with clutter it will still not be cramped enough.

The hide is too big also, they need to be tight touching the animal's body for security

The temps are likely off, you need a digital thermometer and get a reading on the cage's floor on both side.

The prey items are also inappropriate.

Here is what I would do




The majority of people buying animals at a pet store get the wrong advice and are sold thing that are I appropriated for the animal they purchase.

The number one issue for new owners is to get their animal to feed and in most cases improper husbandry is always the issue.

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We did purchase a small plastic tub/tank with locking lid for feeding.... so our best bet would be to move him to the "feeding tank" and make that his home until he grows how big? According to his feeding chart he last ate on July 10th and he was being fed frozen fuzzies which is what we bought. We were told to try feeding him again on the night of the 18th (when purchased) but we waited until the 20th, no luck.

This is our first animal ever purchased from a pet store and we did read up before purchasing but different sites will give you different info. It all pretty much comes down to the same thing though just little things here and there that we need to get straight. So if I'm understanding correctly, we should move him to the small tub along with smaller hides and get new thermometers. No handling for a full week (which we've been doing a lot :() then try to feed again after 7 days, preferably live and larger.

Question: Can we try larger frozen/thawed before jumping straight to live or will that set us back again?
-Emma

Feeding outside there enclosure is also something you want to avoid, it can cause enough stress that it can lead to refusal, not mentioning that when moving an animal in feeding mode the risk of getting tagged increase.

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Question: Can we try larger frozen/thawed before jumping straight to live or will that set us back again?

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The problem with petsmart and petco is that they cannot feed live (per company policy) and in many cases they actually assist feed their import since they fail to take F/T willingly (they generally won't tell you this ither). They obviously also do not know what appropriate size prey to feed (fuzzies are way to small, any hatchling is started on hopper and quickly move to adult)

Feeding live will entice the snake to eat, and the priority is always to get the animal to eat for you, then once the animal is consistent, at least 5 consecutive meal you can switch to F/T.

Young hatchling are voracious and are very easy to switch especially if kept in optimal conditions.

The right prey size is equal the animal's girth size (widest part of your BP's body)

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Originally Posted by Deborah

Feeding outside there enclosure is also something you want to avoid, it can cause enough stress that it can lead to refusal, not mentioning that when moving an animal in feeding mode the risk of getting tagged increase.



The problem with petsmart and petco is that they cannot feed live (per company policy) and in many cases they actually assist feed their import since they fail to take F/T willingly (they generally won't tell you this ither). They obviously also do not know what appropriate size prey to feed (fuzzies are way to small, any hatchling is started on hopper and quickly move to adult)

Feeding live will entice the snake to eat, and the priority is always to get the animal to eat for you, then once the animal is consistent, at least 5 consecutive meal you can switch to F/T.

Young hatchling are voracious and are very easy to switch especially if kept in optimal conditions.

The right prey size is equal the animal's girth size (widest part of your BP's body)

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Sounds good, thanks!!

With a glass aquarium tank you should really consider covering the back and sides of it... When ball pythons are in an open enclosure like that they can stress real easy... They are hiders naturally so they like to be in snug closed off areas. Another thing that was covered was that belly heat works better then lights... In the wild they live in holes and are warmed from the heat in the ground... They don't generally bask. Good luck! I had an aquarium for my first ball... I ended up going with a rack system but I also ended up getting 15 other snakes lol!

Just a quick update: we took everyone's advice and we finally got Kaa to eat on the 6th! I think the big thing here was the fact that we never really let him settle in. He took a frozen/thawed fuzzy almost instantly in his tank.

Thanks again everyone!

-Emma

Also something to consider, Take black craft paper and cover 3 sides of the tank

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Originally Posted by CORBIN911

Also something to consider, Take black craft paper and cover 3 sides of the tank

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Thanks, we did do that actually. We also "cluttered" his tank up a bit as suggested by other users. We're so glad we didn't have to try live feeding lol we also left him alone for a full week. No handling or attempt to feed, worked out great!

-Emma