New owner with a few questions.

Got my first ball last Thursday. I attempted to feed him Sunday afternoon as his breeder said he should probably be okay to try with but he didn't take. I'm not too horribly worried as he's still on the first week in his new environment and just may not be adjusted yet and I'm going to try again next Sunday. He didn't tense when I touched him to pick him up out of his enclosure and moved him to the feeding tub. However he seemed freaked out by the tub and was near instantly wanting nothing more than to be out of it and climbed out and onto my hand. He was squeezing lightly but not hard but he didn't seem agitated and he wasn't breathing hard at all on my hand. I'm also worried that his hides may be a bit too big for him. But he won't touch them if I put newspaper in them to make them feel a little more cramped. When I took the newspaper out he went back in without a problem. He also seems to like to sleep in the warm hide during the day and on occasion he will pull his head out to lay on the rim of his hide or climbs out just enough to lay his head on the tshirt I've had in there to get him a little more used to my scent. Is any of this normal at all because I've read that Balls usually enjoy tight hides but again he won't touch them if there's stuff in his hides.

Also when I was doing the general maintenance today I lifted up his hide and I think I woke him out of a dead sleep but I wanted to be sure there was no mess to clean as he spends most of his day in there. He didn't tense again when I touched him to move him away so I could put his hide back but he seemed to be taking long deep breaths after I set him down again. Also lately he seems to be favoring his warm hide and won't use his cool hide. He likes to lounge on the branches I have in his tank. Is this all normal, I'm just worried since this is my first snake, I want to give him the best care I possibly can.

I know he wanders around for a couple hours at night as I'm nocturnal as well so I get to enjoy seeing him when he's active.

Oh, also. His temps are at a constant 85-90 on the warm side and 75-80 on the cool. The humidity on the warm is around 50-55 and the cool is about 60-68.

I'm a new owner as well and this all sounds like normal behavior to me. I was told to wait a week before attempting to feed my girl so that might be why yours didn't feed? Just not comfortable enough I guess?

I think the main thing that has me concerned is that he's preferring the bigger warmer hide and won't touch his cooler hide at all lately. Maybe I'm just reading too much into it.

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Originally Posted by SekiMoshu

I think the main thing that has me concerned is that he's preferring the bigger warmer hide and won't touch his cooler hide at all lately. Maybe I'm just reading too much into it.

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As long as you have the correct temps I wouldn't worry about it.

As long as your temps and humidity are great I wouldn't worry too much. I recommend hides being the exact same type.

Let the snake acclimate to the new environment. They will go to whichever side they need. Right now mines hanging out in his cool hide and has been for the last day or two. Minus him crawling around at night.

If you have a heat pad (UTH) please make sure it's on a thermostat to regulate the temp.

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Originally Posted by AnnaK231

As long as your temps and humidity are great I wouldn't worry too much. I recommend hides being the exact same type.

Let the snake acclimate to the new environment. They will go to whichever side they need. Right now mines hanging out in his cool hide and has been for the last day or two. Minus him crawling around at night.

If you have a heat pad (UTH) please make sure it's on a thermostat to regulate the temp.

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The hides aren't the same but that's because where I bought them they only had one of them at the time. I'm going to buy another when they get back in stock. The strange thing is he's preferring the bigger hide. Earlier he was also resting on his temp gauge up near the lamp with his head looking up to the top of the tank. He hasn't been 'trying to escape' per say. Or roaming excessively. He's just kind of resting his head on the glass looking upwards. He'll do this on the warm or cool side for like 10-15 minutes and then either go back to his hide or find himself a nice comfy spot on his branch to chill out. He was actually doing this just a few minutes ago before going back to his hide. I'm not sure if this is stress or not.

Sounds normal to me. There is also going to be some "stress" for a bit as he gets used to his new home. Try to keep foot traffic around him down. Ours used to do the same thing with his head on the glass.

Thank you everyone for all the fast responses and advice. My roommates lately are more worried about me than the snake since I've been stressing out over him so much. I tend to scare myself because I find every little thing that could possibly go wrong and then fret over it. This is him by the by.

http://i61.tinypic.com/eti61j.jpg

You don't need to place him in a separate tub for feeding. It will most likely just stress him out. It's perfectly ok to feed inside the enclosure. Don't worry about making the hides smaller unless you can't get him eating. He'll be fine in slightly larger hides. Sounds like he's just busy being a snake, nothing to worry about.

You could consider making his warm and cool end hides identical so he'll choose the right temperature over his favorite hide. However, spending time on the warm side is perfectly fine. He'll go where he wants, and as long as the temperatures are being measured correctly, he's in no danger from spending time on the warm side. Some of mine seem to prefer the warm side as well. They know what they need better than we do.

Just curious, but what morph is he? He's stunning. Oh, and do you have a picture of your setup? :)

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Originally Posted by Penultimate

You don't need to place him in a separate tub for feeding. It will most likely just stress him out. It's perfectly ok to feed inside the enclosure. Don't worry about making the hides smaller unless you can't get him eating. He'll be fine in slightly larger hides. Sounds like he's just busy being a snake, nothing to worry about.

You could consider making his warm and cool end hides identical so he'll choose the right temperature over his favorite hide. However, spending time on the warm side is perfectly fine. He'll go where he wants, and as long as the temperatures are being measured correctly, he's in no danger from spending time on the warm side. Some of mine seem to prefer the warm side as well. They know what they need better than we do.

Just curious, but what morph is he? He's stunning. Oh, and do you have a picture of your setup? :)

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http://i62.tinypic.com/25kkcnr.jpg
I've since covered the hide on the right on the outside with construction paper on the outside of the tank so he would have complete privacy in there. Also you can't see it right now but his right side of the tank is hidden by a rack that holds all of our sewing fabric. The left is hidden from view on the outside mostly by his hide. The one on the left is the one he's favoring right now on the warm side. This was taken before I got him last Thursday and I was testing the tank. Also his morph is called a pumpkin champagne. I'm going to be getting a new ever so slightly bigger tank in a couple months. This current one is 30x12 and the one I'm looking at is 30x18

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Originally Posted by SekiMoshu

Thank you everyone for all the fast responses and advice. My roommates lately are more worried about me than the snake since I've been stressing out over him so much. I tend to scare myself because I find every little thing that could possibly go wrong and then fret over it. This is him by the by.
http://i57.tinypic.com/1zqg4fd.jpg

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For some reason the original post's picture turned into a bus. O_o;

I would replace the hide on the right with something more secure, that's probably why he's favoring his left side one if temperatures aren't off. Also, you should replace those dials on the side with digital thermometers and hygrometers. The dials are notoriously inaccurate. Actually, I think the left hide looks a little too open as well, but if he likes it, that's perfectly fine.

Personally, I like the hides from Reptile Basics, but they aren't very realistic (http://www.reptilebasics.com/hide-boxes). If you want something realistic, you can try making your own hides for him. Here's a thread with some information on that (http://ball-pythons.net/forums/showt...tic-quot-Hides). They're cheaper than the ones in stores, and they look really nice.

And you don't need to worry about getting him a new cage anytime soon, he looks like a baby. It'll take him a little while to outgrow that. Pumpkin champagne, huh? Where did you get him? I love champagnes, don't have any yet, though.

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Originally Posted by Penultimate

I would replace the hide on the right with something more secure, that's probably why he's favoring his left side one if temperatures aren't off. Also, you should replace those dials on the side with digital thermometers and hygrometers. The dials are notoriously inaccurate. Actually, I think the left hide looks a little too open as well, but if he likes it, that's perfectly fine.

Personally, I like the hides from Reptile Basics, but they aren't very realistic (http://www.reptilebasics.com/hide-boxes). If you want something realistic, you can try making your own hides for him. Here's a thread with some information on that (http://ball-pythons.net/forums/showt...tic-quot-Hides). They're cheaper than the ones in stores, and they look really nice.

And you don't need to worry about getting him a new cage anytime soon, he looks like a baby. It'll take him a little while to outgrow that. Pumpkin champagne, huh? Where did you get him? I love champagnes, don't have any yet, though.

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I was going to get an identical hide for the right side when they came in stock in the store. I know he's a 2014 hatch and his breeder said it should be about a year before he would really need a new one. Though I may have to try that home made hide box myself, it looks really good and sounds like a lot of fun. I do a bit of crafting/painting and such myself and make my own clay already. I also do plan on getting the digitals. I did a lot of research before getting him but the temp gun and digital probes were something I discovered after he got here sadly. I also just purchased a scale online for him and the other pets in the house (We have a cockatiel and a cat as well) so we'll always know their weights. I'm not entirely sure what I should be feeding him either. I know he's about an inch and a half thick in the middle and about a foot and a half long. It's hard to get an accurate measurement of how long he is without getting him out because I've been trying to give him his space for the first week and at least until I can get him to eat the first time. What I heard from his breeder he's about 250-300 grams right now and will take f/t mice or rats.

I went to the local reptile shop to inquire about some feeding tongs because I don't want to use my actual fingers. I'm not scared to get bit at all but the girl said that 'i don't need feeding tongs for a ball python and that I shouldn't be scared to get bit. But that I also need to get him on live and that's probably why he's giving me a hard time eating.' I explained to her that's not a good idea since I live in an apartment and I'm pretty sure my landlord wouldn't approve of it she only said 'Why? It's just being used for food.' Fact of the matter is, if he doesn't want to eat it, I'm then stuck with a rat/mouse that's alive in my apartment. I live in a city, I'm not gonna be able to release it outside because it will breed and cause problems for others. I prefer not to have the scent of mice/rats on my hand if I don't have to so he doesn't have a reason in the first place to strike at me. Also I live in an apartment, I'm pretty sure my landlord would flip out if there were live mice or rats in the place. She was a little unsure about the snake but after I showed her pictures of how small the bigger sized ones were, and how docile they were she agreed and he's now on my lease. He's a sweet little guy and has been really patient with us so far and I'm more worried my hand close to his face would scare him out of the idea of food more than the idea of him mistaking my hand for the food and then she kinda bullied me into a sale of a weanling rat that kinda looks on the big side for him. Needless to say by the time I left I was a little frustrated and I don't believe they will be getting my business again so I think I'll be ordering his food online from now on. People on this forum seem to favor The Big Cheese and Perfect Prey. Any others I may want to consider? I'm staying far away from Rodent Pro because of the craziness that went on from some people's babies getting sick. I won't take that kind of risk with mine.

The breeder I got him from was Vesper Ball Pythons. I think they only have a facebook page for their sales but they were very nice and professional. Got a receipt for him when I put down the down payment, took extra pictures of him for me. And actually suggested I get him since he was gonna be my first snake since he was well started on food. In the future after I've had him for a few years I'd like to get one of their coral glows as my wife seems to have an eye for them. From what I heard there will be more pumpkin champagne babies this summer. :D
https://www.facebook.com/VesperBallPythons

Sorry for the super long post.

It is pretty fun. Definitely worth the time. As for feeding, I would just pull him out very briefly. Don't make it a long handling session, just take him out long enough to check his size. Don't worry, this shouldn't stress him too much.

That pet shop girl is nuts, haha. Don't need feeding tongs? Umm... right. I'm not putting my hand in the tank when I know I'm likely to get bitten. It doesn't hurt, but why take a bite for no reason? I don't really know about online rodent suppliers, I get all of my frozen locally.

Cool! I'll have a look at them. :)

Yeah, use tongs for sure. You don't want your snake associating your hands with feeding, just handling. Pet store employees are not the brightest or most knowledgeable (not all, but the majority). It's like so many things, these days, - know what you want/need and go get it. I do most of my research on the internet and then go find the best price or deal. I also have found a network of snake lovers/owners in the area that help with supplies, etc.

P.S. Beautiful ball, by the way!

Yea I'm going to attempt to feed him tonight since it's still my day off. I'm just worried I scared him now again because when I opened his tank I guess he was napping on top of his hide at around 9-10pm. When the last clasp came off it was a little audible and he was already making his way down so he jerked his head and I guess he did it a little too fast because the rest of him went tumbling down to the bottom of his tank. It was only about 2-3 inches but he fell upside down. He righted himself right away but he was in his hide before I could even think about it. I felt so bad cause usually he's super graceful about climbing and such. Only good thing out of it I know for sure he doesn't have IBD so that fear is put to rest once and for all. Pretty sure he was fine but it gave me a mild heart attack. Got a nice pair of feeding tongs from petsmart yesterday too. I think I may attempt in tank feeding to see if he takes. Fingers crossed!

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Originally Posted by SekiMoshu

Yea I'm going to attempt to feed him tonight since it's still my day off. I'm just worried I scared him now again because when I opened his tank I guess he was napping on top of his hide at around 9-10pm. When the last clasp came off it was a little audible and he was already making his way down so he jerked his head and I guess he did it a little too fast because the rest of him went tumbling down to the bottom of his tank. It was only about 2-3 inches but he fell upside down. He righted himself right away but he was in his hide before I could even think about it. I felt so bad cause usually he's super graceful about climbing and such. Only good thing out of it I know for sure he doesn't have IBD so that fear is put to rest once and for all. Pretty sure he was fine but it gave me a mild heart attack. Got a nice pair of feeding tongs from petsmart yesterday too. I think I may attempt in tank feeding to see if he takes. Fingers crossed!

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Just to clarify I don't think he's unhealthy, it's just my paranoia of the worst always happening. Heck my cat coughed up a hairball and I was worried sick for him for a few days and on hyper lookout for any vomit of any kind.

I think that you should just relax a bit and take it easy on yourself. I bet your snake is fine (probably worried about you, though!) and is settling in nicely. It takes some time for you and your snake (mainly husbandry) to get in tune with each other. I've had my boa for three weeks now and we are still getting used to each other but I'm not going to get overly upset about things just focus on keeping the temperature and humidity at a proper level. I think that one of the key aspects of taking care of a snake is to monitor things closely at first to ensure that you have it right.

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Originally Posted by BWB

I think that you should just relax a bit and take it easy on yourself. I bet your snake is fine (probably worried about you, though!) and is settling in nicely. It takes some time for you and your snake (mainly husbandry) to get in tune with each other. I've had my boa for three weeks now and we are still getting used to each other but I'm not going to get overly upset about things just focus on keeping the temperature and humidity at a proper level. I think that one of the key aspects of taking care of a snake is to monitor things closely at first to ensure that you have it right.

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Yea, you're right. I'm pretty sure every new snake owner has probably gone through fretting and worrying over their first baby. I caught him in his cooler hide today though because I was up at the weirdest time of day that I'm never usually awake at and he was curled up with his head poked out looking up at the top of the cage. So it seems he has been using it... Just... When I'm normally asleep. He was in there for a while and then went back to the bigger and warmer hide. So hopefully it means he'll eat soon. :D Also got him out to measure him today. He's an inch and a half thick at the thickest part and pushing almost 2ft long.

How's he doing?

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Originally Posted by AnnaK231

How's he doing?

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Well so far so good. He ate for me last week. But I had to leave the rat in there for a while. He didn't this week. But I think it's cause I messed it up for him. I dropped it by accident into his tank and after a minute of sniffing at it he picked it up and pulled it into his hide. I was watching from a bit away for a minute but I guess I moved too fast because he dropped it. I reached in with my tongs to try to get it out. He struck the tongs and I left it at the edge of his hide. He didn't touch it after that except to use it for a fleshy pillow. Should I try again in 3 days or wait until his normal feeding day? Because he was interested since he picked it up.