Isn't interested in hiding along with feeding question.

I've had Valentine for just about a month now...still pretty newbie but I have engrossed myself in this website and any information I can find regarding balls. I observe her very carefully and try to make notes/timelines to get a good feel for the future. Since I've had her she has eaten every week consistently, she has had a perfect shed (yay), and she handles so easily (3x per week approx. 15 - 20 mins). She was pacing about the cage last week so we fed her a day early, I believe she was hungry and we may need to up her food...Pet Smart (don't kill me for buying from a generic pet store lol) told me to feed her fuzzies, I don't think they are large enough for a growing baby ball. (Thoughts? I want to switch her to rats since I've heard they are more nutritious.) Since the feeding she has settled down again. They gave a guess that she was approx. 5 months old.

Now for the reason I post this - She NEVER hides. The only time she has ever hid was the first night we had her and didn't have a very nice setup for her. She hid in a small box and I don't blame her. Anyway since that night we have her house decked out to the nines. She has two hides - 1 cool side and 1 hot side. We have tried different hides which she will explore and then settle back onto her sticks or she sits below the canopy of her fake bonsai tree. She seems to prefer being slightly concealed by plants. She has never curled up in ball either...not even once. Do you think she is just very comfortable? I went back to Pet Smart yesterday and a young man told me she was super docile while there and was kind of a 'show off'. Do I trust his opinion - is it possible she is just an odd ball? She doesn't seem stressed at all - never when handling and never in general like I said she has never curled up in a defensive ball.

Thanks for any replies and taking the time to read this. I really appreciate this website and find your opinions super helpful so thanks in advance.

What are the temps in or around the hide and how are they being measured, could possibly be to hot inside the hide or maybe you do just have an odd ball

Unfortunately I only have a Zilla Thermometer...we are trying to figure out which multi-zone thermometer system to buy. The ambient temp is 80 in the cage, we have a UTH as well as a heat lamp which I position in the middle of top screen. Sorry I don't have exact temps I know I need to get something better just not sure what. Her hide right now is the Exo-Terra rock with lid, we use coco husk for substrate I can't see it being too hot we were worried if anything it would be chilly.

The uth is on a thermostat witht the probe between it and the bottom of the tank? Everyone on here seems to swear by the acurite it shows both temps and humidity and has a pobe should also look into a ir temp gun for spot checking temps... The thermometer your using now isnt analog is it

Are you feeding mouse fuzzies? Those are way too small. There's a chance your snake is out all the time because she's hungry.

General rule of thumb; NEVER trust the PetSmart guy. Even if he's right, he's probably wrong.

Chances are that she's very hungry, so isn't hiding... A 5 month old ball python on mouse fuzzies is way too small. When ball pythons are born straight out of the egg, they eat mice hoppers, which are a little bigger than fuzzies. Don't listen to petsmart people. LOL

How wide is the widest part of her body? A general estimate is that the rodent size should be the width to 1.2x the width of the widest part of her body. Or the weight of the rodent should be 10~15% of her body weight.

THANKS for all your replies - it means a lot to me.

I feel so awful...I should have done a bit more research before taking her home...I figured the Pet Smart people only know the basics if that. I will upgrade her food ASAP she will be fed next Saturday - at her thickest part she is approx. 2" - not very thick yet poor thing is probably hungry. Do you think I should try to feed her rat pups? Has anyone else heard about rats being more nutritious?

As for the the UTH I just have it stuck to the bottom of the tank...no thermostat hooked up. My next thing I will focus on is getting the heating correct. I haven't come across acurite products in Canada...I am thinking of buying a BIOS system that has 3 sensors and can be read wirelessly outside the tank.

Please forgive my ignorance and thanks again for being so helpful.

If you have no thermostat for the UTH then it's really likely that it's much too hot.

Something which surprised me as a newbie was that the recommended "hot" side surface temperature of ~90F doesn't "feel" hot or even all that warm to touch. Of course, 90F is below human body temperature, so this makes sense.

A thermostat, a digital thermometer and a infrared thermometer are highly recommended purchases. The infrared thermometer is also useful for cooking rare/blue steaks and checking fridge temperatures if you need to justify the ~$20 price tag... :)

You should unplug the uth untill you get it on a thermostat, you dont wanna chance burning your snake if it finally decides it wants to hide, uth can easily shoot past 100°f unregulated

First off, even a fresh baby BP can eat hopper mice so my guess is she is hungry. My little girl used to eat fuzzy rats when she was 90ish grams. Generally you want to feed 10% their weight in food. if you don't have a scale, just eyeball it. Pythons are pretty stretchy on food so you can go a little large and be fine. Boas are more rigid and prone to regurgitate if the food is too big. So try something like a small mouse or a fuzzy/crawler rat. Also my girl was a pig and ate every 3 days.

As for the UTH, I'm sure its too hot. You need a good T-stat, most important item. I prefer Herpstats. Until then you can just buy a lamp dimmer and set the temp manually with a temp gun but I hate UTHs and never use them. I would use a CHE on a lamp dimmer and order a Herpstat. Also try and make sure both hides are the same kind as sometimes BPs are weird and will like a certain hide and only use that one despite it being too hot or too cold.

As for Acurites, you can go to their website and they will probably list a store in your area that carries them. If not, I believe you can order directly from them. Just whatever you do, don't use analog gauges as they are notorious for being off. Heck you could even just buy one of those little digital ones with a wire at a reptile store but they are usually overpriced but if you something right now and cant find an acurite locally. Try any type of Target, Walmart or hardware store in your area. They should carry some kind of digital indoor/outdoor temp/humidity gauge.

Oh forgot, you can also check out Vivarium Electronics for T-stats too. Just make sure you buy one with a safety relay that will shut down the unit if it freaks out. Some will stick on and run full power if they fail which is not good. That's why I prefer Herpstats, they shut down as well as have high/low alarms you can set that will shut down the unit if the thresh holds are crossed.

I think thermostats are perhaps the most important piece of equipment necessary when it comes to keeping snakes. It's amazing that pet store employees don't give this information to buyers.
Snoop- Once you get a thermostat and your husbandry is dialed in, and increase the prey size for your snake, you should be just fine. Here are a couple of t-stat options.

http://www.amazon.com/MTPRTC-ETL-Cer...arm+thermostat

http://www.amazon.com/Herpstat-Intro...tat+thermostat

I'm going tomorrow to a local hydroponics store - I researched their website and they have lots of products I can use. I am going to get a thermostat, digital thermometer and potentially an infrared thermometer. Also going to try to give her the rat fuzzys next feeding! Thanks again for the help I will post an update once I have things under control and she's fed. =)

Really appreciative of the support the BP.net community had given, kind of scary to think pet smart and other stores don't give people extensive knowledge on these things before purchase.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by EL-Ziggy

I think thermostats are perhaps the most important piece of equipment necessary when it comes to keeping snakes. It's amazing that pet store employees don't give this information to buyers.
Snoop- Once you get a thermostat and your husbandry is dialed in, and increase the prey size for your snake, you should be just fine. Here are a couple of t-stat options.

http://www.amazon.com/MTPRTC-ETL-Cer...arm+thermostat

http://www.amazon.com/Herpstat-Intro...tat+thermostat

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Not just them. There are breeders out there too who don't mention it when you buy a snake. I mean, i'm gonna guess it's because they assume the buyer knows and is going to buy one but for anyone who doesn't know, you need a t-stat!!! :D

I have one of those T-stats which is a back up for if one of my herpstats needs to go in for repairs. Not sure about the ETL thing but they are supposed to shut down if they go above 108F, not sure if they do as I haven't checked though.

Just a happy update :)

The next day after I posted and received advice I went and bought a thermostat, probe thermometer and a temp gun. I have Valentines husbandry all figured out with her rock cave coming in at 90 and the cool side is about 74 with an ambient temp of about 80. The gun is great, love it except when I'm waking up from a nap on the couch with my boyfriend pointing it in my mouth lol everyone was right it was SO hot before reading in over 100 yikes! Thank gosh she was smart enough to not get burned.

She has been hiding a bit more but still enjoys being on her sticks. She's quite a social snake and very nosey. I can't do anything or even go to near the cage when she's in her rock hide because she will pop out and want to come play. So I tiptoe around and try not to peak on her when she's in the rock.
Todays feeding was a great success hurray a small mouse. I couldn't get any rats but will look into a feeder supplier close by. I just think everyone will benefit if I start her early on the rats but I will see. All in all we're doing great and I am so happy with my baby. Best present ever <3

Good to hear and yeah she probably isn't poking her head out to play, she probably wants dinner haha. Rats isn't a huge thing. BPs do fine on mice their whole lives. Its just usually cheaper and easier to feed 1 appropriate sized rat vs feeding like 3-4 mice. Good to hear your boyfriend has a new toy too lol.