A new Ball Python-- But I may have some problems

Hi everyone! I am new to this forum, mainly because just yesterday I got myself my first ever snake! He's a spider morph ball python, and is the cutest little thing ever. We got him all these hides, and I've been monitering and taking extra care of him. I'm a bit nervous, since its my first time ever taking care of a snake. I've done loads of research, and I could say I know the basics of how to take care of him, but reading and doing are two completely different things. Like keeping the humidity at the right levels, or keeping the temperature. We got him these three hides, one on his mat, one on the cool side by his water, and a log. I was misting his cage when I noticed that a "branch" from the plastic log hide broke off! Ensue me panicking a bit, and very gently and jumpily pushing the little guy out of the log. I'' glad I did, as some sharp pieces of the broken hide had fallen into the log with him. But now I'm worried because I've messed with him. Will he ever get unstressed now? I haven't tried feeding him yet or anything. I read you were supposed to wait at least four days before attempting feeding him, then a few days longer before handling him. But now I'm scared that I've messed up the cycle by messing with him so much, and now he's going to stress or starve himself to death. But I may just be panicking. But anyway, any help?

Don't panic ! If he looks healthy he's virtually bomb proof :)
Just relax and keep researching and enjoy your new obsession ( sorry hobby ! )

I leave mine for week before offering a feed then leave for a few days before handling BUT some do handle straight away and even feed the same day they arrive ....

In my opinion the humidity isn't a priority at this point , it's more crucial when or just after he goes into shed mode .

The temperature is more of an issue . What are you using to test the temps on the warm side and are you using a heat mat with a thermostat ?? What temps are showing ?? Warm and cool sides .



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It will be fine.

If you have a uth, is it on a tstat? If so, that's great. If not, that's not good and you need one.

Okay first of all take a breather *phew* ball pythons can go months without food although it's not recommended nor purposely forced on the snake sometimes they refuse for weeks or months but have no fear, its normal (if they maintain weight and look overall healthy). As for stress and when to feed, I'm not sure if you asked or were told but first you want to know when your new baby last ate. If they just ate the day you got them feeding four days from now wouldn't be the best. If you don't know when he/she last ate contact the seller/breeder and ask. Then gauge it from there. As for destressing. Handling the snake from day one insnt the worst thing you can do but it's not great either, but don't worry about it. When I got my first snake the day u got it I had it out for ours and it ate the very next day. I would give em a few days to relax and explore the new environment. With temperatures I HIGHLY recommend purchasing a infrared temperature gun that can measure the most exact surface temp. You can get them on eBay or amazon fairly cheap and they are a good thing to have when you're like me and you worry about providing spot on temps. This is very important however when I first started I went to the local pet store and bought a digital thermometer with a probe and put it directly on top of the hot spot. That's the second best you can do. For humidity and ambient temp get a little square thermometer with a humidity gauge at Home Depot or a home improvement store and place it on the middle on the cage and move it around to measure the temps every so often. I keep my snakes in plastic tubs with holes drilled so humildy is very easy to maintain. Usually if the snake is shedding well, I wouldn't worry about it. If they have a bad shed, soak them in a separate plastic tub in some warm water to get it off. When I first got my snakes I freaked out too trust me. It takes time to adjust. Most likely you're most nervous than the snake :D. But I'm sure more advanced hobbiests will chime in. Hope I calmed your nerves a little bit.

I left him be for a bit, then decided to go ahead and try to feed him. I warmed up two little pinkies for him(one at first, as I was testing), and moved it by his mouth(with a pair of feeding tongs that I washed prior.) like I was told by many to do, and it almost made me let the tongs go how eager and fast he grabbed the mouse! He ate, and it makes me very happy. The store we got him didn't know the last time he ate. But I ended up giving him another pinkie(which still may of notbeen enough for him! He's a baby, but he's rather big. About a month old maybe). He was still hunting for more food after. It seems I was panicking for nothing, haha.

Also, I have a thing to measure temperature and one to moniter moisture level.

Pinky mice are a little to small for a ball python. Next feeding bump him up to a hopper mouse or better yet a rat pup. Other than that enjoy him , and continue doing as much research as possible on them. Super fun and easy snakes to keep. I have 9 of them. Ranging from pied to albino to blade clown and a couple other morphs I enjoy. Been keeping these guys almost 8 years now best pet snakes ever. Good luck with him.

I sure hope that by ignoring my comment it means you have a thermostat on the under tank heater. If not you will be dealing with more than a stressed snake.

Like stated above a pinky is much to small for a BP. I vote a rat pup as well.

Sorry, I didn't mean to ignore your comment. Yes! We have an under tank heater(though my sister put it in the middle of the tank >-< and it's glued. Luckily there's a big patch of cool spots though, and I situated one of my three hides for him in the cool section to promote him to autoregulate his temperature). And I also have a thermostat!

I do not have one on the under tank heater though! How do I go about doing that?

And I will certainly move up on food sizes, but I still have four more pinkies, and the box overall costed quite a bit so I'd hate to waste them. Is there any way I could feed him the pinkies until I run out? Like maybe give him more than two pinkies to make up for size, or something along that line? If not that'd be fine! I'd just hate to waste them, haha.

You can give him all four pinkies for his next meal.

Do you understand the difference between a thermoSTAT and a thermoMETER?

A thermometer measures temperature. A thermostat regulates temperature and there should be one hooked up to your under-tank heater so it doesn't get hot enough to burn your snake. If there isn't one then go unplug the UTH before you end up with a vet bill.

The uth we got didn't come with one. I'll be sure to turn it off, and get one with a thermostat! Gosh, thank you very much for telling me this. I did all this research about how to take care of them, but not enough about how to use the equipment TO take care of them. I feel very stupid 😞. My poor little baby. Also, how do I get off the heating mat I have? It's glued on.

https://ball-pythons.net/forums/show...-a-Zoo-Med-UTH
This is the uth I have, and the replies in this thread are very helpful. I'm going to the store today for fish(we have a fish tank we recently set up, so we're buying cheap feeder fish to test the water before we put in sicklets), so I will see about getting a thermoSTAT for the uth. Thank you very much for all your help! Any other tips will be helpful and widely appreciated. I'll post pictures of my snake, tank(which is in progress. I need to add some sort of background thing so he has a little more privacy, a thermostat, and other things), and keep you all updating with how my scaly baby is doing. I may not be the best of owner at the moment. But I'm willing to try hard for this snake and its wellbeing, and hope one day I will be as good of a snake owner as a lot of you all. Thank you so much for all your help!!

UTH's and most other heat sources don't come equipped with thermostats, you have to purchase them separately.

Ah, I see. Well, I'll be sure to purchase one here in about an hour when petsmart opens! Is there any thermostats you reccomend?

If you want to remove the UTH, use "Goo B Gone" available at many Dollar General/Family Dollar or Walmart type stores. But you can leave it on the tank(just unplugged) until you get a thermostat.

Thank you! Also, guys is there any good way to keep moisture in the tank? I have a mesh top, and because my house is so dry I constantly have to mist his tank just to keep the humidity level in its target range, otherwise it drops to around 30-17!! I was thinking maybe putting some glass on one side of the mesh, to maybe create a condesation effect and maybe trap some moisture, but I don't know. I was told by a lady who owns rainbow boas at the pet store to get the substrate moist and mix it in.

Check the "new posts" and find the "How to set up a glass tank" for tips. You'll need to cover the top because a screen top lets all the humidity out and a light dries the thing out. But that sticky will help you a lot.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Dangernoodel

Sorry, I didn't mean to ignore your comment. Yes! We have an under tank heater(though my sister put it in the middle of the tank >-< and it's glued. Luckily there's a big patch of cool spots though, and I situated one of my three hides for him in the cool section to promote him to autoregulate his temperature). And I also have a thermostat!

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Well . . You can peel off the stuck-on heat mat just to it slowly and reattach under one end ( rather than the middle ) then you will get a better heat gradient .

I think they suggest that the mat covers between a third and a half of the tank's floor

A new question. It's winter here, and I've yet to find a place to get a thermostat(my
mother refuses to spend money buying one online). I've kept the uth unplugged, but it is starting to worry me. What if my snake gets too cold? Besides the heat lamp, which we have to turn off at night(we don't have a night bulb for him yet), he has no other heat sources. Is there any way I could maybe turn the uth back on? There's a bunch of thick substrate to dull the warmth from it, and I am thinking of ways to constantly moniter(and turn it off) if it gets too warm. I plan on going to the hardware store in search of a thermostat there this weekend, but until then I'm concerned he will get too cold without some form of warmth throughout the night(I live in kentucky, and my mom keeps the house temp WAY too low because she's "hot". So the temperature is usually in the low 60s, combined with how it's down to the 20s outside). He also has a hide(the log hide! I managed to fix it to where no sharp bits are poking out anymore), which has a covered(though hollow so it retains some heat) bottom, and he spends most of his time there or on top of the branch. I wont try to turn back on the uth unless given okay to do so, but I did need to express my concerns.

I feel very silly asking all these questions, and it makes me seem like such a terrible person already 😂
But I want the best for this snake. And even if I have to ask every question in the world, by darn this snake will have the happiest, longest life that a gorgeous snake like it deserves. Even if it starts out a bit rough as we get everything settled and set.

I got to handle him tonight! I reached down in his cage and gently picked him up from his mid body. I even got him to set still in my hand, wrapped around it for a moment. I was a bit nervous, but tried not to show it off to him. I held him for about 10 minutes, taking photos and relaxing. He was very wriggly! But not aggressive. I think he was moreso curious or looking for a meal, with how he kept going his happy merry way and tasting the air. The other morning I saw him yawn and I seriously teared up. Maybe I'm a bit too obsessed though, everything that's been coming out of my mouth is "Twitch did this, or twitch laid in his log again and peeked him little face out. I read online this. Blah blah blah" I've about talked my sisters and mother to deaf. I want to be a herpetologist and exotic pet vet one day, as here in Kentucky there are none. Onto my question at that note. When I held him, I was looking for signs that his belly was burned during when I did have the uth on. His belly is different shades of yellows and light browns, with some white spots on the tips of the scales. Is this just a part of the spider morph, or did the short time I have the uth on burn my snake? They weren't neccesarily pink or anything.