New member, new snake Questions

Hi, I'm a new ball python owner and wanted to share my little guy. My son and I went to the show at Pomona last weeken and came home with a new little guy. He is a coral glow 66% het pied. I set his cage up with a UTh. It's a 10 gallon tank with a hide and two heat lamps. So far in the last week he's eaten a live pinky and a F/T weaned rat. The pinky was eaten on Wednesday and the frozen on Friday. On Thursday he shed and still has what seems to be a stuck shed in his head. He can be a little hissy at time and strikes at me occasionally but I'm hoping it's due to the stuck shed and not a bad temper as my boys really want to hold him. My son says he needs a girlfriend and I'm still trying to convince my wife not to get rid of him let alone get another snake. Needless to say I've got big plans for him down the road. Couple of questions? Should I handle him more or less to reduce the temper he has? Should I let his stuck shed resolve itself or help him? Thanks! Edit I'll try to figure how to post pics soon

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That's a lot of heat on a 10 gallon tank. How are you regulating your UTH?
Give him some time to settle in.

Congrats on the new addition fire. First things first, is your uth controlled by a thermostat? That's gonna be a crucial piece of equipment. Secondly, you may not need that much heat. If your uth is dialed in the most you'll need beyond that is a low wattage infrared bulb, on a dimmer, to slightly boost your ambient temps. You'll also want hides on the warm and cool sides of the tank. You could add a moist hide to help with the stuck shed. Except for cage maintenance I typically don't handle new arrivals until they've eaten for me a few times. I feed young snakes every 5-7 days. Once he acclimates to his new home, has a few meals and handling sessions, he'll most likely mellow out. Best wishes with your new critter. Looking forward to seeing pictures. :)

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To update he has pooped since my last post and weighed in at 210 grams. He does have a nice box to hide in. I regulate my temp with a rancho controller I had lying around from when I used to brew beer. I plan to get a 20 gallon tank and a better temp controller soon.


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Originally Posted by Mofire

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To update he has pooped since my last post and weighed in at 210 grams. He does have a nice box to hide in. I regulate my temp with a rancho controller I had lying around from when I used to brew beer. I plan to get a 20 gallon tank and a better temp controller soon.


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Good lookin BP bro..
Just a fyi you dont need 2 heat lamps, you'll fry the lil guy. The belly heat and the lamp for Ambient (air temps) is all you need. Even on a big enclosure like 48"x12x24" all we run are 2 sources.
As far as his weight he is the same size as my 6 month old.. I also have a 3 month old thats 80Grams. All the youngins seem snappy. Im having to dominate my male (6 month) by going directly in and not hesitating or giving him a chance to "S" up on me.. If i put my hand right over his head so he goes into a protective BALL i then can pick him up and he is then snapped out of it. If I open the cage and screw around and he has time to get ready then as soon as my hand goes in he strikes over and over..
My female (3 months) is timid, thats differnet than my male being aggressive. If I move slow she will eventually strike into the air once & try to scare me off but then she flees and wants away from me..So now ive tryed to be gentle with her and a bit easier than with the male because she doesnt try to tag me as much as she tries to get away. . . I also use a snake Hook ($7.99 Pet store) sometimes when the male is waiting for me to put my hand in, then once he doesnt sense heat on the hook i can pull him out with it wothout him striking and into my hands he goes from there... A few tricks you can try... Also a dry wash cloth works too to make them stop the S posturing.. The key is to snap these little guys out of the mind set there in and then they are usually good to go.. Get him on a regular feed schedule too... Once a week is fine. There is so much info on this site you can read for hours... Keep us posted on the lil guy, he is gorgeous.
ohhh and that Tstat is a good one. Some run Ranco's on this site.. I use a Herostat 2 so I can control both heat sorces.

Beautiful little guy !!!

Everyone already gave you GREAT advice !! Esp. about the heat and lamps.

You should also cover the sides, back, and most of the top of the tank. No matter the size of the tank. The little one is very "exposed" and that can cause stress. Right now he only has a hide on the warm side, so he has to choose safety or Thermoregulation.

Get some black paper (or any color, but darker the better) and tape it on the sides and back of the tank. Then cover most of the top of the tank. You should only have one lamp dome up there...you can cover the rest of the top with silver foil. Will also help with humidity.

It will turn the tank into more of a "cave" feeling for the little one and he won't be so exposed.

He is really pretty !!

That's a great looking snake you have there - good luck!

Like others have said, ball pythons like to have cover, and all the more so when they're young. Apart from still settling in, the defensiveness could also be related to just being too exposed. You can add a bunch of fake plants,vines, branches, or even a bunch of balled up paper towels, paper towel rolls, etc, so he can slither through things instead of only across the open ground - especially when you move him to a bigger cage.

It's also generally recommended to give them at least two hides in different temperatures; and the hides should be a snug fit. You can stuff moss or paper towels in the hide you have to take up some of the space. They like to have the sides of their body in contact with something solid all the way around.

If you have a defensive baby, just keep in mind that it's basically terrified you're going to eat it. In order for it to settle down, it's not enough to just not eat it. It has to stop associating you with scary experiences. So when you start handling him, do it in the evening in low light, and move slowly and calmly. Keep handling sessions short. Try to pick him up by scooping him gently from underneath, not grabbing from above or grabbing for his head since that is what a predator would do. If he starts freaking out, put him back. The more time he spends out of his cage and in a panic, the more he will associate being out of his cage with panicking.

So after reading some of the replies I've updated my enclosure. I took one heat lamp off and put the paper around the glass. I will add a new hide and even maybe some fake plants. He seems to be happyhttps://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/201...6081d9fba9.jpg


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Awesome !!! :gj:

So to update, I made another hide for him and put it in his cage. He still seems a little snippy and I think it's partially due to his stuck shed. I've raised the humidity, tried the soaking in warm water with a wash cloth method and it's still stuck. Poor guy probably can't see and strikes at everything. I just misted him again. You can see the eyes are covered in the second picture https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/201...b43f46dcdd.jpghttps://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/201...70feb80629.jpg


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So right now I have him in a small tub with a warm damp towel. Hopefully this will help the poor guy.https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/201...642c08e1eb.jpg


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Originally Posted by Mofire

So right now I have him in a small tub with a warm damp towel. Hopefully this will help the poor guy.




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Good Job.. Im sure he ill be fine, I bet within a day or 2 his eyes will be all set.

10 gallon seems a little small , a youngin should be in a 20gal and an adult in a 30-40. As for therms I never use one personally but I also use a low watt zoo med heating pad so that's totally up to you. I use aspen substrate, a wooden hide, some deco, and a water dish. I also do use a light for the day and one for the night, some use them others don't. I keep a gradient of temps in my 30gal one side 70ish, the middle 80ish, and the hot side about 90. Oh and I keep humidity around 60.

As for being nippy, could be where he's young, scared, hungry, or anything. A trick I do is make sure mines fed then wait a couple days for digestion then I rub it's back to get it to go into a ball and I pick up and hold.

I checked on Mr snake yesterday and he looks half way better and I say that because half of his head has shed its skin and half has not. He was out roaming this morning so I decided to try feeding him and he took some coaxing but he slammed a F/T pup. Yesterday he let me hold him for a bit so seems like he's settling down ok. Thanks for the help. https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/201...b0767087d7.jpghttps://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/201...f27b657d4e.jpg


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So time for a quick update since it's been a bit! I re weighed the little guy and he's 180 grams, I guess zeroing out the scale is kind of important. He has shed most of the skin off of his head and is generally cool with being handled now although he's not always happy about leaving his home. Speaking of homes, he upgraded his pad to a nice 20g terrarium and has been busy exploring. He's slamming to eat crawlers per week so once I'm out of them I'll go a size up. https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/201...0d22516343.jpghttps://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/201...a96b2cd3a1.jpghttps://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/201...06c9e72a7b.jpghttps://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/201...423e082415.jpg


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Very cool. He has some really nice lavender going on there. Really nice!

The camera sure likes your snake, Mofire. Those colors really pop in the pictures. Great looking ball python! I hope everything works out for your family and the new pet. :sweeet:

So I decided to build a light box to photograph my little mans big adventure. Pictures might not be the best but he's growing good. Last time I weighed him h came in at 180 grams https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/201...96b27bc778.jpghttps://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/201...676b95803d.jpg


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Glad to see you've been soaking up all the knowledge you can on this forum, there's plenty of experienced people with a wealth of knowledge on here who are happy to help. I'm also happy to see your snake is doing well nd becoming more docile with the handling. He sure is a beauty. Good luck!!

Just an update. He's weighing in at 210grams now and seems to be settled right in. Although I did get tagged last week. The fact that both my boys were eagerly awaiting for him to come out of the cage probably spooked him and I was the chosen target. No more biting since. He's eating about a mouse every 5-6 days


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