New BP mommy with questions. HELP

Ok so I finally figured out how to post. I think.
Ive had my BP for a couple months now. But there’s still a lot of questions I have.
To begin, my ball Python is about a year and a half. He’s a Pastel Banana BP. Doesn’t have a problem eating really, he always goes for the mouse (I feed him frozen hoppers), he misses when he strikes a lot. But eventually gets it. But he does try to attack me during or after he’s fed. Like he’ll snap at me when I walk by the tank, I’ve read that it’s because he’s in his “feeding frenzy” which I do believe because when being handled he’s never tried to strike me. It does just get frustrating though when he misses the mouse on the Tongs and the mouse falls right by his face but he still tries to strike at me instead. :tears: So I guess my first question is if that’s normal???
Second, I live in a basement, so humidity is basically nonexistent. I have a humidifier that I leave between my bed and his tank and it’ll raise humidity but the moment I shut it off Bc his tank shows a good humidity level, the levels drop back down drastically. Anyone have advice on how I can keep the levels up in his tank? It’s a square shaped 20 gallon. Is moss ok? Also I’ve tried misting spray. Doesn’t help enough.
And my last question, (sorry for the rant), is that I used to have a red heating bulb. I heard those aren’t the best Bc the lighting. Well it broke anyway and it was late and the only place open had a ceramic heating bulb. It keeps good temp and there’s no light but I just wanted to make sure those are ok for BPs???

If you’ve read this whole thing, thank you. Lol and any suggestions will be greatly appreciated:gj:

Missing the mouse and striking you is normal he's just in feed mode still just don't handle for up to 24 hours after feeding. He's a year and a half and he's eating hoppers? He might need a bigger rodent size than that. As far as humidity I've never had any luck whatsoever with glass and I've never used a CHE so I'll let someone else chime in on that. And btw, welcome!

Thanks!

Also, I forgot to mention. I haven’t noticed him using the bathroom. Idk if it just blends with his substrate? Or if he’s just not going. But he’s still eating and shedding fine. for substrate I’ve been using coconut husk from the brand “Kritters Crumble”

When is the last time you noticed he defecated or passed urate?

Hoppers are roughly the size that hatchling BPs can & do eat, so your BP is likely under-fed* & hungry. Don't take his striking thru the glass personally...snakes mostly do NOT recognize us visually, they need scent & touch...so when he does that, he's just pumped up for food & going instinctively after the motion, hoping it's more preyheading his way. ;) (*pics would help us assess that)

BPs have heat-sensing pits all around their face for a good reason: they see motion, but then they AIM for the warmth, & what most here find helpful is (after thawing in cool water) warm the rodent using either by dipping (especially the head) in very hot water briefly, or using a blow-dryer (again on the head mostly, so the snake will aim for that), or by doing both. When a snake misses the prey, they are more attracted to our warm & moving hand (holding tongs) than to the rodent laying there...this is NORMAL. It's up to us to communicate in ways so that the snake gets it right: by making the prey very warm (& offering promptly, before it cools off) this should solvethe problem.

Moss is great! I like using sphagnum moss, soaked & then drain off the water so it's thoroughly damp. You can put it in an area of the cage or use it in a "humid hide".Misting usually doesn't work well to really raise the humidity (other than briefly)...you'll want to use a substrate that does. (what substrate are youusing?)

Many here swear that glass tanks don't work for BPs, but they do IF you make a few modifications: assuming you have a screen top? you need to cover most of the screen that the air flows thru...that's why the tank dries out (compared to the plastic bins & custom PVC cages that "hold humidity well", just keep in mind that the only reason they do so is that the air-flow is greatly reduced. In some cages, they don't even have vents, only the tiny bit of air-flow around the door allows for air exchange.

With a screen top on a tank, people just cover most of it with anything that is safe near heat fixtures (like your CHE, that's ceramic heat emitter) and impervious to air-flow...such as tin foil or plastic, even a sheet of plexi cut to fit. No matter what heat devices you use, you need to connect them to a thermostat- especially for BPs, as they can be clueless until seriously burned by intentional proximity to the heat. BTW, glass doesn't hold in the heat all that well, especially & depending on your room temperature, but you can insulate the glass with various things (back, sides, bottom, & even the lower part of the front). This not only helps hold in the warmth needed, but also allows more privacy for the BP.
(insulate with cut-to-fit foam-core poster-board, styro-foam, corrugated cardboard, sheet cork, self-stick carpet tiles, 1/8th" plywood, etc...many inexpensive things work just fine to keep in the warmth & are easily installed on the outside of the glass)

:welcome:

Probably Over a month

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by WilliamSnakespeare13

Probably Over a month

---

As bogertophis said, he's probably underfed and just reserving any thing he can. BPs are very resilient creatures. This can be fixed by offering the right prey size. A year old I would be offering rat weanlings or pups but I can't tell you what to feed since I don't know how big your snake is. And if he's of Coco husk he's probably peed you just haven't seen it.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by WilliamSnakespeare13

Probably Over a month

---

When you feed younger rodents, they are more digestible than older ones that have more hair & larger bones...therefore, it's not uncommon for snakes to eat a number of meals before needing to defecate. Snakes bodies are very efficient...;) But also, a BP that's a year & a half old should be eating larger rodents long before now, but cannot advise exact size without seeing size of your snake.

Yeah I wanted to upload photos but I haven’t figured out how to do that through my phone. I just figured out how to post :laughing::laughing::laughing: Also, I’ve had a snake before but it was a king snake. His poop was very liquid like. Idk if pythons are different so I’m looking for the wrong thing. Lol.
When I got my BP they said they just feed him one mouse (hopper) a week. So I thought I was doing the right thing. I’ll try and change over to something larger. One side of his tank does have styrofoam background that it came with and I also place a small towel for now on one half of the tank and it also is over half the screen cover.

The easiest way to post pictures is to download the taptalk app. It's a free app that will let you post pictures.

A towel will offer some slight insulation but sure won't keep in humidity...it's too porous.

I use glass with a screen top and a Che on a dimmer. I cover my screen top with cardboard and foil. I have a tutorial on it. I only need to mist once a week. It can be done!

Also, how much does your snake weigh? That will also tell us what size he should be eating. At a year and a half both my babies were on small rats. But, if you are in hoppers....you need to move up slowly and easily.

Okay, first, your snake is HUNGRY. That would explain the striking after being fed. Hoppers are WAY too small.

That would also explain the lack of poop. Your snake is using 100% of its meal to sustain growth and there is nothing left to poop out.

As for humidity, there are plenty of tricks. Using the right substrate goes a long way. Adding a larger water bowl, adding a second water bowl, adding a humid hide, etc...

I wrap my glass enclosures in foam board insulation. It covers the top, back and sides, which also provides privacy and security for the snakes. The insulation goes a LONG way with humidity. I live in MA and I NEVER HAVE TO MIST. And trust me, winters are dry here.
This helps the heating equipment to run more efficiently. The less artificial heat, the less humidity evaporation.
So this not only helps immensely with heat and humidity control, but also cuts down on my electric bill.

https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/201...52e16e47e9.jpg


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

He's a real pretty fella...:snake:

Finally was able to upload a photo of how big my BP is. And currently am feeding him one hopper a day. Soon I’ll be trying to move up to pups I guess. Don’t want to underfeed my baby


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Thank you!!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by WilliamSnakespeare13

Finally was able to upload a photo of how big my BP is. And currently am feeding him one hopper a day. Soon I’ll be trying to move up to pups I guess. Don’t want to underfeed my baby


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

---

Best not to feed daily...that messes up their digestions, adding undigested "new" food to what's already partly digesting, usually causes regurgitation, which is then
a set-back in feeding (you need to then WAIT a few weeks for the digestive enzymes to be replenished, otherwise more regurges happen that can even cause death.

Feed appropriate size rodent (not bigger than widest part of un-fed snake's body) once a week, for best results. You'd be better off feeding 2 hoppers, one right after
the other, than doing what you've been doing...that way, they get digested as one item.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Bogertophis

Best not to feed daily...that messes up their digestions, adding undigested "new" food to what's already partly digesting, usually causes regurgitation, which is then
a set-back in feeding (you need to then WAIT a few weeks for the digestive enzymes to be replenished, otherwise more regurges happen that can even cause death.

Feed appropriate size rodent (not bigger than widest part of un-fed snake's body) once a week, for best results. You'd be better off feeding 2 hoppers, one right after
the other, than doing what you've been doing...that way, they get digested as one item.

---

^^^ 100% agree ^^^

Omg no. Lol I meant a week. I feed him one a week. Oops [emoji2360] sorry. But yeah I feel like the hoppers are about the size of the widest part of his body and I’ve thought about feeding him 2 (back to back) a week. He’s not too big yet. So I’m scared to overfeed him or underfeed him. But he has grown quite quickly since I’ve gotten him. https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/201...456d77494b.jpg


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Glad you aren't feeding daily, whew! LOL What would be better (if you feel he needs more) is to alternate with a bigger meal of 2 hoppers. Try feeding two
hoppers (one after the other), but then the next meal only feed one, & so on. That's what happens in the wild, not all meals are the same size, & for that matter,
we all tend to over-eat now & then too (holidays!), but there's a big difference if we did that at every meal.

See how he does with the bigger meal & plan accordingly to upsize his prey so he's only consuming one item. (that usually works best)

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Bogertophis

Glad you aren't feeding daily, whew! LOL What would be better (if you feel he needs more) is to alternate with a bigger meal of 2 hoppers. Try feeding two
hoppers (one after the other), but then the next meal only feed one, & so on. That's what happens in the wild, not all meals are the same size, & for that matter,
we all tend to over-eat now & then too (holidays!), but there's a big difference if we did that at every meal.

See how he does with the bigger meal & plan accordingly to upsize his prey so he's only consuming one item. (that usually works best)

---

Ok that sounds good! Thank you so much


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk