New BP need advice!

Hey guys! New to the BP community here. This past Sunday I took a male 2 year old BP off the hands of a friends son who was not taking care of the snake at all. He'd only ever been fed grasshoppers, no water in his tank, unclean. Felt bad for the little guy. I fed him a pinkie Sunday and brought him home, cleaned out his tank like new and gave him lots of love. The first two days he was chill and would hide under his hide but the last two days he has been laying in a squished corner of the tank next to his hide. Won't make much movement when I walk up to the tank and doesn't seem to move much. The only thing I changed in the last two days was turning on a temperature controlled heat mat under his warm side. I have it at 90F but now it seems like he doesn't want to go under his hide at all. If I take him out and hold him he just lays there, maybe somewhat lethargic seeming? I'm worried he might be sick. So much has changed for him in a few days, meat instead of hopper, water from a different side of the mountains, new items in his tank, heat map... Could he just be stressed? Let me know your thoughts on lil Slash! He has such a sweet docile personality.

Temp controller at 90 but what is actually floor temp? That's what matters floor temp not controller temp

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I have the temp sensor taped to the bottom of the floor so that's what the floor temp is at. I thought about turning it up more because the coconut straw in the tank on the hot side definitely isn't around 90....

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Originally Posted by walzon1

Temp controller at 90 but what is actually floor temp? That's what matters floor temp not controller temp

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Don't have a lot from experience but your post is confusing. Others will chime in but a lethargic BP is bad news if thats the case.

Just a heads up a hopper is bigger than a pinkie. Not sure you meant rat or mouse. 2 year old BP eats small rats or XL mouse. How big is he? Need more details on setup. What do you mean by lethargic? Not moving around is normal for BP they don't call them pet rocks for nothing, but if he can't lift his head up that's concerning.

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He only are grasshoppers (insect) for 2 years? Is this real or your friend trolling you?

No joke they were literally only feeding him hoppers. 😳

I gave him 3 small pinkies. After doing research I realized I should have just given him one small mouse or rat. But since he had been eating grasshoppers I didn’t want to give him anything too big.
He can lift his head, he just isn’t moving much from his one spot. He’s maybe a foot long. He seems small to me.

A hopper is a type of mouse; I'm sure they didnt mean grasshoppers. And they're bigger than mouse pinkies.

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Originally Posted by SlashHalata

I gave him 3 small pinkies. After doing research I realized I should have just given him one small mouse or rat. But since he had been eating grasshoppers I didn’t want to give him anything too big.
He can lift his head, he just isn’t moving much from his one spot. He’s maybe a foot long. He seems small to me.

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Most likely eating hopper mice not grasshopper. At a foot long he is 2 months old not 2 years, And rat pups or hopper mouse should be fed. They can eat prey they same size as they are round.

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Originally Posted by SlashHalata

I gave him 3 small pinkies. After doing research I realized I should have just given him one small mouse or rat. But since he had been eating grasshoppers I didn’t want to give him anything too big.
He can lift his head, he just isn’t moving much from his one spot. He’s maybe a foot long. He seems small to me.

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are you sure this is a Ball Python? I have heard some crazy things here but an adult ball python with a diet of grasshoppers for two years might take the cake. Grasshopper being an insect.

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Originally Posted by SlashHalata

No joke they were literally only feeding him hoppers. ��

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As already posted, a "hopper" is a young mouse with their eyes now open, also sometimes called "popcorn" for the way they bounce around. I don't believe you could talk
ANY ball python into eating a grasshopper, as BPs are VERY picky eaters & prefer warmed prey (lifelike, ie. "warm-blooded" prey). I think maybe you misunderstood them, but anyway, I'm glad he survived beyond their lousy care. Welcome...we'll help you sort this out.

Also in my very limited experience just because the probe from your thermostat says the temp is "X" degrees does not mean then surface temp of our enclosure is that same temp. I have two thermostats. The one on my cool side stays set at 80 degrees and keeps the surface of the floor at 78 degrees. The one for my hot side shows 92 degrees and keeps the tank floor at 88 degrees. You need an infrared temp gun to confirm what the temps actually are. I got one on Amazon for about 15.00 and it is very accurate.

The first thing to established is the current size of the animal (weight), regardless of the weight the animal was not properly fed before neither is he now.

Than a complete description on it's enclosure (size,size of the hides), how the temps are regulated, with what type of thermometer they are measured, etc.

A 2 years old animal would not have made it to 2 years on grasshoppers so the animal is either not two or was not fed grasshoppers.

Accurate answers are important they will determine are to best setup this animal based on size same goes for the food that need to be offered.

Rescuing an animal is great but you must have the knowledge to do so otherwise it makes little difference.

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Originally Posted by Stewart_Reptiles

Rescuing an animal is great but you must have the knowledge to do so otherwise it makes little difference.

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Agreed.

I'm sorry OP, but you clearly know nothing about keeping snakes. At least you're putting in the effort to learn...

Next time do research BEFORE bringing an animal home.

You've clearly got a LOT to learn. Please start with the basics about husbandry and keeping BPs.