New owner and my snake is so.. mean?

Hi everyone! Just wanna say before anyone points it out I know it's more than likely defensive but 'mean' is just the best way to describe my new little guys attitude.

I know my tank specs will probably be wanted. I do have pictures but I have no idea how to post them to here so here they are:

• -I have him in an exo terra large low. I know about animal plastics and PVC cages but I'm partial to how exo terra looks and I've modified it to help retain heat and humidity. I've layered sheets of foil over both ends of the screen top, leaving about 6 inches open for ventilation and covered both short ends of the glass with black fabric for privacy.
• -His humidity stays around 55-60% no problem (living in Florida probably helps for once lol). His temps stay at 77-78 on his cool side and stay around 83-84 on his warm side. His basking spot is an UTH under his warm hide that's on a zilla thermostat set to 97.
• -He has two hides, one on his cool side, one on warm like I said and is on coconut fiber substrate.
• -He has clutter. I bought fake vines and some leaves along with a large piece of faux driftwood that he seemed to like climbing on the first two nights
• -The only extra heating element I have is on the warm side. it's a low watt (25) zoo med moonlight bulb just to help keep the warm side warm, we keep our house at 75-76. The lamp sits on the screen top in a hole cut into the foil to let the light/heat down in.
• -He has a large water dish
• -His tank is in our game room and isn't super busy and we're not constantly going past the tank. It's just general household sort of busy. Talking to friends over voice chat occasionally or talking to each other when my husband's home from work, laughing, just day to day sort of stuff.

So now about my boy Soba. I realize I may be jumping the gun being so worried so soon but I'd rather get opinions than just sit and wonder if maybe there's something I'm not aware of that I'm doing wrong.

• - He's about 9 months old and I got him shipped to me from a breeder. His packaging was fine, he didn't have any injuries at all. Just a bit of an attitude which, granted, I'd be grumpy too after that ordeal.
• - His breeder listed that he'd eaten on the 7th. an F/T adult mouse. He arrived here on the 11th.
• - the first two nights seemed to be fine. He would settle into his cool hide for the day and start to poke around at night just exploring his tank, warm up on his hot spot for a bit then go back to checking things out. Unfortunately I'd noticed by morning 2 that his cool hide was just a biiit too small for him so I put a larger one on order.
• -Day three? was.. interesting. I got his new hide and the plan was to just pull a quick swap but Soba apparently had a different idea. Turned out he was half in, half on top of the too-small hide (it was one of those rock shale dens that I half buried. he decided to un bury it) so, I had to pull him out. He took a lot of exception to that. He kept striking at the snake hook, striking at me. It honestly only took under a minute to pull him out, set him in a box real quick, swap the hides, then put him back in but I want to say for the next half hour at most he was right where I put him back in, cocked up and striking at me through the glass. Honestly acting like he wanted a piece of me.
• Since then it's been back to the usual, leaving him alone outside of going in to change his water. He's been hunkered in his new hide for three days now and I'm not certain he's even come out at night when we're asleep.
• I offered him a F/T rat pup (adult mice were out of stock) last night as it's been about 10 days since his last meal. He wasn't interested in coming out for it so I decided to leave it overnight and still nothing.

I realize it's only been about 6 days since he got here and coming from a big breeder, he probably wasn't messed with much, but I'm just concerned that there's something I'm unknowingly doing that could be stressing him out. Help a nervous girl out? :confusd:

I wouldn't sweat it at all. Sounds like an acclimating snake to me.

All sounds good except probably the hot spot. If your tstat is set to 97 the glass surface is likely too hot. You'll have to double check with a temp gun. There is variance, so it might be spot on. But typically I've had to set mine about 92ish to achieve a hot spot of 88-89.

Thanks so much for the reply!

I have it set a little higher to 97 because I noticed when I had it set at 92-93 my temp gun was only reading inside there at about 83. Since turning it to 97 it's been sitting at 87-88. If I had to take a guess I'd say it's probably due to the amount of substrate I have on top of it which I'd rather have a bit more than a bit less.

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Originally Posted by Coffee Mutt

Thanks so much for the reply!

I have it set a little higher to 97 because I noticed when I had it set at 92-93 my temp gun was only reading inside there at about 83. Since turning it to 97 it's been sitting at 87-88. If I had to take a guess I'd say it's probably due to the amount of substrate I have on top of it which I'd rather have a bit more than a bit less.

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Move the substrate aside and take the temperature of the glass over the heat pad. Ball pythons burrow so they'll move the substrate aside. You can also put a very thin layer of substrate over the heat pad, as it doesn't take much to absorb the minimal waste from a BP.

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Originally Posted by Coffee Mutt

Thanks so much for the reply!

I have it set a little higher to 97 because I noticed when I had it set at 92-93 my temp gun was only reading inside there at about 83. Since turning it to 97 it's been sitting at 87-88. If I had to take a guess I'd say it's probably due to the amount of substrate I have on top of it which I'd rather have a bit more than a bit less.

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Happy to help!

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Originally Posted by bcr229

Move the substrate aside and take the temperature of the glass over the heat pad. Ball pythons burrow so they'll move the substrate aside. You can also put a very thin layer of substrate over the heat pad, as it doesn't take much to absorb the minimal waste from a BP.

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Agreed 100%.

Since your BP will burrow and push substrate aside you want to measure the actual enclosure surface, not the substrate.
My BPs push their substrate outside their hides, so I barely put any in those spots anymore. I just go super thin in the hides and let them do their thing.

Done and done! Thank you both!

I was surprised this morning to find he had decided to shed in his hide though he wasn't very happy with me retrieving it (all I did was slightly lift the end of his hide and fish it out with the little hook I have. It was right at the end of it) and misting his tank like I've been doing once a week. He came right out of his hide after I finished and locked the doors back up, zeroed in on me as I was just folding up a blanket about 5 feet away, crept up, coiled up and took a strike at the glass again actually thumping his nose against it this time :sigh2: I'm just not sure what's up with that. He's slipped back into his hide since then.

Aha!!! He was in shed!!! That definitely explains the grumpiness!!!
While in shed they are typically defensive. Their vision is compromised and they feel vulnerable. Since their only defense is their bite, that's what they're prepared to do.

The post shed removal behavior sounds like he's still acclimating, due to the shed it may have set him back a bit. Instead of acclimating he's been focused on shedding safely. Now he'll start to acclimate and settle.

I don't recall if he's due to eat soon, but after a shed they're typically hungry. It may be worth offering food tonight or tomorrow night.

Please don't hesitate to ask any further questions you may have. We're happy to help.

Right! As soon as I peeked in and saw the shed peeking out of the hide I was like Ahah! So I was thinking the same thing and was content to let him get a bit huffy as I went about my business. It's just the coming out and very directly focusing on me that now has me reeling again. Not necessarily scared just moreso 'WHAT is going on??'

He has been due for a feed and I offered him a rat pup saturday night that he didn't take, which now I know he was busy with his shed more than likely. I was planning to wait until Thursday to try and see if he'll take food again but I'll probably shoot for tomorrow.

Again thank you so much. I'm so glad I joined here haha. I'm just so anxious about wanting to do the best I possibly can and honestly Soba acting nothing like I expected isn't helping :rofl:I have other friends who have BPs and I have just never heard of or seen such a SASSY one

Happy to help. I enjoy helping people understand and enjoy these amazing, misunderstood animals.

This forum is a fantastic tool, for beginners to experienced keepers and everywhere in between. I wish forums like this existed when I started out. Just remember, anybody can write anything on the internet, so choose who you learn from.

As for feeding, you can't go wrong waiting a few more days. It certainly won't hurt. And I'm not surprised at all he refused now that we know he was in shed. Whether you hold off or not is your call, nothing wrong either way.

Keep us posted and keep up the good work!

Congrats on the new BP! Sounds like everything is going pretty good so far. Secure enclosure, temps are dialed in, and a successful first shed. All we need now is for your critter to eat which he'll hopefully do soon! He should also mellow out after a few meals and once he gets more settled in. Keep using that snake hook as long as he's nippy. Best wishes!

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Originally Posted by EL-Ziggy

Congrats on the new BP! Sounds like everything is going pretty good so far. Secure enclosure, temps are dialed in, and a successful first shed. All we need now is for your critter to eat which he'll hopefully do soon! He should also mellow out after a few meals and once he gets more settled in. Keep using that snake hook as long as he's nippy. Best wishes!

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Thank you!

Update after a few days. He's still refusing eating. Second to last attempt was the final rat pup I had before the mice came in and while he was striking *at* it he didn't exactly seem to be wanting to eat it and after a few moments shifted his focus onto me. Left the rat pup over night and it wasn't eaten.

Couple days later tried with a mouse and there wasn't the same striky behavior as last time but he still wasn't keen on coming out for it. Left it overnight in there for him and come morning, again, not eaten.

Honestly getting pretty frustrated and a little worried about it I kinda took stock of everything and made the decision to move his tank to an even quieter corner of the house. Since then I'm still waiting to try and feed him again but he's seeming much calmer. He's out stretching across his log to warm up pretty often at night. He isn't retreating into his hide at the first sign of someone looking at him and well.

I decided instead of waiting however long it'd be before he decides to eat that I'm gunna buck up and start seeing if I can work on his socialization. It took me a little cause honestly his striking got a little intimating as much as my pride doesn't want to admit it haha. But I tossed some gloves on, went in and got him and have started letting him just hang out in a nice cozy pillow sack in my lap for a little bit each night, about an hour while I just watch videos. Starting with that in an attempt to get him used to me and being touched and maybe that'll help with the feeding issue. He does relax and even casually shifts around a bit as he sits there and I'll touch him and he doesnt freeze up so I like so think there's some progress being made!

but of course, I'm on here for other opinions so lay them on me guys. I wanna do the best things I can

If it still hasn’t eaten you shouldn’t be handling it. Something is off with the husbandry if it’s not eating at that age/size. Could need addressing more security (clutter, tighter hides, etc), ambient or hot spot temps, overall enclosure size relative to the animal, temperature of the feeder when presented, means of feeder preparation, etc.

I once had a royal python that would only take f/t if prepared by thawing under a lamp. Would not touch anything thawed in water regardless of whether it was in a bag or sopping wet. Dry prepared only. Also the only animal that ever needed more than one live feeding once at home before switching to frozen.


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I'll try the lamp trick! Honestly trying anything at this point. Live is gunna be my last resort if nothing else seems to be working. I've got a friend who's bp will only eat live and he breeds his own feeders.

It's been F/T in the hot water to thaw then further warmed up and dried with a quick little blast from a hair dryer. He was eating F/T mice at his breeder and they said he last ate on the 7th.

His temps and humidity are fine and checked often and even now bumped up since moving him to the other room he's in now. his cool end idles around 79-80 and his warm end has an ambient of 86-87 with his hot spot reaching 92. Humidity coasts at 55-60 throughout the day. I could try snagging some more clutter, couldn't hurt to attempt he's already got a fair bit. His cage is an exo terra large low so he's definitely not too big or too small for it as of now.

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Originally Posted by Coffee Mutt

I'll try the lamp trick! Honestly trying anything at this point. Live is gunna be my last resort if nothing else seems to be working. I've got a friend who's bp will only eat live and he breeds his own feeders.

It's been F/T in the hot water to thaw then further warmed up and dried with a quick little blast from a hair dryer. He was eating F/T mice at his breeder and they said he last ate on the 7th.

His temps and humidity are fine and checked often and even now bumped up since moving him to the other room he's in now. his cool end idles around 79-80 and his warm end has an ambient of 86-87 with his hot spot reaching 92. Humidity coasts at 55-60 throughout the day. I could try snagging some more clutter, couldn't hurt to attempt he's already got a fair bit. His cage is an exo terra large low so he's definitely not too big or too small for it as of now.

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Update! We've eaten!
It took a little bit of slightly harassing him with the feeder because he was still shrinking away from it at first but he took it after some coaxing!

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Originally Posted by Coffee Mutt

...We've eaten! ....

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So...which end do YOU eat first? Just curious...:rofl: (Congrats on getting HIM to eat though.)

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Originally Posted by Bogertophis

So...which end do YOU eat first? Just curious...:rofl: (Congrats on getting HIM to eat though.)

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Hahaha oh I definitely go tail first. Slurp it right up like fuzzy spaghetti :laughing::laughing: