What does your ball do?

Mufasa seems to stay in either one of his hides all day. I understand that I have a rather bland tank, having only the 2 hides and a water dish, giing him nothing else to hide under. But he hides all day. These are definately his normal habits now that I have had him for 6 months. My corn is out all over the place almost all the time. Mufasa however does come out at night, but I usually only see him out very late in the night when there have been no disturbances and maybe only half the time. So heres my question what does your ball do?

Um.... I have several ball pythons, so I can't really vote in the poll.

I have a couple that are super shy, and will hide almost all the time. They will come out every so often and wander around the enclosure at night, but will hide immediately if there is any distrubance. (they are also my youngest ball pythons). Then I have Vash and Issa, who only hide if they are in shed or digesting. Vash often comes out at and night and "perches" on a branch to bask. Issa is the ball python I've had the longest, and is about 1.5 years old at this point. He's never balled up and he very very rarely gets stressed out.

Have you covered the back side and one side of the tank? That will make your ball python feel more secure. Also, how quiet is the area that the tank is in?

About the same as yours. She sleeps most of the time in one hide or another. Sometimes I'll catch her during the day moving from one hide to the other, or with her chin resting on the edge of her waterbowl while the rest of her is still crammed in a hide. LOL


At night, about 10:30-ish, she comes out for an explore and pokes around all over the tank.

I'm reall worried about him hiding. The area is very quite, even though snakes are deaf. But there is low traffic in the room. Maybe I'm in there an hour a day typing or watching a movie. Usually just take care of the herps and handle them.

It doesn't sound to me like you have anything to worry about. It's natural for them to spend 97% of their time hiding/sleeping.

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Originally Posted by Cubby23

I'm reall worried about him hiding.

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You shouldn't be.

Ball pythons are in a category of animals known as "ambush predators" ... unlike your corn snake that is designed to actively "hunt" for food, ball pythons are designed to pick out a nice cozy hide and wait ... and wait ... and wait ... for food to come to them ... and then digest ... and digest ... and digest ... and then wait ... and wait ... and wait ... that coupled with the fact that they are a heavy bodied animal with a very slow metabolism, naturally shy and secretive, and nocturnal, makes the your ball pythons behavior totally normal.

Hope this helps.

-adam

Thanks for the info, I didnt know about them being ambushers. But I guess I made a pretty bad typo I meant "I'm NOT really worried..."

Everything. I have a few.

Depends. Since I've put in the newspaper for Ody, he's been much more calm around people, but he's also twice as active. (Thank you, Adam!)

Ophelia, on the other hand, is pretty much a hide girl. She'll pop her head out from time-to-time and maybe slither around her tank a bit, but unless I've physically removed the screen, she's pretty-well quite. OPening the screen...yeah. She pops her head right out with this, "Hey Mommy, whatcha doin'?" expression on her face.

Now, keep this in mind. I have had Dax for exactly one week today, and he hasn't fed for us yet. During the day he hides. Sometimes at night, the time varies, he will come out and explore, sometimes he does not. When he comes out to explore, if I walk in quietly and sit on our bed, he will let me watch him. I couldn't sleep on Wednesday and got up and saw that he was investingating his tank at about 3 am. He probably moves around a lot more while we are asleep.

Kashmire was my explorer. I just switched him to a tub set up yesterday, which is what works best for me (keeping humidity up in the glass viv was killing me). Plus, I felt the glass viv was too open.


Now that he's in his tub, and did his initial exploring, he has been curled up in his warm side hide and has not come out. He's finally "acting" like all my other balls, and I'm hopeful that this new set-up will encourage him to eat like the others.

I'm thrilled with the non-activity, he was wearing himself out in the glass viv. Now we have a glass viv that Karl wants to put some cresteds in! LOL

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Originally Posted by rabernet

Now we have a glass viv that Karl wants to put some cresteds in! LOL

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"Empty Tank Syndrom" is a tough issue to deal with!!

Monty is a shy snappy little guy. He is still just a baby and has not really gotten used to human interaction yet. He hides during the day and comes out at night to destroy the tank landscaping :) LOL. Sometimes I stay up for hours and watch him "play". He never seems to care about me being there and if I turn the TV on, he seems to watch it. I guess a flashing box would be something of interest... :)

Before I reorganized Nag's tank, he was out and about most of the time. Either sunning on a branch or crawling around. However, since I fixed his tank (MANY thanks to everyone in here for help, I must say...) he is contant to stay in his hide. I see him out now only on occasion, and usually only at night.

vanessa seems to stay in her hide a lot only coming out occasionaly at night, but zulu seems to be out every night as soon as it's dark. he's more explorative, i guess, then vanessa.

dexter used to never been seen. now you always see him out and about in the evening and once in a while... even during the day. he's about 6-8 months old...

Gomez naps all day, then usually wakes up around 9 or 10 in the evening to go cruising. This is usually when he gets scooped to watch the Simpsons or something with us. :) He's pretty clear about when he's ready to be up and about!

Khan sleeps during the day under some plants then in the evening around the time I get home from work (11-ish) he is climbing around the branches, around the vines and then sits perched like a tree python for most of the night.


We take him out at night and he usually hangs out with Dan on the couch. He hasnt once used the log hide since we moved him into the larger home...he likes the full fake plants we have on the ground and attatched to the branches. Sometimes he gets himself hid really well and it takes me a few minutes to find him when I get home...hes a sneaky one!

ps....high-five for the reptile show in WI in a week!
*High-Five*
(for those of you who watch Ali G you would find some humor in that)

Bob seems to spend a lot of time out of his hides. But the room is always somewhat dark and usually very quiet. When he is in his hides he prefers the cooler of the 2.

lets see Ri likes to pretend she's the loc ness monster scratch under her neck she reaches her head to the sky like the picture of the monster swimming down the loc. Keyna will roam all around the house and tends to like my 4 year olds toys she seems to like to have play time.Mal likes to make like a big bad snake and hiss till you pick him up then he becomes a lap dog.sorschia has a noticable fondess for me she's search me out and come to me while she roams around ri is this way with jo. Most of our snakes seem to have different personalties.

this may sound bad but sometimes when i've had a bad day or depressed i forget that hes in there until he pokes he cute little head out to say whats up or something close to that and then i generally feel somewhat better if not completly better

Nagaina actually is out at various times but I mostly see her in the morning and night (of course I am usually not around in the middle of the day).


In the morning when I get up and am getting ready -- I will see her just poke her head out to see what is going on (at least that is what I think). She may switch hides but often just poking her head.

At night she may get out and travel around -- she will even climb up on the hide and look out (or at least that is what it appears to me) and sit there. I always wonder if she is trying to see what is happening because I will notice this when I am watching TV on the couch just a few feet away.

She does not stay out for long periods but will come out and travel around, get water, and just check out her territory. She usually only hides during shed time and/or if she is almost ready to pooh (obviously she may not feel like moving around much then either) -- I basically check her to see if either is about to happen because either way she often gets a fun little soak in the tub or get to take a shower with me to help her out.