handling after eating

Hey guys. This is my first post on this forum. I did a little searching. So I hope I don't get flamed.

But I just picked up my new baby boa. He ate like a champ today. First time ive fed him. My question is. I put him in a sterile 5 gallon bucket to feed him. How long after I feed him is it safe to handle him long enough to put him back in his terrarium?

I waited 5 or 10 minutes today and put him back in. He went straight to his hide spot. Just curious here. Thanks for the help guys. And hopefully ill be posting more as I learn more about my new friend.

i think about 10 minutes is good, just as long as you don't see him still doing the swallowing contractions. now i would let him be for 48 hours.

and just a note, you posted in the ball python forum, i realize it's a general snake question, but there is a great general boa and even a red tail boa forum (i don't know what kind of boa you have), and i am sure you will have a lot better responses there.

any way welcome to the forum.

Thanks for the reply. And he's a baby ball python. Didn't know if I stayed that or not.

Thanks for the welcome to the forum. I'm still making my way around learning as I go.

Are there any good links to his lighting/heat?

I just realized I said it was a boa. Its a ball python. I was drinking and posting and go figure I mess something up.

So this thread just got moved because of my stupidity. Haha

well the rule applies to all snakes, so everythings good.

And Lo..


It was whisked back to general Bp from it's little holiday in Boa land.:D

Here is a link to the caresheet with good info about what to aim at.

And here is a link to the glass tank setup sticky.

Those should answer a few questions and help you decide what to ask us next - and :welcome: to the site.

And it is with great embarassment I have to admit we are addicted to pictures so feel free to share once he's had a couple of days to digest his dinner.:D


dr del

Ok well later this evening will be a full 48 hours for him to digest his dinner.

He's spent the last 2 days in his cool side den digesting. So hopefully he won't mind me taking him out later.

Ill take some pictures and post em up for you guys.

I'm excited! I haven't held him yet. I've been letting him adjust to his new home.

Ok so I got him out tonight. First 5 minutes or so he just sat in my palm. After that he was all over the place! It was a nice first session for me.

Of course the digital camera was broken dr del so no pics :(

I'm workin on it though!

My only question right now is why does he spend ALL his time in his hide on the cool side?

Haven't temped the hot side. But the cool side stays at about 82 during the day. 80 ish at night. Humidity steady at about 65 all day. The hot side has a uth and a 40 watt bulb up above.

I followed the link and foiled and taped the screen top. That helped a lot with temps and humidity too.

Why won't he go to the hot side?

There's a high liklihood that the hot side is TOO hot. It sounds like you don't know what the temps are, nor are you controlling the temps in any way. Those UTH's can get really hot without some sort of control on them. Your best bet is a reliable thermostat such as a Johnson Control or a Ranco. A rheostat (dimmer switch) from the hardware store will work in a pinch as well.


So....find out what exactly the temps are on the hot side...in particular under his hide, since that is where he'll want to spend his time.

So a type of dimmer for his uth will work?

And then a thermostat for the overhead?

The store had a thermostat controller. I might pick that up then. I know the substrate on the hot side isn't too hot. Ive been on it since I don't have a controller yet.

Its just warm. Ill just pick that up and have it switch the uth and overhead off and on?

Or just the overhead? Uth?

Thanks for the help. I wanna get his home as comfy as possible. Thanks again.

yea i would also get a digital indoor/outdoor thermometer and hygrometer (walmart for $12) to measure the temps. you put the temp probe on the hot side and the unit it's self on the cool side. it also has a hygrometer which will tell you the exact humidity.

and for the handling session, most of the time when they go crazy and try to get away they are usually stressed, thats when it's time to put them back. short 10-15 min sessions are probably long enough to start, then you can build up depending on how he/she reacts.

Where at wal mart are those at?

He didn't start getting wild until the very end of my session and once he did I put him back. He started trying to get away and when I reached over to grab him he kinda balled up a bit. So I knew my time was up. Total time was around 15 minutes.

Thanks for the help guys!! I really appreciate it. I don't know anybody with a ball so you guys are my source of knowledge.

just so you know, remember your body is at 98.5 degrees or so, if something feels warm to you it's probably a couple or more degrees higher than your body temp, don't judge by touch :colbert:

Well this morning I put his other bulb in. A 25 watt instead of his normal 40.

I'm gonna pick up that indoor outdoor thermometer today and see what's really going on in there.

Ok so I got the thermometer in there and his cage was all kinds of messed up. Haha

I got everything better balanced. Warm side hide is about 93 degrees. And cool side is around 81.

Humidity rock solid at 63%.

Do I need another kind of thermostat inside his cool side hide to monitor that?

I'm straying off topic. But maybe I can turn this into my ball python thread?

Held the little bugger again tonight. Went much better than last time. He just casually explored.

Temps and humidity are doin good too. I've been shooting pm's back and forth with Kagez28. Been a great guy.

I'm gonna get some thermostats to help me rest easier on the temps.

anything i can do to help. i was asking the same things many months ago.

So temps are much more stabilized. Ive got a Johnson a419 coming on Monday. Along with some flexwatt rich wired up for me! What a great guy to do business with.

He ate again yesterday again like a champ. But my question right now is. Why even with stable temps does he prefer to stay in the cool hide all day long?

He does come out and venture at night. But he never camps out in the warm hide.

He probably moves between the 2 hides a couple times a day, it's pretty hard to notice this switch unless you're watching constantly. Mine move around to switch sides all the time, I just don't notice it unless im going in to clean their cages or to handle them.