first snake

Hey I'm new to the board, and I just bought a ball python about 3 weeks ago. He's less than a year old, and i've fed him twice so far. Last night I changed his water bowl and he went right to it and sat in it for a few hours.... Is this normal?

Welcome to the forum!

To answer your question, it's not really that normal. Ball Pythons typically don't soak unless they have mites or it is too warm, but occasionally they will before a shed.

Have you checked for mites and can you describe his set up and how you are measuring temps? Mites will look like poppy seeds in his water bowl, or if you rub your hands down him you will see black specks on your hands.

Hi and welcome to BP.net! :handshake

Congrats on getting a great snake! We'd love to see pics if you have any.

As for soaking in the water bowl. It's not a problem in and of itself, but is almost always a sign of some other problem going on. Common reasons for soaking:

--Mites (tiny little bugs that live on the snake and suck its blood)
--Lack of security (hides are too big, or too few and the snake is using the water to "hide" in)
--Temps are off (if the snake is too warm, it may be trying to cool off)
--Lack of humidity
--Snake is really full (it just ate and has a large lump...it may soak to take some of the pressure off of its overly full "tummy.")

If you can describe your setup to us, we can help you narrow things down and tweak it to a perfect environment. :)

Well the snake's about 18 inches and I have him in a 20 liter tank with a heating pad on the side, and I have a heat lamp that I turn on sometimes. I have a thermometer (sticker) on the back of the tank and it usually stays at 80-82. I'm using Fir Bark for the bedding. I haven't noticed any mites on him or in the tank, and he hasn't shed yet, and I feed him every thursday. He eats thawed pinkies, and he eats them right away every time. Is he supposed to have shed by now?

A couple comments...

I would invest in a decent thermometer like an Accurite digital thermometer that you can buy at Walmart for around $13. The sticker ones are probably the most inaccurate ones you can get.

Also, you didn't mention any hides. You should provide a small, snug hide on the cool and warm side of the tank.

oh sorry, yeah i have a log hide thingy, I got the whole setup from petco, it's on the side with the heating pad, and the water bowl is on the cool side of the tank, he also has a rubber branch for climbing.

So I should get just a regular digital thermometer from wal-mart? Do I need a hide for the cool side of the tank as well? He spends most of the time in the day under the log on the warm side of the tank.

The half logs are okay, but usually people will get them too big and they're a little too exposed for what Balls usually like. A nice, cheap alternative (or addition) would be to use a plastic bowl or planter drip tray turned upside down with a hold cut in the side or on top to allow the snake to enter.

Oh, and about the shed... they usually shed every 1-2 months depending on a number of things but mostly on the amount of food they're eating and how much they're growing. If you're feeding just one rat pinky a week, it might be a while before he sheds. You might want to bump up the food size to a rat fuzzy or pup.

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Originally Posted by westherocker

So I should get just a regular digital thermometer from wal-mart? Do I need a hide for the cool side of the tank as well? He spends most of the time in the day under the log on the warm side of the tank.

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Thats why he spends all his time in the log if thats the only hide. Yes you need two hides. I honestly don't know how people read the little stickers, because I never can.

If im reading your post correctly you have your heat mat on the side of the tank? This needs to be placed under the tank and connected to a thermostat. Snakes need belly heat to help with digestion. You will need a cool side and warm side hide... Log hides arnt the greatest but if its all you can find it should work... If you got like 10$ id check out apple herp or someother places that carry the all black zilla hides... Baby ones are like 3-4$... If you want to save even more cash just pick up some really small tupperware bowls and cut 1 opening in it... works very well and pretty cheap... As far as shed... it usually takes 4-6 weeks depending on the snake and how much it has eaten... Make sure when he does shed you write it down so you know generally when his next shed will be.

Alright thanks for all the info. Can I start giving him live feed? I was worried about him getting injured for the first few times, but I figured he might like something live?

Also, sorry about all the questions but I noticed 2 of these little popcorn looking things in his tank and I thought they might be poop. Is that right?

Thanks again:)

if there "pop corn ish" its prolly urates. kinda like poop, but crunchy (comes from same place). are you feeding him frozen/thawed food?

yeah they're frozen pinkies, then I thaw them in warm water

i know a lot of people on here feed frozen, but i have never fed a frozen rodent in my life. i have always fed live. some snakes like my corns i feed in the tank, while others like my pythons and redtails, i put them in a seperate container. usually a paper sack works really well. this is a heated topic here, becuause of the diversity.

I usually feed my snake in a large cardboard box with the top taken off, I just didn't want to give him live mice because I wasn't sure if the mice would attack him, because hes still a young snake. But you think it would be alright to give him a live mouse?

You can feed whatever works for you and your snake... I personally try to get all of mine eating F/T bc they cost less when you buy in bulk... I will very soon be working on building a rack for rat breeders bc its getting to damn expensive feeding 10 snakes every week. Since you only have 1 snake it really doesnt matter either way. If you dont have a problem going to the pet store every week for a live rat/mouse then do it up. A huge benefit with live is very rarely will you have a refuser... If its breeding season it wont matter either way with fasters but ill occasionally have a snake that refuses a F/T for whatever reason but when offered live will take it... Not sure why that is but whatever as long as they eat. A major plus with FT is you can buy a couple months worth and hot have to worry about it for awhile.... The only thing to watch out for with FT and using water is dont get the water too hot... Exploding rats/mice are pretty nasty and in the end a waste of money if you cant feed em to your snake... Use warm/hot water and keep an eye on how long its been thawing for and you should be good...

Either way you can feed whichever you choose... Neither FT or live is the "right" way... whatever works for you is the "right" way

im not going to lie, theres a chance that your snake will get bit, there always is. but in nature theres no freezer of mice for them to pull out and thaw there food. theres ways of putting the mouce down (humane as possible) but even this is heated conversation. maybe start off on a live hopper of fuzzy so that its not as fast and agressive as a mouce, and work his way up.

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Originally Posted by westherocker

yeah they're frozen pinkies, then I thaw them in warm water

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Unless he's an incredibly small ball python, mice pinks are just not really going to cut it. They are really a tiny meal for most any size ball python, even a hatchling. You're going to want to go up some in prey size. If the snake is used to f/t prey you may want to stick with what it knows, at least for now. Settling a snake in is best achieved when you change as little as possible in it's feeding routines.

As far as the possibility of mites, you may not see them on the snake but here's an example photo of what a snake with mites looks like soaking in it's dish. Notice the things that look like black pepper flakes in the water dish...those are mites.

http://i41.photobucket.com/albums/e2...nWaterDish.jpg

Yeah, I think my snake does have mites... I came home from work today and he was in his water bowl with only his head sticking out, and when i was feeding him tonight after class I changed his water bowl and there was two big specks which I think are mites. What should I do?

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Originally Posted by JoshJP7

If im reading your post correctly you have your heat mat on the side of the tank? This needs to be placed under the tank and connected to a thermostat. Snakes need belly heat to help with digestion. You will need a cool side and warm side hide... Log hides arnt the greatest but if its all you can find it should work... If you got like 10$ id check out apple herp or someother places that carry the all black zilla hides... Baby ones are like 3-4$... If you want to save even more cash just pick up some really small tupperware bowls and cut 1 opening in it... works very well and pretty cheap... As far as shed... it usually takes 4-6 weeks depending on the snake and how much it has eaten... Make sure when he does shed you write it down so you know generally when his next shed will be.

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I was looking for another hide for my snake today (I have a log and it absorbs too much from the pee and poop) I couldn't find any for snakes that looked like she would feel secure in (they all were too open) so I was walking around and saw the hamster homes made of plastic. Instantly I was like "wow, why hasn't anyone mentioned this before?" It's great. It's easy to clean, cheap, and they have small sizes up to extra large sizes. (Also a veriety of colors)

For the accu-rite, my walmart or target didn't have the right one, so I got it at lowes...this link will take you to a picture of it

http://ball-pythons.net/forums/showthread.php?t=56391

As far as the mites go, get provent a mite asap and follow the instructions

yeah I got the digital thermometer tonight, my tank is at 80.5... is that good?

Ambient or warm. warm should be about 90-94d. there is a caresheet listed on the left that explains it all.

If you think it has mites you should find a Herp vet or exotic pet vet near you. They will be able to tell right away. Usually you find mites near their face and by their heat pits. If you see black/red specks that sometimes moves that exactly what the bp has.

If it's mite, a vet visit is a bit much really. Not saying a good herp vet isn't always a good thing but a straight up case of mites is easy enough to deal with. Order Provent-A-Mite, use EXACTLY as directed and they'll be dealt with. There are many, many threads here on how to deal with mites using this product. A quick search will bring them up for your review.

Here's a link to this product....

http://www.pro-products.com/miteandtemp.html

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Originally Posted by frankykeno

If it's mite, a vet visit is a bit much really. Not saying a good herp vet isn't always a good thing but a straight up case of mites is easy enough to deal with. Order Provent-A-Mite, use EXACTLY as directed and they'll be dealt with. There are many, many threads here on how to deal with mites using this product. A quick search will bring them up for your review.

Here's a link to this product....

http://www.pro-products.com/miteandtemp.html

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Good point. I was just giving some advice

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Elvyra's Keeper

I was looking for another hide for my snake today (I have a log and it absorbs too much from the pee and poop) I couldn't find any for snakes that looked like she would feel secure in (they all were too open) so I was walking around and saw the hamster homes made of plastic. Instantly I was like "wow, why hasn't anyone mentioned this before?" It's great. It's easy to clean, cheap, and they have small sizes up to extra large sizes. (Also a veriety of colors)

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Can you post a link of those hides? I currently have two half logs and he loves it really but I wanna switch to more closed off ones.

By the way, my BP is about the same size and I feed him F/T adult mice from petco. By pinkies do you mean the fuzzies (The roden garment stuff from petco)? If so, then switch one size bigger. What I did was I bought 4-5 adult mice and weighed them, and for the first time gave him the smallest one so that he can get used to it. I thought it might have been too big for him, and I've read that BPs would refuse to eat if the prey is too big, but upon showing him the F/T he struck at it so fast that I didn't even have time to flinch.

Here is a link to some pretty cool hides.
http://www.exo-terra.com/en/products/reptile_cave.php