Is this possible..

Okay, a little backstory. I just got my new Ball Python on Sunday evening from the Petsmart I work at, set up the tank that night, and left it alone. Following the feeding pattern, I decided to feed it yesterday, and it wouldn't eat. So, I tried again today, all it wanted to do was play around on me, and when I put it back in the cage, it went in the hide, and didnt even bother with it. My hot spot is around 92 at all times, and the cold spot is nearing 80 at all times, but my question is:

Could it be possible that it's shedding, 2 weeks after it's already done so? The schedule they gave me said it was shedding on Tuesday January 13, 2009. I looked closely and I noticed that it's belly is a dull pink, and immediately got scared that it might have been burned, so I put more bedding on the hotspot over my UTH. Could it be shedding already, AND could it not be eating because of it? (Just a side note, I know you may say that I should give it time to adapt to me, but when I pick it up, it's very friendly, NEVER makes the 'S' with it's head and just can't stop moving up my hands and arms, and does the same thing in it's cage.)

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v323/xKxLxHx/hj.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v3...x/IMG_4484.jpg

Sorry if this is a stupid post, I'm just kind of worried, and sorry if these stretch the page.

Oh, and why are some of the snakes scales rough, on it's belly/side?

The scales tend to stick out a bit more when they are getting closer to shed.
The snake does not enjoy being held and it should be given time to adjust.
Leave it alone for a good week and then try to feed again.
But leave it alone.
The pink is nothing to be concerned with as far as I can see. All mine change varying shades of red when going into shed.
-Steven

Leave it alone a couple weeks. Let it acclimate. It doesn't matter if it doesnt try to strike at you, and "just wants to crawl around on you." It still needs time to get used to its environment.

How are you measuring temps? Are you using a thermometer with a probe, or a stick on?

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Originally Posted by MiniJ83

Leave it alone a couple weeks. Let it acclimate. It doesn't matter if it doesnt try to strike at you, and "just wants to crawl around on you." It still needs time to get used to its environment.

How are you measuring temps? Are you using a thermometer with a probe, or a stick on?

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I've got a therm over both the hot and cold area, plus one in the bedding of the hot and cold. out of reach from the snake, but not laying directly on the glass, for more accurate measures.

I just figured it was used to it by now, since it ate the same day it arrived at Petsmart, also a new environment. But does this mean its getting ready to shed?

Sorry for the noobish questions, guys.

How many bps were in the tank with her at petsmart? Im asking because when they say the last time she shed, they might mean the last time they found shed in the tank.


BPs after shed when they are relocated.

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Originally Posted by Beardedragon

How many bps were in the tank with her at petsmart? Im asking because when they say the last time she shed, they might mean the last time they found shed in the tank.


BPs after shed when they are relocated.

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Just one other. I might go check the sheet to see if they recorded a shed on the other one too, and maybe got mixed up. They had the feeding sheets labeld as: Ball Python (Lighter) and Ball Python (Darker), but in the back room, at 6 a.m., they could have gotten mixed up.

Even if you think it is used to you and comfortable, you still need to leave it for a week or so without messing with him too much. It won't hurt for him to go a week without eating.

When a ball is comfortable it will just chill out, lay there and maybe casually look around, but the slithering all over is a sign of trying to find a hiding place. Since he went right back into his hide when you put him back it does sound like he was wanting to get in a small dark place.

As a side note, if your hot spot gets too hot, putting more bedding over doesn't ensure that your snake won't get burnt. Many balls like to rearange the place and will shift the bedding around and end up laying on the glass. It would be best to have a thermometer probe directly on the glass right above the UTH. Get that temp to where it should be and the snake won't be in any danger of being burned then.

In addition to putting the probe on the glass for an accurate reading of temps, are you using a thermostat to control the heat source?

An active ball python, especially during the day times, and especially when they are new, means that the ball python is still adjusting to the new environment and is feeling stressed. As has been mentioned, leave the snake alone for a week or so and attempt to feed. If the snake refuses, leave the snake alone for another week and try again :)

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Originally Posted by tweets_4611

Even if you think it is used to you and comfortable, you still need to leave it for a week or so without messing with him too much. It won't hurt for him to go a week without eating.

When a ball is comfortable it will just chill out, lay there and maybe casually look around, but the slithering all over is a sign of trying to find a hiding place. Since he went right back into his hide when you put him back it does sound like he was wanting to get in a small dark place.

As a side note, if your hot spot gets too hot, putting more bedding over doesn't ensure that your snake won't get burnt. Many balls like to rearange the place and will shift the bedding around and end up laying on the glass. It would be best to have a thermometer probe directly on the glass right above the UTH. Get that temp to where it should be and the snake won't be in any danger of being burned then.

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Yeah, as a temporary measure I stuck the one sticky therm on the glass. I had just piled up more bedding to ensure that it wasn't being burnt.

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Originally Posted by starmom

In addition to putting the probe on the glass for an accurate reading of temps, are you using a thermostat to control the heat source?

An active ball python, especially during the day times, and especially when they are new, means that the ball python is still adjusting to the new environment and is feeling stressed. As has been mentioned, leave the snake alone for a week or so and attempt to feed. If the snake refuses, leave the snake alone for another week and try again :)

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The UTH I bought was in the "Snake Starter Kit" from Petsmart, the one girl I work with said it was perfect for BP's so I believed her. Turns out, it doesn't have means to change the temperature, but it's good that it stays consistent to the 90ish BP's are meant to be in. As for regulating, if I notice a slight jump in temperatures I'll adjust the position of my lights so it's not too warm, but it generally all stays the same.

I can deal with leaving it alone for a while, just a relief to know it wasn't being burned.

Those stick on thermoeters are not accurate, go to wallyworld or homedepot and pick up an accurite thermometer/hygrometer for $12.00, ok forget wallyworld at home depot you can get the accurite in the garden section, then waltz on over to electrical and pick up either a lutron lamp dimmer for $10.95 or a levitron lamp dimmer for $8.95 (I have both they work the same). These items will sufice until you can upgrade to a herpstat etc.
oh and if you can while there pick up a infrared temp gun a must have

I am sorry I should explain better, The accurite has a probe that you will stick directly to glass over uth, for an accurate temp, the accurite also measures the ambient air temp (dual readings), and the humidity, the lamp dimmers are to plug the uth into so you can dial back the temp if need.

Hmmm..... That you might not have an accurate temp reading, coupled with no thermostat~ I might not rule out possible burn yet :(

Purchasing the digital Acu-rite thermometer/hygrometer is a really good idea. There are other digital units with probes as well- I just don't have experience with any but the Acu-Rite.

Also, UTH's have a tendency to get hot enough to burn snakes if they are allowed to operate wide open...

Alright I'll have to make a trip out today. I'm actually REALLY upset that the little kit I bought was not only a waste of money, but that it could have burned my snake. I did notice that it has been on the cool side of the tank, well, since I made this post, more than 14 hours ago...and I'm not too sure if that's good or not.

I kind of just figured the ones in the kit would work, or they wouldn't sell them.

If it is a burn, is there any way to tell, and if so, how can I treat it? Getting $7.50 from Petsmart isn't leaving me a whole lot of $$ left over. =/

You need, in my opinion, a thermostat to control the temps of the heat source you use.

Here's a link to Reptile Basics. They are a well respected business and offer many thermostat choices: http://www.reptilebasics.com/Thermostats-p-1-c-250.html

Yes, it could shed again two weeks from the last shed. They shed when they are stressed, ill, etc. Moving to a new home is stressful for a BP. This is why it is recommended that they be left alone to get acclimated to the new home for about a week.

My advice is that you leave it alone for at least a week.

Alright, I bought the Acurite thermometer/hygrometer I think is the word for it, and I bought the dimmer for the heating pad, set them up and the stick ons were off by a good bit. Turns out my cold side is sitting at 68-69, and the warm around 88-90, and my humidity is a comfortable 60%

My next question is, since that 68 degrees scared me quite a bit, what's the best UTH to use there, to just heat it to the desired 78-80ish. Can I just use a cheap heating pad from walmart made from a person? I'd rather not have another light running, (I already have one running).

So, since I doubt the 68 is accecptable, can I use a heating pad made for a person at walmart?

Move the light to the cool side.
Adjust UTH accordingly.
-Steven

Okay, so I fixed the hot side, works perfect, and I have a question about the cold side.

Is 73-75* okay at night? I can keep it up around 80 during the day, with a hotter bulb, but at night, the nightglo bulb I have won't keep it any higher than that temperature, even right over top of the tank. And I can't really get any bright bulbs in there, since I do have to sleep and the tank is 3 feet away from my bed.

And another question, the snake hasn't gone on the hot side, at all since I made this thread, like a day ago, is that normal? For it to be on the 70's side for so long at a time?

For the light issue, you can get a ceramic heat emitter and then just leave it on all the time. They produce heat, but no light, so it doesn't bother you or the snake. I'll have to check what size mine is when I get home, but it's a smaller wattage one and it's just plugged in and keeps that side of the tank at about 82 +/- a few degrees. If you get a bigger one (which can be fairly expensive) you will need something to regulate it, b/c I have a higher wattage one that can hit well over 100 degrees in no time.

Give the snake some time to get used to and fine the different spots and temperatures. If you get two of the same hides and put one on each side he will be more comfortable useing them (if a snake prefers one hide over the other they will sometimes pick that hide, even if the temp isn't right). If he still isn't using it after about a week or so of your temps being stable, then you might start to see what's wrong.

Alright, thanks, is it any certain type/brand that you have, and where could I get it? And I can't say that I've ever heard of it, does it take a light bulb, or just put off heat?

And it does seem to prefer one over the other, I did a little test to see if it would move to that hide, so I just switched the two hides, and the snake is on the warm side, and won't go to the cold side. So my next mission is another new hide, and a new heater

Fed the same day it arrived at PetSmart? You may want to kindly suggest that your pet care manager reads his snake care manual, as this is a violation of written policy:confused:

Severum11

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Originally Posted by Severum11

Fed the same day it arrived at PetSmart? You may want to kindly suggest that your pet care manager reads his snake care manual, as this is a violation of written policy:confused:

Severum11

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And you are correct, I was wrong. I didn't see the whole "Date Arrived" line, I figured the box: Week 1 was when it started. My fault. Guess that's why I'm a stocker and not in pet care. ;)

The ceramic heat emitters are sold at places like PetCo, and I'm sure they have them at other pet places. Check the place where you buy your feeders. They replace the light bulb, so you still have to have the socket to screw them into.

If your hot spot is between 90 and 94, having mid 70's on the cool end isn't terrible. To offset, what size UTH are you using on what size tank? You could get the next size up in UTH if it will still fit your tank.

Generally, the set up is to have the UTH on the hot spot, controlled with the thermostat or rheostat dimmer. Then the ceramic heater or infrared light bulb will be on the cool end. If it's a particularly tall tank, you can understand you'd be wasting a bit of heated air.

The only thing is that the humidity will suffer a bit and take more misting during the day. Ceramic heaters and light bulbs realy suck it out of the air.

But bottom line for me, I don't think it's terrible if your cool side is in the mid to high 70's if you have a snug warm spot for him; and I base this partially on the husbandry section of VPI's book and our own experience in a non heat controlled room. The cool side of our tubs remains right about in the mid 70's, and everyone is doing quite well. :gj:

my bp poopsie has shed several times a month if that helps

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Originally Posted by tweets_4611

The ceramic heat emitters are sold at places like PetCo, and I'm sure they have them at other pet places. Check the place where you buy your feeders. They replace the light bulb, so you still have to have the socket to screw them into.

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Well, I looked at Petsmart after I got off the other day and it was like $40 for a 100w ceramic heater. Soo...I looked on amazon and bought a 60w ceramic heating bulb, and a porcelain clamp lamp from zoo med, all for about $30 total. I'm hoping they work correctly, but amazon's never done me wrong. I read somewhere that its not the best idea to put the ceramic bulbs into a standard socket, like a lamp since it gets extremely hot.

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Originally Posted by littleindiangirl

If your hot spot is between 90 and 94, having mid 70's on the cool end isn't terrible. To offset, what size UTH are you using on what size tank? You could get the next size up in UTH if it will still fit your tank.

Generally, the set up is to have the UTH on the hot spot, controlled with the thermostat or rheostat dimmer. Then the ceramic heater or infrared light bulb will be on the cool end. If it's a particularly tall tank, you can understand you'd be wasting a bit of heated air.

The only thing is that the humidity will suffer a bit and take more misting during the day. Ceramic heaters and light bulbs realy suck it out of the air.

But bottom line for me, I don't think it's terrible if your cool side is in the mid to high 70's if you have a snug warm spot for him; and I base this partially on the husbandry section of VPI's book and our own experience in a non heat controlled room. The cool side of our tubs remains right about in the mid 70's, and everyone is doing quite well. :gj:

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Alrighty, good to know. I'm keeping everything at it's correct temperature now, and humidity as well, and I'm quite proud of my little setup, and my snake seems happy. I've got the heating pad over 1/3 of the tank as suggested, controlled by a dimmer and digitherm.

Now all that's left to tackle is it's first feeding, shedding, and figuring out a name.

:)

Thanks for the help everyone, by the way.

When you get that CHE, I would run it somewhere first and not just put it on the snakes tank and turn it on. The 60w one can still get very hot and may need a dimmer. The 100w would have been way to much for your tank. I have one that size until I can get a smaller one, and it is on two dimmers and I still have to leave it off sometimes.

Nice job on getting your set-up stable. After you finish messing with the tank, and moving/adjusting things, give the little guy a week with no handleing or feeding attempts, and then see how it goes! ^_^

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Originally Posted by xKxLxHx

And it does seem to prefer one over the other, I did a little test to see if it would move to that hide, so I just switched the two hides, and the snake is on the warm side, and won't go to the cold side. So my next mission is another new hide, and a new heater

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See if you can obtain a hide identical to the one it seems to prefer (assuming you have two different kinds of hides); that way your snake will not have to choose between thermoregulating and security.