adopted a ball python new here a bit scared

[stevepoppers]

Thermostats are recommended anyway. I've sat and watched my Zoomed reach 140 degrees.

[exotica0095]

would it be ok to wait until tommorrow?

[stevepoppers]

Most likely.

[exotica0095]

my roomate keeps flipping out thinking the snake is gonna die so she puts the snake under her shirt thinking thats going to keep him warm???????? i didnt think we were suppose to hold the snake since hes in a new place

my roomate wants to use one of those hand warmers tonight also which get about 120 or so i am not sure how hot that would be through the glasss? anyways i told her the snake will be fine unti ltommorrow but she wont buy it and is freaking out

[stevepoppers]

Ball pythons go missing for days at a time in cold basements and turn up fine. Heat packs will help, but 120* can burn. I'm sure it'll be ok at room temperature for a day, maybe a few. Though, I don't think there's anything wrong with giving it body heat while you can.

[exotica0095]

I read excessive handling of a new snake will stress him out more thus exposing them to more illness as it is. on another forum is that true.

[stevepoppers]

But we're weighing body heat with it's stress level. I think it's body temperature is a bit more important.

I really don't know, though. I defer to a greater experience. That's because I also think it would do fine at room temperature.

Just make sure she doesn't try to sleep with it. If you're just going to run out and get a heat pad first thing in the morning, it'll be fine. If you don't already have a thermostat, you may as well order it along with the Flexwatt because the unregulated heat pad is just as dangerous as no heat source (and much more expensive).

[exotica0095]

ok thanks so much for being there u can tell we are both total newbies and dont know much

its just my roomate freaks out so much i dont know what to do, the snake is active in its cage right now and checking it out and just moving all over the place my roomate seems to think this means its "lonely" and wants ther to hold him again?!?!?! She wants the snake to actually sleep with her tonight with her cats and dogs because she thinks its what the snake wants, she is humanizing the snake and cant expcept the snake is not a cat or a dog

she said shes going to wake up every 3 hours to check on him tonight and shake the hand warmer to make sure its working

she doesnt get that a dog and a cat look like predators to a 3 foot snake and will freak it out and stress it she thinks that they will all live in some crazy happy family together on her bed sorry about the venting its just i dont know who else to tell this to

[stevepoppers]

Wow, lol. Well, you've got all that right. It's most likely scared of the big smelly animals that keep picking it up. "Will it eat me?" I hear it's common for them to explore their environments for the first week or two, so I wouldn't worry about that unless it doesn't eventually stop.

I would look for some informative posts on ball python behavior for her to read. If she's going to be living with it, she really ought to understand that they DON'T LIKE handling. They just deal with it because they have no choice, and eventually learn that we won't eat them or anything.

[wispurs]

Hi, im exotica s "roommate" and i would just like to say that i really dont appreciate you guys getting together and flaming me behind my back on some stupid forum for snakes when clearly you dont even know anything about snakes. you are wrong! he does like to be held, he hates it when i put him away! and i WILL sleep with him because it IS what he wants, I can tell!


Thanks for absolutely nothing.