I think my snake has a burn.

[Craiga 01453]

Well I'm saying that because I'm trying to be honest here. I'm not going to stop handling my snake when there is no reason to. I value your opinions, but when it comes to things that vary from snake to snake I'm more experienced than all of you when it comes to Nausicaa. When it comes to handling her (When I know she is healthy of course) she is fine with being out for hours. She has never shown any signs of stress.

This is a perfect example of your selfish needs ahead of the snakes well being.
Learn more and then eat your words because you're wrong. And your snake deserves better.

[skylord0110]

Maximum cleanliness, silver sulfadiazine cream (SSD, sold under names like silvadene), and monitoring for infection (signs of pus, injury getting worse instead of better, inflammation, increased/different discoloration sometimes) are usually best for burns outside of the vet visit. And of course, fixing the issue that created the burn.

Just as a note since I do have a bioactive setup - doing bioactive well is expensive and somewhat tricky. Just be aware of that since it sounds like your funds are pretty limited.

It isn't going to be anything major. It obviously isn't going to happen for a while now, but I just plan on adding a few plants to keep up humidity, and maybe some springtails to keep the soil fertile.

[BluuWolf]

Well I'm saying that because I'm trying to be honest here. I'm not going to stop handling my snake when there is no reason to. I value your opinions, but when it comes to things that vary from snake to snake I'm more experienced than all of you when it comes to Nausicaa. When it comes to handling her (When I know she is healthy of course) she is fine with being out for hours. She has never shown any signs of stress.

Now the problem with this is newer owners tend to not be able to recognize when their snake is stressed out. Even my biggest, tamest boy I don’t hold for more then 45 minutes or so. Could he go for longer? Probably sometime, but why take the risk of stressing him out when there is just no need.


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[Alter-Echo]

I'm pretty sure the point has been made... I think the thing is that while peeps on this site definitely know what they are talking about, they tend to be really passionate, downright zealous sometimes, and have a tendency to "dogpile" on people... or maybe it should be called snakepile in this case..

So, skylord, a vet visit is a good idea, definitely get a thermostat and keep the warm spot between 88 and 90f, and remember that most snakes tend to do best with short handling sessions... think of them like introverted people, socialization is good, but they can only tolerate so much before it wears on their nerves. They are simple creatures, and the world is so big and loud and bright... it's alot for them to process.

The only bad keeper is one who refuses to correct their mistakes, and we all make them.

[skylord0110]

This is a perfect example of your selfish needs ahead of the snakes well being.
Learn more and then eat your words because you're wrong. And your snake deserves better.

Alright then. Why is it so bad? What are the signs of stress? Have you interacted with my snake? Listen I know I still have a lot to learn, but there has been nothing to suggest that she is doing poorly because of handling. So if there is something I should know about stress, and identifying stress TELL ME, please. Telling me it's wrong does nothing for me. I need evidence, and reasoning. If it is bad for her of course I'll stop, but there isn't any reason to currently. Well outside of possible burns, but after that not really anything unless you change my mind. Also it is rare for me to handle her over an hour. Maybe once every couple weeks, but usually it is around 30 minutes. I'm sorry if I made it sound like it's everyday, which I definitely did do so my bad.

[Craiga 01453]

The only bad keeper is one who refuses to correct their mistakes, and we all make them.

Perfectly said.... I'm done helping OP. I have better things to do with my time than argue with a child.

[BluuWolf]

Alright then. Why is it so bad? What are the signs of stress? Have you interacted with my snake? Listen I know I still have a lot to learn, but there has been nothing to suggest that she is doing poorly because of handling. So if there is something I should know about stress, and identifying stress TELL ME, please. Telling me it's wrong does nothing for me. I need evidence, and reasoning. If it is bad for her of course I'll stop, but there isn't any reason to currently. Well outside of possible burns, but after that not really anything unless you change my mind.

Okay, while we of course don’t have any evidence that your snake is stressed we also don’t have any evidence of the contrary.

Yes you say that your snake isn’t stressed, but as I said before many newer owners just simply don’t know how to recognize it. All we have to go off of is that the vast majority of snakes that are held for that period of time are stressed out by it. Are there exceptions, of course there are exceptions to everything but as I said we are going off of all other similar cases where the snake was indeed stressed.

Stress can cause a snake to not eat and can even lower its immune system so stress could very much be the cause of a sick snake.


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[skylord0110]

Okay, while we of course don’t have any evidence that your snake is stressed we also don’t have any evidence of the contrary.

Yes you say that your snake isn’t stressed, but as I said before many newer owners just simply don’t know how to recognize it. All we have to go off of is that the vast majority of snakes that are held for that period of time are stressed out by it. Are there exceptions, of course there are exceptions to everything but as I said we are going off of all other similar cases where the snake was indeed stressed.

Stress can cause a snake to not eat and can even lower its immune system so stress could very much be the cause of a sick snake.


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Now admittedly when I first got her I did have struggles feeding her, as I think a lot of other ball python owners initially have. I definitely was too excited to have finally gotten an animal that is my sole responsibility, and I started handling her too early. She wouldn't eat anything. She just got real close to the mouse and smelled it up. But then I started feeding her in the morning, and I haven't had a problem since. I think she was too timid to strike because she was confused if it was some weird moving tree thing reaching into her cage again or food lol. I don't know if this is related, but she gives up on food easily. She never hesitates to strike a rat in the morning on the initial strike, but she will quickly give up if she grabs it at a poor angle, or position. She sometimes powers through it, but sometimes she just lets go of it after attempting to unroll herself, and then begin swallowing it. If I attempt to feed it to her again she typically reverts back to how she acted when I first got her(intense staring match).

[BluuWolf]

Now admittedly when I first got her I did have struggles feeding her, as I think a lot of other ball python owners initially have. I definitely was too excited to have finally gotten an animal that is my sole responsibility, and I started handling her too early. She wouldn't eat anything. She just got real close to the mouse and smelled it up. But then I started feeding her in the morning, and I haven't had a problem since. I think she was too timid to strike because she was confused if it was some weird moving tree thing reaching into her cage again or food lol. I don't know if this is related, but she gives up on food easily. She never hesitates to strike a rat in the morning on the initial strike, but she will quickly give up if she grabs it at a poor angle, or position. She sometimes powers through it, but sometimes she just lets go of it after attempting to unroll herself, and then begin swallowing it. If I attempt to feed it to her again she typically reverts back to how she acted when I first got her(intense staring match).

Ball pythons are super finicky eaters and any little thing can cause them not to eat. I would for sure recommend the shorter handling sessions, IMO anything over an hour is just to much for these timid little guys and for some even an hour is to much

Just test out the shorter handling and see if it makes a difference. It is ultimately your animal so if you truly think it’s not benefiting it at all then you can go to longer sessions if that’s what you want.

Another way to help with the feeding issue is when you heat up the mouse, focus the heat of the head that way when they strike they will aim for the head and hopefully won’t end up striking in a weird position and give up.

I hope this helps


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[skylord0110]

Ball pythons are super finicky eaters and any little thing can cause them not to eat. I would for sure recommend the shorter handling sessions, IMO anything over an hour is just to much for these timid little guys and for some even an hour is to much

Just test out the shorter handling and see if it makes a difference. It is ultimately your animal so if you truly think it’s not benefiting it at all then you can go to longer sessions if that’s what you want.

Another way to help with the feeding issue is when you heat up the mouse, focus the heat of the head that way when they strike they will aim for the head and hopefully won’t end up striking in a weird position and give up.

I hope this helps


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Alright I'll try limiting it to 10 minutes once every 2 days with no handling in between as much as it will kill me. At least with a drastic change like that results will be gained quickly, and in a large manner. Of course it will have to wait until she is checked on.