New to BP have a few questions

[reptilemom25]

Hi,
I am not new to the reptile world, but new to snakes. It took a while to convince my husband. We have a lovely bearded dragon named Gimli, a leopard gecko named Merlin, and a crested gecko I call Mr. Lizard (pun on the old Mr. Wizard show). We love keeping reptiles and strive to give them the best environments possible. My beardie is in a custom 4x2x2 wooden enclosure we built, the other two are in exoterra's. The crestie is completely bioactive. I want to make usre i am doing the same for our newest addition.

I purchased a baby ball python at a reptile show this weekend. I am not sure of sex, but I am currently calling her Astrid. She is a normal, but is a bit lighter than typical with more yellow. She was 67 g when I brought her home. I just want to make sure I am doing everything right. I have her set up in a tub, heat mat with thermostat running 89-91 when checked with a temp gun. Air temps running about 80, humidity about 70%. I have her on forest floor bedding, 2 identical small hides, one hot side one cold side. I have not handled her since Sunday. I had a little trouble getting temps exactly where I wanted it and had to move the heat mat so I had to take her out to fix it. I had the setup running for about a week before we got her, but I had to switch to smaller hides because of her size and it threw it off a bit.

When I purchased the breeder said that she had eaten on Tuesday, but I plan to wait until this weekend to attempt to feed. It was a show hosted by a local independent pet store, and the ONLY show that comes to our town all year, so it was crazy busy and I really didn't get to ask all the questions I wanted to of the breeder. The kid that checked me out suggested 2 fuzzy mice as a first meal at home, but I am concerned after reading here that they are too small. Should I just try it with the smaller prey and see how it goes or go get a hopper to try? I think my biggest fear is not being able to get her to eat. I have been through that with a baby bearded dragon and it is not fun!

[Caali]

First of all: Welcome

It's sounds like your setup is great and good to go. Your surely did a lot of research.
I'd still like to add a few things:

1. Humidity:
I think your humidity is too high. Unless your BP is in shed, humidity should be around 50% to 60%. Personally I also like to keep it at the higher end and I know that there are some people that will disagree with me but I think 70% is too much. Too much or too little humidity can cause a respiratory infection.

2. Handling:
I know that it's exciting to get a snake baby but I suggest you don't handle her until she has eaten at least three times in a row.

3. Feeding:
Feed the small baby a week after you got her. She needs to settle down first.
Concerning the size: There's this great chart everyone on this platform shares. In your case a small mouse should be doable.



4. Have fun with your new family member and share some photos!

[reptilemom25]

Thanks so much for the advice. I do try to do my research before getting anything. I will look at adjusting the humidity, but I don't know how much I am going to be able to do.

I am in the deep south, where it is 100% humidity outside all summer. It is 50-60% in my house most of the summer. I keep it down for my beardie with his basking light and the leopard has a CHE, but I have no idea how i would even do something like that with this size tub. Should I try a smaller water dish maybe?

I am definitely not handling her. I didn't want to Sunday but felt like I had to shift things to get it right.

thanks for the feeding chart, its very helpful! Saturday will be a week since I got her. I will attempt to feed then. Fingers crossed she takes it!

She seems to be settling in ok. I saw her shifting from the hot hide to the cool hide last night so at least she isn't afraid to come out at all.

I plan to feed her in her tub. Based on what I read it seems like not moving anything and using togs to place the mouse at the entrance of her hide, moving it a little to simulate life is the best course??

[reptilemom25]

Thanks so much for the advice. I do try to do my research before getting anything. I will look at adjusting the humidity, but I don't know how much I am going to be able to do.

I am in the deep south, where it is 100% humidity outside all summer. It is 50-60% in my house most of the summer. I keep it down for my beardie with his basking light and the leopard has a CHE, but I have no idea how i would even do something like that with this size tub. Should I try a smaller water dish maybe?

I am definitely not handling her. I didn't want to Sunday but felt like I had to shift things to get it right.

thanks for the feeding chart, its very helpful! Saturday will be a week since I got her. I will attempt to feed then. Fingers crossed she takes it!

She seems to be settling in ok. I saw her shifting from the hot hide to the cool hide last night so at least she isn't afraid to come out at all.

I plan to feed her in her tub. Based on what I read it seems like not moving anything and using togs to place the mouse at the entrance of her hide, moving it a little to simulate life is the best course??

[Zincubus]

First of all: Welcome

It's sounds like your setup is great and good to go. Your surely did a lot of research.
I'd still like to add a few things:

1. Humidity:
I think your humidity is too high. Unless your BP is in shed, humidity should be around 50% to 60%. Personally I also like to keep it at the higher end and I know that there are some people that will disagree with me but I think 70% is too much. Too much or too little humidity can cause a respiratory infection.

2. Handling:
I know that it's exciting to get a snake baby but I suggest you don't handle her until she has eaten at least three times in a row.

3. Feeding:
Feed the small baby a week after you got her. She needs to settle down first.
Concerning the size: There's this great chart everyone on this platform shares. In your case a small mouse should be doable.



4. Have fun with your new family member and share some photos!

^ THIS^


Oh and welcome !


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[Caali]

I am in the deep south, where it is 100% humidity outside all summer. It is 50-60% in my house most of the summer. I keep it down for my beardie with his basking light and the leopard has a CHE, but I have no idea how i would even do something like that with this size tub. Should I try a smaller water dish maybe?

Yes that can help or maybe you can move the water dish to a cooler spot. In an extreme case (yours is not extreme yet) you can also change to Aspen bedding.
I used to have the same problem with humidity until I got CHEs (I don't use heat mats) which are humidity killers. I've gone from trying to lower the humidity to struggling to keep it high enough.

I am definitely not handling her. I didn't want to Sunday but felt like I had to shift things to get it right.

Ok
I get your point and since you don't handle her, things should be fine.

thanks for the feeding chart, its very helpful! Saturday will be a week since I got her. I will attempt to feed then. Fingers crossed she takes it!

No problem!
Don't worry too much. Even if she doesn't take it the first time, you don't have to worry. It can happen.
My boy just finished his first fast of two months (I've had him for a year) and I would lie if I said that I didn't feel anxious because of his refusal to eat or even look at the food. Most of the time it's just a waiting game.
But I hope she eats for you.

I plan to feed her in her tub. Based on what I read it seems like not moving anything and using togs to place the mouse at the entrance of her hide, moving it a little to simulate life is the best course??

Everyone has their own feeding ritual. You have to see what works for you and your snake.
99% of snake owners (including myself) will tell you to use tongs and to feed the snake in it's enclosure. So that's definitely a good start. By the way I would also feed at night.
If she in her hide, I'd start wiggling the mouse 4 to 6 inches from her hide. Be sure to make gentle movements. If she smells the mouse, she should come out. She will go into striking position (the S form) and will slowly get closer to the mouse before striking and wrapping around it. Some people suggest to tug the mouse a bit to add realism but I never found that to be helpful. If you do that, your snake will tighten her grasp.
One thing that I wish someone would have told me when I fed my BP for the first time (he was also only 100g and tiny) is that young BPs do not always have the best aim. So your BP might miss the mouse a few times before she finally gets it. But if she is willing to try again, it's fine even if she misses.

[Craiga 01453]

Welcome to the forum and the wonderful world of snake keeping!!
I'm glad to see you did your research and had your enclosure set up before bringing your snake home.

That feeding chart is a great guideline. Follow that and you'll be well on your way

[reptilemom25]

ok, so I woke up this morning to temp problems and I cannot decide what's going on. I thought I had it stable but suddenly I get up this morning and it is 96 on the floor of the hot side when I moved substrate aside and measured with a temp gun, the digital readout on the thermostat is 93, and I have it set to 90. Light is off on the thermostat so supposedly not heating. Astrid was out in the tub. I moved her hot hide so that it was just off the heat so she wouldn't be harmed. I have the probe for the thermostat (jump start type) between the heat mat and the bottom of the tub. It is a Flukers heat mat and I have the probe fully on the black part of the mat that heats. I don't get what's going on. Do you guys think I have an equipment failure or could it be a setup issue?

I went ahead and ordered some flexwatt (they will be wiring) and a herpstat ez1. I was planning to eventually get one anyway, when I got ready to move her to a bigger enclosure. Any suggestions on what to do in the meantime? I have another heat mat I can try, but unfortunately I don't have a spare thermostat or anywhere locally that sells them. Could I try a lamp dimmer switch, or can you use those with heat mats?

[reptilemom25]

Could I possibly set up a CHE? I have a spare one of those with a stand.

[reptilemom25]

Got home at lunch and temp is now 88 erasures with the gun?? Maybe the gun just went weird this morning? I took multiple readings in different places though and they were all high this morning and 88-89 this afternoon.