Unexplained stress??

[Traceur]

My 5 month old ball python has been acting strange tonight. He keeps trying to escape like he used to before I upgraded everything. I don't know why he wants to escape, but he keeps trying.

He has two identical hides, one on the cool side and on on the hot side. He has a strand of fake leaves and two piles of sphagnum moss for humidity reasons. He also has two branches to climb on. His cool side temps are usually 77-78 degrees. Sometimes 80. His hot side temps stay between 90-92. All of his walls are blacked out with construction paper. Humidity ranges between 55-65%.

Can anybody explain why he might be trying to escape? He was doing just fine for a good while, so this just came up out of nowhere.

Anything helps

[redshepherd]

They'll also do that if they're hungry- how many grams does he weigh and what have you been feeding, and how often?

[Traceur]

They'll also do that if they're hungry- how many grams does he weigh and what have you been feeding, and how often?

I haven't gotten around to weighing him, but I feed him every Friday. I know he needs to size up in mice but I'm trying to get rid of all the hoppers I have, so he's been eating two hoppers. Should I start giving him 3?

[redshepherd]

I haven't gotten around to weighing him, but I feed him every Friday. I know he needs to size up in mice but I'm trying to get rid of all the hoppers I have, so he's been eating two hoppers. Should I start giving him 3?

Not knowing the weight doesn't help, but you can try offering 3 and see if he'll take it. I'd switch to rats as soon as you can though instead of getting more mice. The sooner you decide to switch, the easier it is.

[Craiga 01453]

They'll also do that if they're hungry- how many grams does he weigh and what have you been feeding, and how often?

^^^ agreed ^^^

Sounds like a hungry boy to me as well.

If you're insistent on feeding off the hoppers you have I'd also switch to feeding every 5 days til he's got appropriately sized prey.

[Bogertophis]

Another thought: some snakes like rats immediately & some don't. You might do well to save a few hoppers to save as "appetizers" for the "new" food, rats.

When confronted suddenly with food that smells & presumably tastes different, your BP may refuse to accept a rat, but if he has just chowed down a hopper
he may be more accepting of the "new food" offered immediately as if it was just another hopper. Having some hoppers on hand may help him to switch. You
can also thaw them together to help the rat smell more "familiar".

And yeah, he sounds hungry to me too.

[ryknoll3]

I have a July 2018 hatchling that currently weighs 270 grams. When I got him he was about 170 and I was feeding him a small adult mouse weekly. I also had some rat fuzzies and the last two meals I've been feeding him a rat fuzzy and small adult mouse in tthe same feeding (about 30-35 great total weight for the two). I have 3 of each left and then a bunch of rat pups. Is it ok to be feeding him 2 items in the same feeding until I use up the mice and fuzzies? He's been hammering both items the last two weeks, but I wanted to make sure I was doing right by my snake.

[Bogertophis]

I have a July 2018 hatchling that currently weighs 270 grams. When I got him he was about 170 and I was feeding him a small adult mouse weekly. I also had some rat fuzzies and the last two meals I've been feeding him a rat fuzzy and small adult mouse in tthe same feeding (about 30-35 great total weight for the two). I have 3 of each left and then a bunch of rat pups. Is it ok to be feeding him 2 items in the same feeding until I use up the mice and fuzzies? He's been hammering both items the last two weeks, but I wanted to make sure I was doing right by my snake.

Sure, that's perfect...it will help him transition. It's always nice to have a snake that isn't "fussy" about food. That's why I suggested doing that in my
previous post to the OP...as long as the combined 2 items aren't bigger than what the snake should normally consume at one time, it's fine, & in fact, they'd
do the same thing in the wild.

[Traceur]

This all honestly really helps! I tried offering 3 hoppers to him, but he didn't take the 3rd one. He was acting fussy again today- tried escaping again, and it's been 5 days since he last ate. So I certainly will start feeding every 5 days.

What size of rats should I be feeding a 5-6 month old ball python? After he's almost done with the hoppers?

[Bogertophis]

Weights help a lot, as we aren't seeing your snake. Weight of the snake, weights of the food offered.