New Owner Questions..

[galaxy7]

Hey everyone. New guy here! Sure you guys get that a lot. I had a couple questions. I've been reading and studying, but sometimes you just gotta ask in your own words to get it straight; hope you guys go gentle on me for that, LOL. So we got a little new guy hatched in October for my daughter and she is loving it. Even I'm becoming more entertained by the little guy every day. (I'd post a pic if I could do attachments) Couple questions first...

So I know what my temperatures and everything are supposed to be, but I'm a little confused about heating pads vs air temperature. I have a pad on the bottom of the tank for the warm side. It's running right around 90* measured directly on the surface inside the tank. The air temp in the house (and thus up in the air in his tank) is cooler than what you see recommended. Is he still getting the warmth he needs from the surface? Do you need both requirements (heat the air and the surface with a pad)? Probably my biggest concern.

Humidity is too low. I know we need to work on raising that, and I've been reading up on things to do. Going to get a non-vented lid for half the cage and some fake plants we can keep distilled water spritzed onto for starters.

He's had one shed since ownership and it went fairly well. Soaked a couple times. It all came off and seemed to go as textbook except for about 3-4" of skin still on his neck starting just behind his head (his head shed just fine). Still hasn't come off good. Just keep soaking? He doesn't wanna keep his head low when soaking, thus making it difficult to concentrate on that part of his body to soften up that skin. Guess we'll keep trying.

I was surprised to learn about soaking up to an hour. Do you monitor and control the water temp during this time? Obviously water cools off relatively quick. Past soaks I have done what was needed to maintain that ~85* actual water temp.

Eating. Thanks to this forum, I learned that these guys can fast in the winter. Had no idea. But I'm gonna throw this one out there anyways... Tuesday, 5 Feb will be three full weeks without eating. Concerns? He had eaten well three times before he started fasting (and thus three times since ownership). Nothing has changed in his life to spark this; his environment, handling, all those types of things have remained unchanged when he was eating well vs now fasting--info in case it matters.

Even though he hasn't been eating, here's some info for you guys on this little guy. Including back when he was eating well, during shed, and now while fasting, his activity and mood has not seemed to change. In fact, our guy seems quite different from most information I read about these guys. He's active quite often, not shy at all, and never minds being handled. Very rarely does he go into or stay in his hide. He is handled just about daily. While I wouldn't label him a wiggle worm, he's very curious and adventurous outside his cage both when being handled or out on other surfaces.

Also as info, when he was eating, he's apparently not a striker. Feeding him fuzzies. We place them in the cage and he could care less. No interest at all. We made the decision to leave the food in the cage over night. Each time, we awoke the next morning to discover he had eaten successfully. This same routine worked for each meal and we thought this was just gonna be his style, up until the fasting started. Yes, I know about the threats of unattended rats, but also read that overnight is safe with fuzzies or pups.

Anyways, thanks everyone for your time and help. Hope I can get to where I can contribute and not be the new guy!

[Lord Sorril]

The air temp in the house (and thus up in the air in his tank) is cooler than what you see recommended. Is he still getting the warmth he needs from the surface? Do you need both requirements (heat the air and the surface with a pad)? Probably my biggest concern.

Yes, the air temperature is considered the 'ambient' temperature. I try to target 80F...some people use a gradient down to 75F. Your ball python may/may not use the heating mat to try and heat itself up--regardless most setups do not rely on the mat to keep the entire snake warm--just aid with digestion.

He's had one shed since ownership and it went fairly well. Soaked a couple times. It all came off and seemed to go as textbook except for about 3-4" of skin still on his neck starting just behind his head (his head shed just fine). Still hasn't come off good. Just keep soaking?

My method is to give them a water bowl big enough they can soak their entire body in at their leisure. I don't have any shed issues as long as the water doesn't get too cold.

Tuesday, 5 Feb will be three full weeks without eating. Concerns?

Depends on the weight and body condition. Three weeks of non-eating is nothing to most ball pythons of any size.

Hope I can get to where I can contribute and not be the new guy!

Welcome!

[venga]

A relatively inexpensive way of raising ambient air temp is to use a proper ceramic dome heat lamp with a CHE (ceramic heat emitter) or night time bulb and then regulate it with a standalone dimmer switch. The dimmer switch can be found at most big box hardware stores. I also recommend investing in a temp gun (they are pretty cheap as well) for monitoring temps across multiple areas of the tank.

[Treeman]

If you are having trouble keeping the water warm during a soak, you can try putting the container with the water and snake in his enclosure on his heat mat. You still need to monitor the soak at all times and take water temps, but it will help the water temperature stay higher longer. As Lord Sorril said, 3 weeks is pretty much nothing for a BP. However, you do need to monitor the snake's size and weight. A large weight loss is not good especially for a juvenile that doesn't have much weight to begin with, but 3 weeks, I wouldn't worry.

[galaxy7]

Wen they’re not eating like this, do you still offer food at certain interval? Or skip a week or so?

Since he he was eating to begin with, is it safe to say he’ll eat when he gets hungry or ready?

[Stewart_Reptiles]

I will cover what I see as the important part

little new guy hatched in October

Even though he hasn't been eating,

three full weeks without eating

Eating. Thanks to this forum, I learned that these guys can fast in the winter.

Yes but absolutely not in your case.

The fact that an animal hatched in October is not eating tell me your husbandry is off and overtime it took it's toll, let it be the temps, lack of security because of improper hide, too large of an enclosure or over handling, something caused that issue and it's not gonna solve itself and at that age the less he eats the more it will become a viscous circle.

Animal that are that age and size are VORACIOUS, why? because it is encoded in their DNA, grow as fast as possible when young.

Your BP right now should be eating 1 appropriately sized prey once a week without fail unless in shed and even then most animals that young will eat in shed as well.

Solutions? Read this https://ball-pythons.net/forums/show...ips-and-Tricks and this https://ball-pythons.net/forums/show...-hatchling-101

[galaxy7]

YEAH! He ate! Tuesday's are our scheduled feeding day, so we wanted to at least try to feed last night. What's turning out to be a completely normal routine for him so far (every successful eating has been in this manner), played out again last night. Offered him his meal and he had absolutely no interest in it. Then about 3 this morning, he chowed down.

[galaxy7]

Aaannnnddd, he ate again last night. Two normal feedings in a row! Done worrying about this guy, LOL. He did do something different this time; with every successful feeding, he has ZERO interest in the rat no matter what you do or how you offer it to him. Then later in the middle of the night, he'll go to town. Well, last night, he at least showed interest. He stayed pretty coiled up for quite some amount of time (once offered) like he was going to strike at any second. Had never done this before. But he never went after it. After bed time and lights out, he ate. Not really a question here I guess, just FYI. Oh well...I'm assuming this is just his personality and you need to learn that like any other animal?!