Am I doing ok for my BP?

[Wrp0101]

Hello, this may be my first post but I have been reading these forums since the beginning of last year to ensure I knew everything I needed to know before I bought my beautiful female CBP Ramona. I bought her for 60 in June last year( original owner only asked for 30 but I was too happy to let the lady take that kind of loss) because she felt that with another baby on the way she couldn't give Ramona the attention she deserves. Anyways with Ramona I received her 60 glass aquarium, digital therma/hygro, two matching rock shaped hides, water dish, big bag of extra Cypress mulch, uth.
Anyways as far as I can tell all her temps and everything seem to be pretty on point. But to get it there I had to buy a ceramic heat lamp with no light. I think she just over 300g in june and last month my scale broke but she was just over 600g and the rats were between 60g - 70g she gets one a week unless she is shedding ( which Everytime has gone smoothly with a one piece shed). The way I understand all that is pretty decent husbandry buty concern is she hardly ever seems to wanna be there. If I walk by her tank (sits by the front door) she will raise her head and about 6 to 8 inches and follow me. So I reach in and she wraps around my arm and crawls on up. So I've taken it as a sign she wants attention but now it seems she spends most days sleeping in my hoodie pocket or riding around on my wrist while I drive or shop and alot of nights relaxing either on my wrist, neck or lap while I do school work. She never hides her head unless somebody moves to quick towards her and I actually never hold her I leave it to her. She has only hissed once but I was cleaning her poop up and didn't know she was about to shed and had eye caps. She never seems to have the desire to go anywhere except my other arm or wrap on my neck. Any words of advice or criticism are greatly appreciated especially because I haven't seen any mention of a BP being handled nearly this much. On a side note its 530 am as I finish this up she has been attached to me almost 24 hours I washed her water dish and filled it up and she climbed up my hand up my arm then down my hoodie and came to rest in my pocket until nightfall when she popped her head out and watched me do my online college classwork for an hour or so before deciding she wanted to do laps around my body. Mostly the reason I don't put her up is because when I try she kinda constricts around my arm or neck a little bit more than normal and if I gently pry her off she will do everything she can to get back around my arm. I do want to stress that she is almost always willing to be held by a stranger for a few minutes before coming back to me. She never hissed or hides her head. Never strikes and I pretty much never hold her. I give her the occasional redirection if she tries to slither off but I never have a grip, she clings to me.

[Albert420]

Im no expert but this all is way to much handling , there is a thread on here with a poll showing how much of us handle our snakes each month and compared to this it is shocking , now your snake could be happy with being handled this much i wouldn't know but remember snakes dont have feelings as sad as it seems and these are wild animals and this species is a species that does nothing but hide all day a hiding ball is a healthy ball

[Wrp0101]

I definitely get what your saying and it's that same thread with the poll I read through and several others where people weren't handling any where near as much as me, and it's not that I think she's sad or lonely, I tried to do as much research as possible before I got her and I know they aren't social snakes. But the biggest reason she gets so much handling is because she is always trying to climb up my arm when I spot clean or refill water, with in the lastaybe 8 or 9 weeks she started raising or whole body up the side of the tank and follow me around the tank if if I get up and walk almost as if to show me she wants to be held. I open the lid and she comes out and climbs my arm. From what I've gathered from several threads the big issues with over handling is mostly that it can stress the BP and cause aggressive behavior or a feed strike and along with a few other things.

As far as I have seen she isn't acting weird at all and using this awesome forum as my how to guide with the exception of this whole I knew that I seem to have my snake on me alot more than anybody on this forum admits to. Other than that Ramona has been a good trophy snake really every shed has come off pretty much in one price ( last shed there was still shed on 1 scale towards her tail) she has only rejected food once because in order to maintain perfect on time weekly feed I had to give her a price of chicken breast only 1 time though and after I realized she was rejecting it I removed it and threw it away and tried again an hour later with another piece.

Also you mention the hiding I do want to make sure you don't misunderstand during daylight hours she is not active except to rarely change the hide she's in from warm to cool. I only care for her in the pm when she is active as to not disturb her when she is resting. And yes on the occasions when she doesn't decide to climb my arm I leave her alone apart from a gentle stroke down her back to let her know I'm reaching in. Whether she's on me or at home she is very active but I think a bit more active on my cause she climbs around from one arm around my neck and then to the other arm. And then only time she ends up on my person during the daytime is when she's been on me all night or if she calls me over early in the morning ( 1-2am) and refuses to go back home without a fight. And then when the sun starts to come up she will climb either up my hoodie sleeve and constricts tight around my arm (scariest situation so I just pull my arm all the way into my sleeve and clench the end of the sleeve to make sure if her grip ever does loosen she can't fall out my sleeve) or instead sometimes I can coach he into my hoodie pocket where she then balls up and stays until sundown. Occasional during daylight if I try every so often she does some time change her mind and slide back into her home.

[Wrp0101]

Also she does take her mostly a day break after hanging out before climbing back up my arm and no handling once I notice she's about to shed I steer clear only adding fresh water but she goes about the whole process extremely fast sometimes as little as 4 or 5 days for a solid clean shed always sitting on the edge of her water dish. And when she is digesting as well once she poops and I find this weird alot of the time she's digested her meal with in 3 days. I feed Friday about an hour after she wakes and normally by Monday or Tuesday their is a big ole healthy turd waiting on me and so is she, always when I clean up her poop she climbs up.

[Skyrivers]

I definitely get what your saying and it's that same thread with the poll I read through and several others where people weren't handling any where near as much as me, and it's not that I think she's sad or lonely, I tried to do as much research as possible before I got her and I know they aren't social snakes. But the biggest reason she gets so much handling is because she is always trying to climb up my arm when I spot clean or refill water, with in the lastaybe 8 or 9 weeks she started raising or whole body up the side of the tank and follow me around the tank if if I get up and walk almost as if to show me she wants to be held. I open the lid and she comes out and climbs my arm. From what I've gathered from several threads the big issues with over handling is mostly that it can stress the BP and cause aggressive behavior or a feed strike and along with a few other things.

As far as I have seen she isn't acting weird at all and using this awesome forum as my how to guide with the exception of this whole I knew that I seem to have my snake on me alot more than anybody on this forum admits to. Other than that Ramona has been a good trophy snake really every shed has come off pretty much in one price ( last shed there was still shed on 1 scale towards her tail) she has only rejected food once because in order to maintain perfect on time weekly feed I had to give her a price of chicken breast only 1 time though and after I realized she was rejecting it I removed it and threw it away and tried again an hour later with another piece.

Also you mention the hiding I do want to make sure you don't misunderstand during daylight hours she is not active except to rarely change the hide she's in from warm to cool. I only care for her in the pm when she is active as to not disturb her when she is resting. And yes on the occasions when she doesn't decide to climb my arm I leave her alone apart from a gentle stroke down her back to let her know I'm reaching in. Whether she's on me or at home she is very active but I think a bit more active on my cause she climbs around from one arm around my neck and then to the other arm. And then only time she ends up on my person during the daytime is when she's been on me all night or if she calls me over early in the morning ( 1-2am) and refuses to go back home without a fight. And then when the sun starts to come up she will climb either up my hoodie sleeve and constricts tight around my arm (scariest situation so I just pull my arm all the way into my sleeve and clench the end of the sleeve to make sure if her grip ever does loosen she can't fall out my sleeve) or instead sometimes I can coach he into my hoodie pocket where she then balls up and stays until sundown. Occasional during daylight if I try every so often she does some time change her mind and slide back into her home.

I think BPs are very routine driven. I have a male BP that if I go a couple days not handling he will not eat. So I handle him almost every day except feeding day. My girl is typical BP where she wants minimal handling. Both are well adjusted animals and healthy as they can be. Both are hitting the 2 year mark also and on winter fast. Saw my boy cruising last night so going to try to feed this weekend. He might just be horny? Who knows. They have their own personalities and desires.

[Albert420]

I definitely get what your saying and it's that same thread with the poll I read through and several others where people weren't handling any where near as much as me, and it's not that I think she's sad or lonely, I tried to do as much research as possible before I got her and I know they aren't social snakes. But the biggest reason she gets so much handling is because she is always trying to climb up my arm when I spot clean or refill water, with in the lastaybe 8 or 9 weeks she started raising or whole body up the side of the tank and follow me around the tank if if I get up and walk almost as if to show me she wants to be held. I open the lid and she comes out and climbs my arm. From what I've gathered from several threads the big issues with over handling is mostly that it can stress the BP and cause aggressive behavior or a feed strike and along with a few other things.

As far as I have seen she isn't acting weird at all and using this awesome forum as my how to guide with the exception of this whole I knew that I seem to have my snake on me alot more than anybody on this forum admits to. Other than that Ramona has been a good trophy snake really every shed has come off pretty much in one price ( last shed there was still shed on 1 scale towards her tail) she has only rejected food once because in order to maintain perfect on time weekly feed I had to give her a price of chicken breast only 1 time though and after I realized she was rejecting it I removed it and threw it away and tried again an hour later with another piece.

Also you mention the hiding I do want to make sure you don't misunderstand during daylight hours she is not active except to rarely change the hide she's in from warm to cool. I only care for her in the pm when she is active as to not disturb her when she is resting. And yes on the occasions when she doesn't decide to climb my arm I leave her alone apart from a gentle stroke down her back to let her know I'm reaching in. Whether she's on me or at home she is very active but I think a bit more active on my cause she climbs around from one arm around my neck and then to the other arm. And then only time she ends up on my person during the daytime is when she's been on me all night or if she calls me over early in the morning ( 1-2am) and refuses to go back home without a fight. And then when the sun starts to come up she will climb either up my hoodie sleeve and constricts tight around my arm (scariest situation so I just pull my arm all the way into my sleeve and clench the end of the sleeve to make sure if her grip ever does loosen she can't fall out my sleeve) or instead sometimes I can coach he into my hoodie pocket where she then balls up and stays until sundown. Occasional during daylight if I try every so often she does some time change her mind and slide back into her home.

Sounds like you have one in a million there bud , if she sheds fine nand eats fine and hides during the day i think you are good to go but not gonna lie it does sound very odd. Just keep an close eye and one can never know enough so keep on researching !

[Craiga 01453]

I honestly didn't read through everything, but did I read right that you have your snake with you while driving and shopping???????

And are you familiar with the word "anthropomorphism"???

[ladywhipple02]

My only advice is to be SURE. You use a lot of language like "I think" and "as far as I can tell" when it comes to her temps and humidity and such. And I'm not sure if that's your way of speaking, or if you legit are guessing.

Don't guess. Get the tools you need to be sure if you don't have them: thermostat, hygrometer, etc. This will ensure beyond a doubt that she's happy and comfortable in her cage. My first thought is that she's trying to stay near your body heat (which is a steady, comforting 98 degrees) when you try to put her in her tank because the tank is too cold.

Also, not a great idea to take your snake out in public. Too many unknowns: temperature fluctuations that can make her sick, things she can pick up to make her sicks (mites), and you never know how people are going to react either. Just a heads up.

[Wrp0101]

My only advice is to be SURE. You use a lot of language like "I think" and "as far as I can tell" when it comes to her temps and humidity and such. And I'm not sure if that's your way of speaking, or if you legit are guessing.

Don't guess. Get the tools you need to be sure if you don't have them: thermostat, hygrometer, etc. This will ensure beyond a doubt that she's happy and comfortable in her cage. My first thought is that she's trying to stay near your body heat (which is a steady, comforting 98 degrees) when you try to put her in her tank because the tank is too cold.

Also, not a great idea to take your snake out in public. Too many unknowns: temperature fluctuations that can make her sick, things she can pick up to make her sicks (mites), and you never know how people are going to react either. Just a heads up.

I finished my OP almost 6am in the morning with no sleep I'm sorry there are alot of typos and yes I did say "as far as I can all her temps and everything are pretty on point" not sure that really qualifies as "a lot" especially when right before that I state that I did get digital thermo/hygro along with her enclosure and directly after I mentioned I had to buy a ceramic heat emitter to get her temp right but yes according to the digital thermometer her basking spot stays right 90-92 according to my digital hygrometer humidity can fluctuate a bit between 60 and 65 the only part I'm not entirely sure of is ambient temperature my other digital thermometer quite working so I just put an analog thermometer for the time being until I get a AP375 with VE300. However it stays right around 80 ( but I've read not to use them because they can be a good bit off) But like I said every comment, rid bit of advice and criticism us appreciated.

[Albert420]

I honestly didn't read through everything, but did I read right that you have your snake with you while driving and shopping???????

And are you familiar with the word "anthropomorphism"???

OP I must agree with Craig on this one i found it just too odd something is up. This thread didn't leave my mind .... another thing to consider is how big is the hides you are using ? They like a tight fit, very tight if the hide is too big they will search the viv/container constantly and only rest in the hide for short periods of time. Sometimes they wont even use it for a quick rest.

Clutter the viv/container with fake plants as much as possible i have 3 hides in my big viv, but my ball is happy there is almost not space for a mouse as he grows i will take a few things out but replace them with smaller objects, they really are shy animals by nature, very shy. Its true each snake has their own personality etc, but not to this extent.

Like the rest said maybe invest in a second thermo gun to make sure i triple check my vivs 3 times a day not open and close but i check that stuff is in order.

There is no way for them to tell us they are unhappy unlike a dog or cat, best is to stick with what has been a proven all these years.
I know you might not like this but i think its best to get stuff on point and start from scratch and triple check everything and get the snake into a safer routine. The streets is not really a place for a snake.