New juvenile ball python, feedback appreciated on set-up and care (pics)

[anatess]

Long-time pet lover, never owned a reptile. When my wife told me that our son wanted a snake for his 7th birthday I jumped to it before she could change her mind.

Almost same experience in my house. My husband and my 2 sons would catch snakes in the backyard and "observe" them. I got tired of yelling at them for it - we have water moccasins, ya know - so then this reptile shop opened in town and I said, well, those snakes are at least clean and harmless, and next thing I know we got one snake for the boys to share. Not too long after, we ended up having 4 pet snakes, one of which I won from a contest in this forum! My boys were 7 and 5 years old then. I told them if they don't take care of the snakes they WILL die because I'm not doing it. I set them all up in their habitats and those 2 boys did the rest.

My boys are now turning 21 and 19 years old, we had our first snake die a few years ago and the other 3 are still happily my boys' pets including the one I won from the contest. We have another snake that is the son of our first snake (my boys once did a science project in elementary school by breeding their snakes) - so we still have 4 snakes today. My boys are taking off for college in a few months and they're going to be taking these pets with them when they leave. I'm gonna miss these buggers, hah hah.

I’ve watched a few videos, read a few things, and saw ball pythons are best beginner snakes. Saw that there’s conflicting info on what type of habitat (DIY bin versus tank versus whatever), heating (under mat or over lighting), and even disagreements on whether a separate feeding tank is needed or not.

They're not best beginner snakes, imho. The corn snake is better than the ball python for beginners. We've had our bps stop eating for almost a year when my boys were very little for no apparent reason and it stressed my boys out so much. We have a really good reptile vet and all he can say is - there's nothing wrong with the snake, just wait it out... not good for very young kids to deal with but they all survived. Anyway, one little thing off in their environment could cause these guys to stop eating for months!

So I found a good local non-chain pet shop and figured I’d start with their recommendations. Guy who helped me seemed knowledgeable and has 9 snakes, breeds them, etc.

You'll quickly find out that even among very experienced reptile enthusiasts, consensus can often be hard to find. Like most things, you take everybody's advice into consideration and then when you get your own feel for things, you do you.

Here’s my set up:
20-gallon glass tank, mesh covering with lock
Overhead heating lamp with sensor inside
Juvenile enchi pastel ball python (estimate a couple months old)
Cypress mulch substrate
100 watt
I plan to feed live prey exclusively

Good start.
I'd ditch the heating lamp for a non-light-producing heat lamp then add a day light source if the set-up is not in a sunny part of the house.

Here’s my questions:

1. What’s the consensus on where to feed? The pet store repeated the recommendation I saw online of having a feeding bin so that the snake does not associate reaching into the tank as feeding time, leading to potential bites. The rebuttal I found online also makes sense: there’s no real evidence that this association happens and you’re not supposed to move snakes shortly after eating because of chance of regurgitation, so having a feeding tank is contradictory to this. This last part makes the most sense to me so I wanted to check what people here do? And if the answer is to have a feeding tank, what do I do after the feeding to avoid regurgitation? I fed him for the first time yesterday and tried to do a separate feeding container but we had just introduced him to the family and he was balled up tight and showed no interest or notice of the hopper even after several minutes. I ended up putting the container in the enclosure so we could try some privacy and set up a camera and it eventually unraveled and ate when it was alone.

"Associate reaching into the tank as feeding time" is silly. This is for people who never do anything with their snakes besides open the tank to feed. Remember - feeding is a once every 5-7 days affair. You'll be opening that enclosure a lot more times for other reasons than feeding.
Most people feed in the enclosure because that's where the snake is comfortable and would provide the least disturbance.
That said, we do not feed in the enclosure because we have a bio-active setup and feed live prey. That rat will have so many places to hide that it will take the snake a while to get to him. We do not leave live prey unattended with the snake so it is much better for us to use a feeding bin. You'll know when to put the snake back because he will start cruising the bin.

1. It seemed almost universal online that people recommended the heating pad over the light for better regulation of heat, so I was a little surprised that he recommended the light. Based on the temperature that I usually leave my house with A/C (72F) they suggested I start with 100W and if it’s too hot can switch out for 50W. They also suggested a range of 85-89F and to try not to let it go above 90. Right now it's been around 80-88 on the hot side. Thoughts?

Yes, the heating pad is the most common. It spreads out the heat evenly on the substrate and not waste energy heating the air. We don't use a heating pad because of the bioactive set-up. We use ceramic heat emitters. I live in a humid region of the US so it's easy to maintain humidity even with the humidity-sucking heat emitter.

1. Handling: though I’ll be heavily involved in care for it, it’s a gift for my son and I want to balance keeping the snake healthy and him having a good experience with it. I saw it recommended to only handle them 1-2x a week. Is more harmful? And how long should it be at a time? Any tips on getting it acclimated/comfortable being held?

So, when they're new to your home, you want to leave them alone as much as possible until they're consistently eating and settled in their habitat. After that, your snake will learn to tolerate your son's constant presence. Just remember that, unlike dogs, any handling of the snake is not for the snake's benefit but your own.

That said, my boys are constantly taking those snakes out. They wear them like jewelry around their arms or waist while playing video games or doing homework, they wage Halo wars on their lego table with toy soldiers and ships and have snake hides as castles with the flags and snakes as their kings... they take them to school (Montessori), teach boy scout reptile and amphibian merit badge classes with them, pass them around during dinner parties at the house, etc. etc. These snakes are sooo used to getting handled after all these years they're very tolerant to being handled. Even as young adults, my kids are still constantly messing with these snakes - just taking them out and having them wrapped around them while doing stuff, it's just become a habit, I think.

1. Biting: I know that it’s impossible to totally prevent bites but what are tips to avoid biting? Just worried my son will get spooked

The reason bps became a popular pet because they are normally very hesitant to bite. They would ball up before they'll bite. That said, there are limits to a bp's tolerance and they will bite when they feel threatened. Your son will have to be taught that he WILL get bit eventually but that it's going to be okay. So, it takes a while to learn to "read" the snake's mood. But eventually, you can just look at the snake and know to leave them alone. Handling a snake that is stressed is one of the best ways to get bit. Snakes usually get stressed in new environments, changes to its habitat, habitat failures (especially temperature), when it's shedding, when it's sick, when there's too much stimulation (like noise, movement, smells, smoke, etc.), when it is mishandled - we had a trick-or-treater grab the snake's head once while the snake was hanging over my son's shoulders, she got bit hard! Our snakes are very tolerant with many people but even then, they are in a heightened stress level in that situation and non-ideal handling will be cause for them to bite in those situations even as they usually won't in a quieter time.

Sometimes, you have to pick up the snake in stress - like moving him out of the habitat to fix failures, taking a sick snake to a vet, etc. My sons have a little foam thingee that they bop the snake's head with to make them ball up before they pick a stressed snake up.

Other than that, most bites are accidental - your hand gets mistaken for food (they have very poor eyesight). This usually happens when feeding dead rats. You don't usually hold live prey for too long - you toss it in the bin in a quickness. But it's still good to always use tongs and the like.

1. I'm getting another hide today for the warm side.

Especially since you have a glass enclosure, it is best to fill up the space with stuff so the snake will not feel so exposed. This can be achieved through driftwood, silk greenery, hides, etc. Then the snake doesn't just have 2 spaces they can thermoregulate in. They can move all over the tank to find the best temp conditions and hide there. A 20-gallon is bare minimum imho for a male bp. Our bp's are in 30-gallon breeder size set-up. One of them is female who is bigger than all the other 3 so I was thinking of getting her a bigger set-up but then it won't stack in the cabinet with the others, so we left her in the 30 gallon. She's doing fine.

1. Any other advice? I figure that ball pythons are thought to be good beginners for a reason and that none of the questions above are going to make or break the experience, but any help for optimal care would be appreciated!

There will come a time when your snake will not eat. Don't panic. They can go a long time without eating. The longest we've been through is 10 months. Snake only lost a few ounces of weight.

Have a good reptile vet lined up. They're mostly not good.
We used to do yearly check-ups. It's been almost a decade since we've been to the vet last but it is good to know where to go when things go bad.

Think about what you will do on vacations. All our set-up is automagic (heat regulators, timers). We've left the snakes alone for a few weeks several times. But, you still have to have somebody come check them out because the water will get dirty or dry and the plants (bio-active) will have to be misted, and the automagic will have to be checked to make sure they're still working right. It's not as easy to find somebody to check on the snakes - most people either don't know what to do or don't want to do it even as they're just fine checking on the dog. We've never had anybody else feed the snakes. When we're on vacation, the snakes don't get fed, so we can't be away for too long.

You will have family/friends that will not visit you anymore because you have snakes. It's okay. You can visit them instead.

Pet store said they recommend two hopper mice per week for my size ball python. This is how big they are comparatively. He ate both yesterday. Good feeding regimen?

When the snakes were little, they get fed every 5 days, if they refuse a feed, we try again in 2 days. When they got to be 6 months old or so, they got fed weekly. If they don't eat within 15 minutes, we try again next week.

Set-up (first day I had him in closet to hide the surprise, now on dresser in kid's room)

Hope this helps. Remember, we're just random people on the internet. Enjoy the experience with your son!

[MedicalAuthor]

Monitored temperature range today. Looks like in a given 24 hours it will be:

Warm side: 80-90 degrees
Cool side: 75-84 degrees.
Humidity: ~50

Viper's still be in the hide it seems 24/7, though I hope he's moving around some at night.

[MedicalAuthor]

As a little update, Viper is doing well. Got the temp and the humidity pretty under control. A few things I've noticed:

1. He's slow to eat, or maybe I have to adjust my expectations. Today I put in a rat pup, put my phone's camera on top of the enclosure and cast to the living room TV so we could give him privacy, and it still took about 2 hours before Viper came out of his hide and then after 30 minutes of slow stalking he ate the pup.
2. Random, but the pup was super cute and shy and this was the first time I felt bad about the kill but it was a feeder rat and would have been killed anyway
3. I find Viper almost exclusively resides in the hide on the cool side. It's a water bowl + a hide combo that I got from petco that he seems to like. I got a more traditional hide for the warm side about two weeks ago (suggested in this thread) that I haven't seen yet. Last night, however, I got proof that he does move around because there was fresh poop this morning in the water bowl on the warm side.
4. Handling. I handled him yesterday before feeding today and he was in a tight ball. How persistent can I be in uncurling him while handling? Do they ever strike while holding? Can I turn him upside down (head to the air) or will that aggravate? I got him about halfway unraveled yesterday but then didn't go further.

Also, anatess, thank you for your thorough reply! Didn't say it earlier, but really appreciate it, along with all the others!

[Argentum]

Not a professional, but:

In regards to handling, I wouldn't uncurl him at all. One, make sure you're not handling for a couple days after feeding - 72 hours is frequently touted - though you probably already know that, and then just let him be a ball. That's a defensive reaction, and means that he's scared. Forcing him out of it is likely to just scare him more. Just go read or watch television, let him be a ball in your hand or on your lap, and wait for him to get comfortable enough to unwrap himself when he's ready to be curious. Slow movements so he doesn't get startled, and not restraining his head or neck, since ball pythons are very protective of their heads. They seem to consider them particularly important to have!

[MedicalAuthor]

Okay, good to know! I definitely read/heard about no handling a few days after eating, which is why I tried to handle the day before feeding. I'll try the just chilling next time.

[Bogertophis]

I totally agree with Argentum's post- I'd NEVER forcibly uncurl a snake to "handle" him- he's afraid & that's never going to help.

MY snakes don't strike while I'm handling them, but yours very well might. Especially if you keep doing stuff like forcibly uncurling them. Royal pythons are called "ball pythons" because hiding their heads in fear & turning their body into a ball is sort of their "trademark" defense. Some snakes may be slower to eat if they're recently been handled AT ALL, but especially with such methods. You'll do much better with snakes with more empathy.

[anatess]

So, one of the "iconic" pictures of my son's childhood is of him sitting on the couch with the snake's head crawling out of his shirt sleeve right under his armpit and his face was beaming with such delight.

This was the 2nd pet snake we got and we got him as a baby. He was like your snake, balled up tight when handling. My son would just put the balled up snake on his belly under his shirt, dark and warm like they want it. And that day, the snake decided to crawl out of his shirt.

[Bogertophis]

So, one of the "iconic" pictures of my son's childhood is of him sitting on the couch with the snake's head crawling out of his shirt sleeve right under his armpit and his face was beaming with such delight.

This was the 2nd pet snake we got and we got him as a baby. He was like your snake, balled up tight when handling. My son would just put the balled up snake on his belly under his shirt, dark and warm like they want it. And that day, the snake decided to crawl out of his shirt.

Just look how BIG we are compared to them- we're scary, until they learn to feel safe with us. The only thing in nature that picks up a snake is a predator about to eat them, so that's what they think we are...until they learn. Starting off being patiently cuddled by us, as your son did- they're warm & hiding under something (learning our touch & scent ) so by the time they come out, they're not so afraid of us (our size & appearance). I've done the same thing, but I'm way too ticklish to let them crawl under my arms. You & your son have good instincts.

[MedicalAuthor]

Got it. I've been searching for advice on things and googled this and something said 'gentle but persistent' in trying to unravel. That's what I tried but stopped at the point I got to in the picture cus didn't feel right.

[anatess]

Just look how BIG we are compared to them- we're scary, until they learn to feel safe with us. The only thing in nature that picks up a snake is a predator about to eat them, so that's what they think we are...until they learn. Starting off being patiently cuddled by us, as your son did- they're warm & hiding under something (learning our touch & scent ) so by the time they come out, they're not so afraid of us (our size & appearance). I've done the same thing, but I'm way too ticklish to let them crawl under my arms. You & your son have good instincts.

I found that pic! This was taken back in 2008!