She climbs all over the place and then falls..

[CamStatic]

I got a new ball python girl today, she's 4 years old and I would guess around 1400-1600 grams.
She's in a big terrarium now, about 120x60x60, and she got her hideboxes, a waterdish and a shelf to climb at.

Thing is, she is really restless. And she's been climbing up the glasses now, standing almost 3/4 of her body-length, and then falls sideways, or backwards! down. BOOM. She once landed on one of her hideboxes, and started to gasp two or three times. She seem unharmed now after I've checked her though.

But, is there anything I can do to prevent her from climbing around like that? I'm scared she might hurt herself really bad some day! I can't exactly take out the hideboxes and waterdish.. what can I really do?

[blackcrystal22]

Well, ball pythons are not arboreal so the climbing shelf isn't needed and they could easily fall down off of it. If she continues to do this after settling in, try to take out any objects that would be sharp or harmful to her falling on them and try to find new hide boxes ext.
Another thing you can do is use newspaper or paper towels (crinkled up), or put some aspen down for cushion, if your already using cushiony substrate then thats fantastic too.

Edit: Wow I worded that funny..

[Chuck1289]

Aww poor snake im sure it wont hurt her unless it is a huge drop but it is unusual to see a BP climbing ...

[blackcrystal22]

Aww poor snake im sure it wont hurt her unless it is a huge drop but it is unusual to see a BP climbing ...

She's most likely trying to escape, not climbing. When a new BP is stressed out and doesn't know it's new home very well, it will often try to climb as high as it can on the glass to see if it can get out.

[casperca]

Also double check your temps with a digital thermometer or heat gun. 80-83 degrees F on the cool end (ambient) and 90-93 degrees F on the hot end.
I also second Jess's crinkled up newspaper idea.

[Argentra]

She's stressed and is trying to get away to a safer place.

If I read you right, that enclosure is 10'x5'x5'??? That is WAY too big, even for a full grown female Ball. These snakes prefer smaller spaces and a good enclosure for an adult would be 3-4' long, 2' wide and no more than 12" tall. They are not climbers and don't need shelves or tall branches, just nice low branch bundles for exercise and shed assistance are enough.

Please, post some pictures of the snake and enclosure so we can advise changes from there. But if those measurements are correct you REALLY need to get either a 30 gallon Breeder tank or a 41qt(6" tall) or 90qt (12" tall) plastic tub ASAP!

[blackcrystal22]

She's stressed and is trying to get away to a safer place.

If I read you right, that enclosure is 10'x5'x5'??? That is WAY too big, even for a full grown female Ball. These snakes prefer smaller spaces and a good enclosure for an adult would be 3-4' long, 2' wide and no more than 12" tall. They are not climbers and don't need shelves or tall branches, just nice low branch bundles for exercise and shed assistance are enough.

Please, post some pictures of the snake and enclosure so we can advise changes from there. But if those measurements are correct you REALLY need to get either a 30 gallon Breeder tank or a 41qt(6" tall) or 90qt (12" tall) plastic tub ASAP!

Wow I'm surprised I didn't pick up on that.. I think I just read the measurements and my brain kinda farted and ignored them because it didn't want to figure it out..
Ahaha.

[Argentra]

Well, I'm back in classes and had Chemistry today... mind was (sadly) already on stuff like that.

[branson]

The OP is from Norway, so I'm guessing the 100x60x60 is metric. So about 40" x 24" x 24" if my quick conversions in my head are right... Could you just take the shelf out of the enclosure?

[XRFC07]

Camstatic lives in europe, they use the metric, so maybe its 120x60x60 cm? because that's only 4'x2'x2'