Normal to be ridiculously paranoid with a new snake?

[shade-ilmaendu]

Firstly I would just love to say how much help this community has been to me even before me making this account and posting here... I've been reading as much as I can both before and since getting my little ball python in November and so much of what I've read here has been helpful in that.

Ok, so I got my ball python (Apollo, pastel mojave) Nov 14th. I have wanted a snake for the majority of my life and I finally moved into a place that allows me to keep them. At first I feel my husbandry was meh, but at this point I'm feeling much more confident. Got a medium zoo med UTH on his hot side, white light for the day and red light at night. Ambient temps during the day are about 90-84 and at night the hot side drops to 80-82. UTH thermostat is on low, those zoo med pads get hot! I've got him in a larger enclosure (which may change as at some point I need to replace it... I used a UTH a friend gave me initially, it must have had a fault in the wiring, shorted out and cracked the glass. I've got tape over it and monitor the substrate to make sure it doesn't expand/come into contact with him). He's been a little inconsistent with his eating... he seems to really prefer the mice from his breeder, when I was unable to go get a bigger mouse pickup due to weather and had to buy from a pet store he refused two of them, but he's eaten again this Monday and I may feed him again Saturday just to help him grow (his skipped meals seem to have delayed his shed).

I just feel very silly.. every little thing that may be wrong or seems imperfect works me up and gets my anxiety going a mile a minute. When his temps were too low I was constantly thinking about it. When he wasn't eating as much as I tell myself he's fine I worry. In educating myself just yesterday I was reading more about illnesses and about "stargazing" as sometimes Apollo will climb about or rest with his body extended against the glass looking up and I wanted to know the difference. After reading about IBD and seeing the videos of actual stargazing behavior I was both comforted that he wasn't doing that but horrified and had a difficult time falling asleep. Is it normal to get this freaked out dealing with a very different kind of pet? I'm 26 years old and have lost cats, friends, and family and been through much worse already.. but somehow this little guy seems to have the ability to trigger my most protective instincts. Pictures of tank and bonus pic of cute snooting included.

[Nathaniel1989]

I dont get my first Snake until Saturday... I am already paranoid I wont be able to maintain temps, Hide is too big, Water bowl too big. Im not normally a worrier! Guess it shows caring?

[JodanOrNoDan]

It is all only fear of the unknown. With a little education and experience the fear will leave. Ball pythons are pretty easy to care for compared to many other animals.

[LittleTreeGuy]

I have anxiety, so I understand where you're coming from.

1. Relax. Breathe.
2. Your hot spot should be around 90 degrees all the time. You don't want it cooler at night. Keep it as close to 90 as you can 24/7.
3. You don't need to leave lights on for him at night. If that is a heat source for night time, look into getting a CHE (Ceramic heat emitter). They produce heat, but not light. Your bp will do better at night with no light. They are noctornal, so it'll be fine in the darkness.
4. Ambient temps (air temperatures) can be anywhwere in the 80's and even high 70's on the cool side and you'll be fine.
5. Try to keep the humidity at 50-60% or higher.
6. You can feed every 5 or 6 days while the BP is young. After it gets up over 500g or so, you can cut back to 6 or 7 days.
7. Not sure if you are or not, but don't handle the bp for a minimum of 24 hours after you feed.
8. Shedding... missing a meal or eating off schedule won't affect his shed. They will shed when they need to. Keep the temperatures and humidity in check, and as it grows, it will shed in due time. It could be a month, it could be three or four months. Just depends on it's growth. let mother nature decide the shed cycles.
9. Hides... Looks like you have some fancy hide/objects in your tank. Consider looking at some DIY snake hides or purchasing some new ones. If you can have the exact same kind on the hot side as you do on the cool side, even better. that way when the snake needs to move, it can do so by what temperature it needs, not which hide it feels more comfortable in.
10. and most importantly, relax. It takes time to get everything right, but once you do, it's fairly easy to maintain. Keep reading and keep asking questions.

[LittleTreeGuy]

I dont get my first Snake until Saturday... I am already paranoid I wont be able to maintain temps, Hide is too big, Water bowl too big. Im not normally a worrier! Guess it shows caring?

Don't worry about the water bowl. As long as the sides aren't too high, it will be fine.

Just work on the temps for now.

[Prognathodon]

Think about books on cat care - lots of horrifying things that could happen, but many cats live their lives with only minor issues.

The same goes for reptile care - books and care sheets, etc. tell you all the terrible things that could happen. But most of our scaly babies aren't falling sick or getting hurt every time we turn around. The discussions here are a lot like that too; snakes that are eating and excreting and healthy just don't generate much discussion. There's a lot of threads about things going wrong because there's a lot of people with a lot of snakes here. And many of the threads are "I'm worried"/"that's normal behavior/they'll do X on their own schedule" subjects - like adult BPs fasting in winter, or a couple weeks ago when there were 2-3 poop threads.


Sent using software and hardware

[DellaF]

I was scared and paranoid when I got my first ball. I'm still no expert at keeping them I could probably do a lot of things different than I do. I haven't killed one yet. They are eating so I don't worry so much now.

[Streller]

I dont get my first Snake until Saturday... I am already paranoid I wont be able to maintain temps, Hide is too big, Water bowl too big. Im not normally a worrier! Guess it shows caring?

The water bowl won't be too big, and if the hide is "too big", just put tissue in there.

[cristacake]

About watching the videos of BPs with problems, I can relate. I actually had nightmares, horrible ones, in the few weeks after I got my Donuts. Some of them were stupid, like I was painting a branch for her tub and then accidentally got toxic paint on her, but some were just horrible things inspired by the pics and stories I see on here sometimes especially pictures of rat bites... Even though I feed her f/t haha. I think it's just an anxiety thing. It's hard to deal with these worries, but in my mind it's better that you care so greatly about your BP than if you were so ambivalent about it that you took poor care of it or failed to notice something wrong.

[reknirt]

Only thing I would add is your ambient temps are high, especially if they hit 90. I would try and keep them as close to 80 as possible. You want a belly heat hot spot of 90 but not the ambient.