New ball python owner

[LilDiabeetus]

I recently became a new ball python owner of a beautiful female baby Superfire ball last Tuesday. Prior to receiving her, I set up a tub and had it running 2-3 days in advance, with temperatures of 87 on the warm side (which is actually a few degrees more due to the paper towels not being forced upon the bottom of the tub) and the cool side around 78-80. The ambient temperature of the tank is around 78-82 and has humidity from 40-70% depending on how full I fill the water dish. Overall I tried my best to make sure everything was perfect for her, and as soon as I received her I let her acclimate until that Friday where she denied her first meal of a thawed hopper mouse.

From last Friday to a few hours ago I have held her only once (due to her urinating around her water dish and creating a big mess in which I had to remove her to clean the tub), and have avoided trying to stress her out by letting her acclimate to her new home. She was an eater on live crawler/hopper before I had her shipped, but the week prior the seller offered her a thawed hopper and she ended up eating it without hesitation. Just a few hours ago I tried feeding her again and she was not at all interested in feeding. The first week she seemed stressed out and I can understand not feeding, but the past few nights she has been very active and exploratory of her new home, even trying to escape twice and not really not caring when I grabbed her to put her back while I tried to get her interested in her food.

I know ball pythons can go without feeding for a week or so after being put in a new home, but her being so young (hatched 8/14/17) and only 60-70 grams I'm starting to get worried. Any advice/suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

[BluuWolf]

Being active and trying to escape is a sign of stress. A ball python should spend the vast majority of its time hiding in one of its hides, only coming out to explore a little at night time.

We'll need to know a bit more about your set up before we can fully assess what could be causing the stress. First off how are you heating the tub, and are all of your heat sources hooked up to a thermostat? Do you have two hides for her? How big are they? How much coverage do you have for her? How big is the tub she's in? Also your temps sound mostly okay but your hotspot is a little cold, it should be more around 91 or so

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[LilDiabeetus]

The tub itself is a 19qt Weathertight storage box that I have drilled holes for ventilation in. I am mainly heating the tub with a Zoomed UTH attached to a Jumpstart thermostat, and inside the tub I have two 6.69" by 4.29" by 2.75" hides (one on the cool one on warm side). Due to the incoming fall weather I have also started a small heater in the area around the tub that helps increase the ambient temperature of the tub and provide a little more heat for the warm side, but I started that last night.

The activity I am referring to was at night and she does seem to mostly hide during the day. Also maybe important to note is the first week leading up to the first attempt at feeding she hid mostly all day, and when I attempted the first feeding she did seem to defensively strike at the food but not actually go for it; last night when I tried she was not at all interested in it and would either dismiss it and just sit there or try to leave the tub, but no striking what so ever.

[BluuWolf]

Could you perhaps take a pic of your set up? Also how are you thawing and offering the food?

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[LilDiabeetus]

This is the enclosure (she is active again and pictured for scale): the left side is the warm side (with the hide over the warmest area of the UTH) and the right side is the cool side.

The main process is warming the mouse in a bag in a bowl warm/almost boiling water for 10 minutes or so to thaw out, and once it is relatively warm I have tried offering as is and warming with a hair dryer on low to get her interested. I then take the mouse by the tail with metal tweezers/tongs and dangle it relatively in front of her face, and then shake it/bounce it to make it seem alive.

[SDA]

You should put the trays that go into the top of the hides back in. That top as you have it is practically wide open. Balls in nature use borrows that are dark, safe, snug, and warm. These are not dark at all the way they look now.

I would wait a week between feeding attempts so don't try and feed again during the week if it is a fail. See if you can get some artificial plants or vines to clutter things up a bit more.

You might also not be giving your snake enough time to settle in. That enclosure will also start to get small as she grows so keep that in mind that this is only temporary and these are terrestrial snakes to width and length is far more important than height.

Try fixing those hides and see if you can get a little clutter. Give your snake a week between feeding attempts and realize you may need to start off with live even though the breeder said they fed f/t once before shipping. Babies and juveniles can just some times be picky.

You may also need to feed by leaving the mouse in the enclosure. If the breeder fed by offering prey and closing the rack it was in that may be an option to get them to feed. You might need to start by leaving a f/t after offering if they don't take it.

Lastly, feeding at night might also be something to try.

[LilDiabeetus]

I can try putting the tops back on the hides but the tub itself is in the dark all day so I never thought having those out would be an issue.

As far as feeding has gone I have done what is suggested: the first feeding attempt was last Friday at round 11 pm, and I did end up leaving the mouse in overnight after she rejected it. I waited until yesterday at around 8 pm as I saw she was active as I have heard that it can be a sign that they may be hungry, and after rejection I too left that one in overnight. I will try to give more ground clutter and I was planning on changing the tub size as she grew into it.

One thing I am curious about is trying to "scent" the mouse with bedding from a mouse cage (from a local petshop), as I have heard that can help increase the chances of success. Any experience in that?

My only issue with feeding live is that I have been unable to locate any places to purchase live feeders of that size locally, which is why when looking to get my ball my first questions to each seller was if they were feeding on f/t.

[BluuWolf]

I second adding clutter for sure, they really need to feel secure and hidden. Once she feels secure she may try and eat.

As for scenting and such, why don't you try letting the mouse thaw in top of her enclosure. Just set the bowl you let it thaw in on top of her tub

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