FIRST AND FOREMOST, thank you DrDooLittle for opening my eyes to Herpstat and helping me get over my fear of thermostats.
Old thread here
I hope whatever I did helps anyone else that seems to be doing things right yet their snake behavior is a little off.
Back in August I was very worried about my BP on account she was very very difficult to handle and very skittish at that point I had her for 4 months. The usual advice is to give a new BP about 2 weeks or so before you start handling, and I did. So it didn't work so well, the advice is right but there is ALWAYS fact that it also depends on the ball python, I eventually understood mine is very painfully shy. This is a 3 month update after that and I am super happy to say she is the most sweet shy python you could have. Key here is time, patience, tweaks in habitat, and lots and lots of love.
It took about 5 months for her to break out of her shell.
What I changed:
I had her in a 30 gallon tank, still am and I am keeping the tank not moving her anywhere smaller. I just made it a little more crowded .
Went from using regular bulbs to maintain temperature to using 2 heating mats (one for hot side 90 degrees one for cool side about 80) regulated by the Herpstat 4 (helps keep humidity up too).
covered the top of her cage with aluminum to trap heat and humidity, of course with small square cut offs on opposite sides of the tank so the air is not stagnant. I also did Leave a large hole in the middle in case the tank needs bulb heat to help increase ambient temperature which I keep about 78-80.
Started feeding her in the tank. She's never once bit my hand while doing so. She's bitten me more when I fed her in separate tubs.
Gave her toys, she loooooves loves loooves little bars (can't remember the name of them but they're held by suction cups) that I put on her tank where she likes to just hang on them.
Patience, and time.
On a funny note, after using the heating mats instead of bulbs I realized she no longer farted like she would once every 3 weeks or so. The mats probably helped her digest better (sorry basil)
I realized her behavior changed when I was giving her a checkup to see if she had mites and had to check under her chin and she totally let me hold on to her head and did not strike once.
Everyone loves her now, even my mother who was once upon a time petrified of snakes.
This may not work for everyone, but it worked for me.
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