Hello!

I am new to this forum as well as a new snake owner. This past Saturday I adopted a 10 year old male ball python from a local. They had had him in the family for most of his life and took awesome care of him from what I could tell. They gave me his entire set-up- 20 gallon tank, under tank heater, two hides, large ceramic water bowl, new cypress substrate, thermometer reader, and day and night lights (60 watts).

He ate fine the day I brought him home- 1 medium rat before I picked him up and then 2 more when I got home. I let him be over the past few days so he could adjust to his new surroundings. His cage has been kept at around 74-78 F, which I know is low for BP's. When I tried to bump it up (put blankets on the lid, and around the cage) to around 79-80, he almost immediately went to the cooler side of tank. I've been keeping his red light on most of the time to keep the temperature up, but it's rarely above 80. I've turned it off the past two nights since I read they like 12/12 hours light and dark, and then I checked during the night to make sure it wasn't too cold. The lowest it's gotten was 72, and that was earlier this afternoon (his under tank heater is on all the time).

He started to shed two days ago, but it's been pretty patchy. His former owners said he's had no shedding issues or former health problems, so I thought maybe the humidity was low. I got a humidity reader and moistened the hides and substrate with water, and it's up to 80-82 now. What's concerning me is that all afternoon he has been holding his head up with no support. It's the first time I've noticed it and has been going on for more than five hours. I have also noticed that periodically he opens his mouth to breathe, not all the time, and it's not super often I read that this could be due to RI infection or IBD? I was curious to get other people's opinions to see if one of these options was more likely the other with his current set up?

My other concern is that one side of his mouth sticks out from underneath the lip a little bit, and I didn't know if this should be a concern as well?

I asked his previous owners if these were normal things for him (the head lifting and shedding). They suggested I wait to bathe him until the weekend and that he was probably exploring? I am also really worried about animal health and want as many opinions as possible, so please let me know whatever you are thinking! I want to do provide the best care that I can for this guy. I just called the on call staff a few minutes ago and am waiting to hear back from them as well. Thanks so much and sorry for the extensive post, I wanted to provide as many details as possible!