Say hello to our most gorgeous new family member Swiper! I'm not sure where my six-year-old daughter got the name… Probably one of her cartoon shows but there was no budging her off of it
So after lots of research, great insight from this forum and many weeks of searching our beautiful Pied Ball Python arrived from Bob's Balls (Bob Vu) in Warner Robins, GA. Bob was great with his communication sent me lots of pictures, offered a small discount and has been terrific and I highly recommend.
We were going to search for our snake at repticon but we were very comfortable with Bob and loved the pictures of what we saw.
So the snake arrived last Wednesday right on time and although I was nervous as heck he came out of the bag with no issues… Stayed a little curled up but no hissing or acting crazy so I was pleasantly surprised. I have not had a chance to weigh him but Bob said he was 200g and well started on F/T. I only kept him out for a few minutes as I'm sure he was stressed from the travel so I put him right into his new enclosure with his two hides and his temperature set just right. He explored all over the tank for probably a good 10 minutes maybe 15… Then eventually went in the pyramid hide on the cool side.
My frozen rat pups arrived from Perfect Prey the following day and I knew he had not eaten in a full week so I decided to go ahead and try to feed him… This would be my first attempt at this method. I got it thawed out and hit it a little with the hairdryer so it was just north of 100°. I was not sure if he was sleeping or what so I decided to take his hide out which is a little pyramid looking hide and he was just sitting there curled up so I danced the rat pup near him with my long tongs and he immediately started tracking it and hammered it right away.
I was very excited! After he finished he went over on the warm side and I noticed he had left a giant poop in the area and his hide so I mediately cleaned it up. I left him alone but noticed later on that day he had moved back over to the cool side I guess he just likes Egyptian artifacts. He kind of laid low for a couple of days and would sometimes explore at night sometimes sitting right at the front glass just peering outward. On Sunday three days later my daughter and I gave in to the extreme temptation and decided to hold him for the first time. I know most say wait longer it was just really hard looking at this beautiful snake while my daughter was asking me 100 times a day can I hold it!
He came out pretty easily although I was fairly nervous he seemed somewhat relaxed and we took it easy with him. He didn't feel super tense his tongue was flickering, and he was exploring a little bit so I thought it went OK and I even let my daughter hold him with no problems. I know it probably wouldn't hurt very much to have a little guy tag me so I'm not sure why I was nervous holding him but I just was. After about 15 min , we put him back and he explored a little at night but his stayed in his hide on the cool side most of the time.
Today is six days after we fed him and he has been in his hide on the cool side with his head poking well out of his hide just watching out the front glass so I was not sure what to make of this behavior. I wasn't sure if that meant he was comfortable or hungry!
My daughter came home from school today and we took him out again although this time he seemed much more tense and again no hissing or striking but he did stay kind of curled up most of the time that I held him. This is really only our second time ever holding a ball python so I didn't know if this was normal or if he was getting ready to bite the bajezzus out of me LOL. Again I feel pretty nervous and tried not to move a lot but he did not explore as much as he did the first time we held him just kind of stayed wrapped around my hand so I only kept him out a couple minutes then put him back.
A few hours later I saw him poking his head back out of the hide again and I told my wife maybe he's hungry. So I prepared another rat pup the same way put it in the tank and he immediately crushed it within about five seconds of it getting anywhere near him.
So we love him to death already and really hope that he becomes comfortable with us because my daughter walked up to his tank and told me he is the sweetest little boy she's ever seen and she loves him with all her heart. Almost made me cry.
Other than our knucklehead decision to hold him way too soon is there any other feedback on how things are going… Am I better off picking him up with my hands or using my little Snake Hook I have instead? We wash our hands thoroughly and even sometimes with a really strong eucalyptus smelling soap that I don't really like but I want to make sure my hand doesn't smell like food lol
Any feedback is welcome… I know it's good that he's eating by but I was not sure what to make of the other behavior sometimes he stays talked way into his hide and other times he sticks his head a good 2 inches out and it's hard not to go right up to the tank and watch him but I don't want to spook him either.
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