Hi,
I am not new to the reptile world, but new to snakes. It took a while to convince my husband. We have a lovely bearded dragon named Gimli, a leopard gecko named Merlin, and a crested gecko I call Mr. Lizard (pun on the old Mr. Wizard show). We love keeping reptiles and strive to give them the best environments possible. My beardie is in a custom 4x2x2 wooden enclosure we built, the other two are in exoterra's. The crestie is completely bioactive. I want to make usre i am doing the same for our newest addition.

I purchased a baby ball python at a reptile show this weekend. I am not sure of sex, but I am currently calling her Astrid. She is a normal, but is a bit lighter than typical with more yellow. She was 67 g when I brought her home. I just want to make sure I am doing everything right. I have her set up in a tub, heat mat with thermostat running 89-91 when checked with a temp gun. Air temps running about 80, humidity about 70%. I have her on forest floor bedding, 2 identical small hides, one hot side one cold side. I have not handled her since Sunday. I had a little trouble getting temps exactly where I wanted it and had to move the heat mat so I had to take her out to fix it. I had the setup running for about a week before we got her, but I had to switch to smaller hides because of her size and it threw it off a bit.

When I purchased the breeder said that she had eaten on Tuesday, but I plan to wait until this weekend to attempt to feed. It was a show hosted by a local independent pet store, and the ONLY show that comes to our town all year, so it was crazy busy and I really didn't get to ask all the questions I wanted to of the breeder. The kid that checked me out suggested 2 fuzzy mice as a first meal at home, but I am concerned after reading here that they are too small. Should I just try it with the smaller prey and see how it goes or go get a hopper to try? I think my biggest fear is not being able to get her to eat. I have been through that with a baby bearded dragon and it is not fun!