First BP/First Post

[Florence_Bones]

Hello BP Community! I am very happy to be here. I have been lurking for the last two months, while I was researching BP's and deciding if I wanted to take the plunge and adopt one for myself, and for the last week especially while I was waiting for my account to be approved and getting used to the ins and outs of being a Python Momma!

I adopted Florence last Saturday from a reptile Expo. She is 3 year old, normal BP. It has been an incredible and stressful week, in part because I LOVE HER SO MUCH and I want to make sure I do everything correctly. In any event, I wanted to introduce myself and share my experiences this past week, because I am very excited to be a member of this community.

Where to start? I am beginning to suspect that the Aquarium I bought for Florence is too small for her, so my plan is to purchase a 40 gallon tank this Sunday and move her to a bigger home. The home she has now is big enough for her hide and water dish. I have a heat lamp on the left side of the tank, directly above the water dish. I've noticed that the heat lamp significantly heats the water, which worries me. I also have noticed that when I turn the heat lamp off, the number on the thermostat that is connected to the heat pad drops rapidly, so I have been keeping the heat lamp on 24/7. The woman who is going to sell me the larger aquarium said that she also has a heat bulb that emits heat only, NOT light.

I have an analogue humidity gauge that reads between 70 - 80. From the research I have done, the analogue gauge is notorious for being 10 - 15 off, so I suspect the humidity is actually around 50 - 60%. I spray down her home 1 - 2 times a day, though I have been spraying it a third time per day because she is on day 3 of her shed cycle.

She spends a lot of time in her hide, and when I take her out to hold her, she likes to sit with me for a bit, then is keen to explore and find a place to burrow. She likes to burrow behind pillows on the couch, or directly behind me. I had her out last night and felt horribly guilty because she was obviously stressed, probably because of where she is in her shed cycle. The guilt ate away at me I felt so terrible. Going forward, I will leave her alone until the shed cycle is complete. Once the shed cycle is complete, I plan on feeding her her first rat.

In any event, I'd love to get a conversation going from the expert BP keepers here, in part to tweak my snake mommy skills, and also to put my mind at ease, because I am constantly thinking "am I doing this right?"

Thank you in advance for welcoming me into the community and for your support. I look forward to connecting with many of you.

Ash

P.S. My snakes name is Florence Bones. (Flo for short).