I've had Jeffrey, a 10-year-old female ball python, for 8 years now. She's a giant jerk (I assume it's a holdover from the extreme neglect she endured before I got her), but she knows me and we've worked on her tolerating being handled, to the point that holding her doesn't result in me bleeding anymore.

I've been a stay-at-home mom for the last 12 years, and recently went back to work, driving truck. I'm away from home for 2 weeks at a time. My husband and kid have taken over the snake care.

Neither of them know anything about snakes, I was always the one handling Jeffrey and taking care of feedings, tank maintenance, and cleaning. In the beginning, that was necessary just because she was so unpredictable and aggressive, and I'm the only one with experience with snakes. Now she's calmed down, and it became more habit than anything else for me to be the one taking care of her.

But now I'm gone, and I left my husband instructions and made sure my thermostats were set up correctly. I showed him how to check and maintain the humidity level, how to feed her, etc. Everything should stay the same.

Except it's not. She's acting weird. Exhibiting behaviors I've never seen her do before. Tipping over her hide (no small feat, she's full grown and that hide is huge, and heavy), climbing on top of it, shoving her water dish around, it seems every day for the past week, my husband has called with a new weird thing she's doing.

And today, she refused to eat (yes, I know BPs are notorious for that. Jeffrey might refuse food once a year, if that. She was starved and malnourished for the first 2 years of her life. She doesn't refuse food now. She has a feeding response that puts my previous snake, a tiger retic, to shame).

My first question every time he calls is, "what's the temp and humidity?"

And the answer is always the same. "85 on the high side, 77 on the low, humidity is 55."

The temps on the thermostats are fine. Basking spot is 93.

Nothing has changed. Nothing is different. Except for the fact that I'm not there.

I know snakes can recognize faces, and Jeffrey's favorite thing when she's in a good mood is to hang out with her head resting on the opening of her hide, watching us go about our day. I know she's used to me being the one doing everything with her.

I know she realizes that I'm not there anymore. I know she understands that someone different is handling her and taking care of her and feeding her.

But I also know they don't really develop emotional bonds with their owners. They're a solitary species. Not socially motivated at all. So it seems unlikely that she's acting out because she misses me.

But I really don't know what else could be causing this. And I'm nervous because I can't get home to check on her myself for another week. I don't know if there's anything wrong that my husband doesn't see because he doesn't have experience, and I might be missing because I'm not there to see it for myself.

Does anyone have any suggestions? Any ideas what might be causing her weird behavior? Should I have the husband take her to the vet, or am I overthinking this?

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