Hello Everyone,

My husband and I recently bought a baby ball python. We did our homework and knew what we were getting into.

We discovered on the second day we had him that he had a serious mite infestation. We attempted to treat at home but were not successful, subsequently he spent 2 weeks with the vet and is now mite free. He is getting ready to shed, his eyes are milk and his scales "lack-luster."

We did handle him frequently before going to the vet then we learned to let him be while he adjust to his new home. Since he has been home he has "looked" at me (meaning facing ME) and opened his mouth very wide. It alarms me and I am sure he smells fear pheremones (of course I know my 18 inch snake is not going to eat me). He did not strike or lunge at me in any way. Occasionally he appears to star gaze, the vet said he's fine though.

Here are my questions:

1. Why would he open his mouth towards me like that? I handled him many times before he went to the vet (yes we are sure we got the same snake back). It took me some time to get the nerve to handle him but after I did it I was fine with it. Now I am nervous with him again and do not want to handle him until I can do so without being afraid of him. I would hate to have a knee-jerk reaction and drop the little fella.

2. Because his eyes are cloudy is it still ok to feed him? I have understood he cannot "see" me as clearly and I do not want to startle him or risk being bit. Actually, I will not be taking part in the feeding process as my husband is in charge of that. I would just like to know if pre-shed is a bad time to feed. I know we should move slowly with them and not startle them, it would seem this is a bad time to offer food but we are newbs.

4. How do you keep a tank at 70% humidity? I am in southern Florida, the humidity here is at 60%, his tank is at 55% right now. I know it needs to be closer to 70%. Am I not misting it enough?

Thank you so much for your help, I appreciate it.