Quote Originally Posted by DarkEros07 View Post

He doesn't seem stressed and is normally very happy to be picked up and held. Unless hes cold.
As a new owner of a bp, it is important to recognize how bps exhibit signs of being stressed. These animals are not like dogs and cats where you can instantly tell if they are stressed or scared (body language, erect fur, bark/meow, whimper etc) -they are pretty passive, about showing their "feelings" so you have to know how to recognize signs of stress. But one way to make this easier is to prevent the problem before it happens by making sure your husbandry is 100% on point.

Some immediate suggestions on your current set-up.

* your hide is WAY too big for him. you want the hide to be cramped for them- they like being able to feel something touching them on all sides. you can easily make him his own hide that fits this description using household items. Here is a link to a sticky on this:
http://ball-pythons.net/forums/showt...0-Hides-my-way
- the reptile cubby holes are no longer made anymore (or at least that I have been able to find) so if you choose to buy a hide online I like the ones from Reptile Basics. Here is a link to their hides.
http://www.reptilebasics.com/hide-boxes/

additionally, in the meantime since the only source of heat you have on your tank is the lamp, I would suggest putting foil over the screen top to hold the heat/humidity in. - obviously leaving a cut-out for where the lamp goes. That seems to work well.

I suggested earlier to put black construction paper or some sort of dark opaque covering on at least 3 sides of the tank to make him feel more secure- you said you liked this idea so hopefully you'll be able to find something along those lines.

when you go to the city on Monday, it is essential that you pick up these items- if you cannot make them or acquire them some other way: 2 appropriate sized hides, (one on either side - one on cool side one on warm side), a UTH + a THERMOSTAT!! (the thermostat is JUST as important as the UTH because you need to be able to control the heat output - because if left on "full blast" (aka w/o a thermostat) it can reach dangerously high temperatures, and temp/humidity gauges.

Also your bp looks like a normal to me.

Additionally, when feeding him frozen mice, it can be hard to switch from feeding live to f/t (frozen/thawed) - (I am in the process of doing it now myself) - but I would suggest conditioning him with feeding tongs/hemostats to where he sees the tongs and knows food is coming. Feed live off of the tongs for about a month (4 feedings), then feed (if you are able to) pre-killed off of the tongs for about a month, then switch to f/t.

He did just fine last week when i fed him..or maybe it was the week before? I think it was last week. I lose track of days. lol.
It is important to keep your BP on a regular feeding schedule. This will help them be less stressed, and more likely to eat regularly. One simple way to do that is to tape a small index card on the OUTSIDE of the tank and just record the date you fed him. I record the date I fed- (and since i'm switching from live to f/t I record the type of animal fed ie live/pre-killed/or f/t). I also record when my ball pythons refuse food- and what was being offered. And this may be over-the-top and a bit anal but I also record their BMs (bowel movements), sheds, and weekly weights. I think it is better to be over-informed than under-informed... in case you need to take him to the vet and the vet needs to know those answers.

Hope you are able to find everything you need!

Andrea