New Female - Got Some Questions

[mattchibi]

So, I've thoroughly gone through the care sheet and all the stickies. Still got some questions though.

heres some pics/vids of her: http://ball-pythons.net/forums/showt...-Old-Female-BP

Background info: Picked up Morticia from a friend on Sunday morning, she is almost 3.5 feet and only 3 years old. I have not yet taken her out and handled her since putting her in her terrarium, nor have I tried to feed her.

My setup:
Pretty much followed jfreel's glass tank tutorial, except at the moment, my UTH pad (got a zoomed) and my Herpstat have not come in the mail yet, so I am still unfortunately using a heat lamp. Fortunately, I went to buy the infrared bulb so that at least my temps can be moderated at night, as well as during the day time.

20 Gal Glass Terrarium
Heat Lamp + Infrared 50 W Bulb (also have a 60 if needed)
Two Identical Hides
Water Bowl
Currently using Aspen substrate, but as soon as I get her out of the tank Im going to switch to Coco-Husk
Two thermoMETERS on warm and cool side w/ probe
Hygrometer in middle

On-the-way:
ZooMed UTH Heatpad - 8"x12"
Herpstat Thermostat - most basic one

Stats:
Temperatures:
90 on basking spot
84-85 ambient on warm side
79-80 on cooler side

at night i've been leaving it at 80-85 all around the tank.

Humidity:
although I have aspen, the humidity stays at 50% at the LOWEST, but is usually between 50 and 60.

So now you know exactly how I have it set up, here are my questions. (bear with me!)

1) When is it appropriate to handle her, since I just got her on Sunday? Also, after I have her feeding regularly, how often should I be handling her? Also, should I even be handling her until I can get her to feed a few times? Its so tempting because shes my first pet and I am eager to play with her. I understand about stress issues though, and that is why I have been patient.

2) When is it appropriate to try and feed her ? Her previous owner was feeding her pretty regularly, shes almost 3.5 feet and 3 years old. not sure how much she weighs but shes definitely bigger than her male counterpart Monty (owned by another friend)

3) When my UTH comes, I am a little confused on how to use Foil Tape. Do I buy just regular foil tape from home depot, and stick the sticky side of the tape to the sticky side of the heat pad? Then foil tape my thermoSTAT probe under the tank, and then foil tape the heat pad over top? Is it 100% that this is fire-proof / won't cause a fire?

Thats it for now : P I would really appreciate if I could get some advice. Thanks !!

[llovelace]

1) When is it appropriate to handle her, since I just got her on Sunday? At least a week, and not until she has eaten. Also, after I have her feeding regularly, how often should I be handling her? As often as she's comfy with it. Also, should I even be handling her until I can get her to feed a few times? No Its so tempting because shes my first pet and I am eager to play with her. I understand about stress issues though, and that is why I have been patient.

2) When is it appropriate to try and feed her? Wait at least 5-7 days Her previous owner was feeding her pretty regularly, shes almost 3.5 feet and 3 years old. not sure how much she weighs but shes definitely bigger than her male counterpart Monty (owned by another friend)

3) When my UTH comes, I am a little confused on how to use Foil Tape. Do I buy just regular foil tape from home depot, and stick the sticky side of the tape to the sticky side of the heat pad? Generally foil tape is used to secure flexwatt, if you are using a sticky heat pad, foil tape is not needed. Then foil tape my thermoSTAT probe under the tank, and then foil tape the heat pad over top? Is it 100% that this is fire-proof / won't cause a fire? place the thermostat probe to stcky heat pad then adhere to bottom of tank, your thermometer should be adhered to the inside of tank, using a hot glue gun, NEVER use tape inside enclosure

Thats it for now : P I would really appreciate if I could get some advice. Thanks !!

[mattchibi]

1) When is it appropriate to handle her, since I just got her on Sunday? At least a week, and not until she has eaten. Also, after I have her feeding regularly, how often should I be handling her? As often as she's comfy with it. Also, should I even be handling her until I can get her to feed a few times? No Its so tempting because shes my first pet and I am eager to play with her. I understand about stress issues though, and that is why I have been patient.

2) When is it appropriate to try and feed her? Wait at least 5-7 days Her previous owner was feeding her pretty regularly, shes almost 3.5 feet and 3 years old. not sure how much she weighs but shes definitely bigger than her male counterpart Monty (owned by another friend)

3) When my UTH comes, I am a little confused on how to use Foil Tape. Do I buy just regular foil tape from home depot, and stick the sticky side of the tape to the sticky side of the heat pad? Generally foil tape is used to secure flexwatt, if you are using a sticky heat pad, foil tape is not needed. Then foil tape my thermoSTAT probe under the tank, and then foil tape the heat pad over top? Is it 100% that this is fire-proof / won't cause a fire? place the thermostat probe to stcky heat pad then adhere to bottom of tank, your thermometer should be adhered to the inside of tank, using a hot glue gun, NEVER use tape inside enclosure

Thats it for now : P I would really appreciate if I could get some advice. Thanks !!

So, wait until i have her feeding before handling. And you said 5-7 days is enough time to wait to try and feed her, right? That is 5 - 7 days from when I first got her, right ?

Also, I read that if you put foil tape on the sticky UTH pads, then you can re-use them in the future. Is this true? Is there any other way to do this ?

Also you said my thermoMETER probe needs to be hot glued in the tank ? I have two hides on warm and cool side, so normally what i do is take the thermoMETER probe and put a small portion of the wire underneath the hide. That way, it stays in place even if Morticia moves around etc. Does this work also ?

[johnmauser]

The sticky heat pads I have used in the past have had a paper of some type covering the sticky side. I might be a little concerned about leaving the paper on there, just wondering if that could be a fire hazzard. My personal opinion would be to just stick it on without foil tape, and if you can't pull it off and re-use it later, then just buy a new one. Or you could just purchase a non sticky heatpad and tape it.

[Skittles1101]

The sticky heat pads I have used in the past have had a paper of some type covering the sticky side. I might be a little concerned about leaving the paper on there, just wondering if that could be a fire hazzard. My personal opinion would be to just stick it on without foil tape, and if you can't pull it off and re-use it later, then just buy a new one. Or you could just purchase a non sticky heatpad and tape it.

Paper ignites at 451 degrees fahrenheit, I sure hope the UTH is not getting that hot! Not many substances ignite at around 90 degrees, which is why we use thermostats to regulate the UTHs.

IMO you can use foil tape if you like. There is more of a fire hazard if you have to remove the UTH after sticking it and you cause a short of some sort inside it. It can also cause hot spots in the tank. Or, you can just stick it and buy a new one if you need to like ^^^ said.

Like LL said, wait 5-7 days from the time you got her to attempt feeding (I have a higher success rate when I wait). Once she eats, wait two days before handling. The thermometer probe should be inside the enclosure. Thermostat probes are meant to read and regulate the heat source itself, which is why they should be secured to the UTH, and thermometer probes are meant to read the temp inside the tank, which is why it should be secured (with hot glue) inside the tank on the center of the hot spot. Your thermostat can be set at 90 degrees and it could be much hotter or colder inside the tank, how will you know if the thermometer is not reading it? Congrats on your new snake

[Vypyrz]

The sticky heat pads I have used in the past have had a paper of some type covering the sticky side. I might be a little concerned about leaving the paper on there, just wondering if that could be a fire hazzard. My personal opinion would be to just stick it on without foil tape, and if you can't pull it off and re-use it later, then just buy a new one. Or you could just purchase a non sticky heatpad and tape it.

All of my Under Tank Heaters still have the paper coverings on them and I've never had any issues with them...

[mattchibi]

Paper ignites at 451 degrees fahrenheit, I sure hope the UTH is not getting that hot! Not many substances ignite at around 90 degrees, which is why we use thermostats to regulate the UTHs.

IMO you can use foil tape if you like. There is more of a fire hazard if you have to remove the UTH after sticking it and you cause a short of some sort inside it. It can also cause hot spots in the tank. Or, you can just stick it and buy a new one if you need to like ^^^ said.

Like LL said, wait 5-7 days from the time you got her to attempt feeding (I have a higher success rate when I wait). Once she eats, wait two days before handling. The thermometer probe should be inside the enclosure. Thermostat probes are meant to read and regulate the heat source itself, which is why they should be secured to the UTH, and thermometer probes are meant to read the temp inside the tank, which is why it should be secured (with hot glue) inside the tank on the center of the hot spot. Your thermostat can be set at 90 degrees and it could be much hotter or colder inside the tank, how will you know if the thermometer is not reading it? Congrats on your new snake

Okay. I think I get it. ThermoSTAT stays with the UTH to get temps of your heat source. ThermoMETER probe (on warm side) is hot glued to the center & bottom where the heat source will be, then substrate is added on top ? Seems really accurate ^^ Thanks a lot guys for helping me out.

Also, I guess since ^^^ said he has left the paper on his sticky UTH's, I may as well try the same thing. As long as it doesnt ignite on fire (and apparently it wont) and doesnt screw with the heat source, it should be no problem, right?

I am going to attempt to feed tonight; however, I think I may have gotten mice too small for her. She is a pretty decent girth already (thicker than my wrist), but I made a mistake and bought pretty small mice. The mice are about half of her actual girth, so should I try feeding her two of them? Or should I go and purchase the bigger mice ? (I heard they will eat smaller meals easier than a big one, true?)

[bivman]

If she will take the second mouse, that would be good. You can always move up the prey size on the next feeding. You may want to switch over to rats at some point.

[mattchibi]

If she will take the second mouse, that would be good. You can always move up the prey size on the next feeding. You may want to switch over to rats at some point.

Actually, now that I look at the mice I bought. They are about 1/3 of the girth of my snake. Teeny tiny little things (my snake is about 6" in diameter if you measured her around with measuring tape, and the mice i have are about 2" in diameter). I just found out also that her previous owner was feeding her rat pups. Should I try and feed her three of them, or just settle for two, since its my first feeding attempt? It wouldnt hurt her to eat something smaller than shes used to, right? I also dont want to waste the mice as they were killed for this specific purpose.

[mattchibi]

First time feeding was traumatizing !! Well maybe traumatizing isnt the right word.. maybe just frustrating!!

So I thawed out 3 mice hoppers for 10 min in lukewarm water. Then I prepared a cup of boiling water on the side. I removed Morticia from her cage and put her in a Rubbermaid container.

I then used my metal tongs to pick up the first hopper. I was planning on waving it around at the top to entice her appetite, but I dropped it in by accident because I was nervous. (A great start already T_T)

So then I picked it up, and dunked the hopper's head in the boiling water for 5 seconds, took it out and dried it, and offered it to her again. She went for it within 30 seconds BUT I think I screwed up big time. I flinched really hard when she striked at the hopper, and I may have held on too tightly or pulled it upwards, so she didnt actually get a good hold of it. I kept trying to offer it to her but she just wouldnt go for it again after a min or two.

So then I tried again with the second hopper, and SAME thing happened when she went for it. I flinched because I was so nervous (not nervous of getting bit, but for some reason my hands were shaky and I felt uneasy). She tried going for it again, but didnt get a good hold of it, and I kept offering it to her after but she wouldnt go for it. I tried with the third hopper and she didnt even go for it at all.

So after 10-15 minutes of trying, I gave up and decided I needed bigger prey. Was the problem that I flinched when she went for it (making it hard for her to get it in her mouth?) Or was it because she has bad aim ? Or maybe it was because of the tiny prey I was offering..

I also tried leaving one of the hoppers in there for a few minutes and covering the rubbermaid with a towel, but when I took the towel off to check if she was eating, she was just exploring the top of the container, clearly not interested in the food.

Let me know what you guys think I should do next time I feed. I guess I will get used to it and not flinch.. I felt like such a newbie when I flinched BOTH times X( Any advice is welcome !