Afraid he's going to hurt himself...

[riffraff]

Sitting in bed right now, I can hear my BP climbing on things in his tank...and falling. He can't fall more than 18'', but those thumps sound pretty loud and I'm worried that he's going to hurt himself :/
He also spontaneously stopped eating this past Friday...it's a mystery to me, since nothing about his environment changed. During a particularly cold week, I had his tank wrapped in some of my flannel shirts to insulate it and I just took them off, but they weren't there for very long and he ate fine without them before they were there. I'm stumped.

[therunaway]

did he have a gradient night/day schedule on lighting, seeing how you had shirts around the whole tank for however long, i am thinking maybe it could be the not knowing if it was night or day, anyone im no expert, theyre nocturnal, so they need a night/day schedule, with a light or without, if you do it without, the way i do it, is i keep my light on in my room, all day from the time i get on my bus for school, and until around 6 pm, and the same thing over nd over nd over.

[ballpythonluvr]

Sitting in bed right now, I can hear my BP climbing on things in his tank...and falling. He can't fall more than 18'', but those thumps sound pretty loud and I'm worried that he's going to hurt himself :/
He also spontaneously stopped eating this past Friday...it's a mystery to me, since nothing about his environment changed. During a particularly cold week, I had his tank wrapped in some of my flannel shirts to insulate it and I just took them off, but they weren't there for very long and he ate fine without them before they were there. I'm stumped.

Ball pythons are not meant to climb. Can you give us more information about your setup. What are the warm and cool side temps? How is your humidity? What are you measuring the temps and humidity with? His not feeding could be due to husbandry issues. What size tank is he in?

[DellaF]

What's he climbing on? Might want to remove it. You might want to blackened the sides and back of your tank.

[Danman88]

I would just make sure to do whatever is necessary to achieve a proper heat gradient and as mentioned above establish a consisten light cycle. If your having trouble with the light cycle you can go to you local hardware store and buy a timer for under $10.

As far as the climbing goes. It doesn't hurt to give your BP a branch or something to climb on (I try to give at least one thing to climb on in each setup) as long as it is stable and can support their weight.

[DooLittle]

I would think a husbandry issue as well. On the other hand...... Look how many threads there are about my python won't eat. They just do that sometimes. How old is the snake, what size tank, how are you heating it, what are temps? All that info is helpful for us to help you.

[riffraff]

I doubt it's due to husbandry issues...I spent quite a bit of time on this site and others after I first got him getting everything worked out, and he had been eating regularly for a couple months before Friday. He's almost 6 months old, the warm side of the tank is 89-92, ambient around 83. I use lights for heating and a UTH on the warm side (which, contrary to the problem that most people on this site seem to have, isn't very warm at all), with an infared light at night (so he does have a day/night cycle). He has 2 hides, a water bowl, and a fake plant in his tank. Humidity is ~50%, higher when he's shedding (I mist the tank a couple times a day...I had to soak him once to help him shed but other than that he's been fine.)
He does 'climb' when he comes out at night, which sometimes means going on top of his hides, etc, but he also just slithers straight up the glass in the corner of the tank.

[Skittles1101]

I doubt it's due to husbandry issues...I spent quite a bit of time on this site and others after I first got him getting everything worked out, and he had been eating regularly for a couple months before Friday. He's almost 6 months old, the warm side of the tank is 89-92, ambient around 83. I use lights for heating and a UTH on the warm side (which, contrary to the problem that most people on this site seem to have, isn't very warm at all), with an infared light at night (so he does have a day/night cycle). He has 2 hides, a water bowl, and a fake plant in his tank. Humidity is ~50%, higher when he's shedding (I mist the tank a couple times a day...I had to soak him once to help him shed but other than that he's been fine.)
He does 'climb' when he comes out at night, which sometimes means going on top of his hides, etc, but he also just slithers straight up the glass in the corner of the tank.

How exactly are you reading these "not very warm" temps? UTHs are notorious for getting far too hot. Mine without a thermostat cracked my original tank and exceeded 130 degrees.

[jdouglas]

Anyone recommend a good day/night timer? I have been currently cutting on the light as I leave for work in the mornings and turning it off when I got home. I would really like to have a timer do it. That way I never forget.

Any suggestions? Its just for the florescent light that is mounted in his AP cage.

[Mike41793]

83deg ambient temps are kinda warm, mine are usually 75-78.