Ball python hisses at me in tank

[shelliebear]

Hi,
CleoMantra, around 1.8 to 2 years old, weighs 1,200 grams or so, has recently within the last 3 months begun to hiss at me when I go near him in his tank. Thus far he hasn't bitten or even s'ed up, he just hisses pretty loudly.
He's been off feed for about 6 months now, give or take one or two months. Anyway, admittedly, I've been pretty terrible about their humidity; in the winter it was drafty in the apartment, terribly so, and I was so focused on keeping them warm in their tanks with lamps and such that the humidity was dismal. I think I'd be stretching it to say humidity was 10%. That's my bad. I need to do better.
But anyway, Mantra's eyes are the worst out of all of my snakes, I sometimes worry he can't see out of his eyes. He used to be very head shy and now he pulls away from hands or things going near his face 80% of the time but 20% he doesn't react almost as if he can't see. He has some pretty seriously bad dents in his eyes, solid white cracks in there. he hasn't shed in a month or two.
I've been making it my mission, now it's warming up, to turn off the heat lamps and spray his tank CONSTANTLY, a minimum of 4 times a day, to help with the cracks. I was wondering if perhaps if I increase humidity, if his eyes would clear up, thus lightening his mood a little?
The hissing came about when the eye caps got worse.
Could his assumed bad vision be causing the mood issues and hissing? Or is it normal for some BP's to become tank aggressive? He's a baby when I get him out, totally fine, doesn't hiss at all. He just doesn't like being touched in his tank.
Any thoughts? What are your bp's like in their tanks? And advice on upping humidity is always a plus. I could use tips.
One more thing: Mantra hasn't pooped or peed in quite a while. Is this normal when they are off feed for as long as he has been?
Thanks all
Shellie

[Meltdown Morphs]

I'm thinking the humidity might be the culprit for his behavior.If his eyes are denting in then the humidity definitely needs to come up, I couldn't imagine having a 'dent' in your eye being at all comfortable. You could try moving his water bowl under the heat lamp and putting a wet towel/cloth over most of the top of his tank.

Having a UTH on a thermostat would help as you seem to already know the lamp is whats burning away all your humidity.

and if a BP is off feed they generally wont have much to poop out to begin with
but they can hold it is for a good week or two if they wanted, waiting for you to clean their cage to perfection before they blast it everywhere.

[Skittles1101]

How big is the tank? Could be he's not feeling secure enough if the tank is too big. If I ever use tanks (which I hate) I always black out the sides and back with Con-tact paper because it helps make them feel a little more secure. I would really try to find a way to ditch the heat lamps. I have only one ball python in a tank and the only time I need to use a heat lamp id the winter...

[tlich]

http://ball-pythons.net/forums/showt...tment-Tutorial

Try this, tin foil if you haven't I have an opening in the center for the heat lamp with the water bowl directly under it. Humidity has been pretty good just have to mist during shed, and maybe a few times a week.

[DooLittle]

I would say humidity issues = personality issues.
He is probably miserable if his eye is "dented". He probably can't see very well, and that is probably why he isn't eating too. Bps don't get tank aggressive. You might try getting some Eco earth for substrate, that will help with humidity. Also a larger water dish and position it under the heat lamp.

[Becs080]

I would agree that the humidity is the problem. If he has dents in his eyes and retained eye caps then he's not going to be feeling very secure at all. When your snake is going into shed and he's uncomfortable and he can't see that well, he's moody right? Well that's how your BP probably feels all the time.

I think you recognize the problem and thats great. Winter can be a pain in the a-- for humidity so I would try and ditch the lamp for now (or permanently). Get a good heat source - heat mat - and a thermostat. You can get a fairly inexpensive thermostat called HYDROFARM - it's on amazon - and it works great for one enclosure. It's $30.00. A heat mat may run you $10-$20 so overall, it's pretty inexpensive to get set up properly.

In the meantime, give him some Luke warm baths - put a few drops of baby oil in there to help with the retained eye caps/bad sheds. If he has a lot of retained eye caps and you want to help get them off, there is a non-intrusive way to do this. Just for the record though, I totally don't agree with using tape or pulling them off or methods like that - too many snakes have ended up seriously injured and/or blind and we don't want that. Just get a soft/damp face cloth or a wet cue tip. Put a little baby oil on it and lightly work the skin away from the eye, going back towards the tail. Never pull or tear though. Just try and loosen the skin. I'm not even sure if his eye caps are retained or if he's just got the dehydration dents,....either way you definitely want to try to fix this bc he's probably pretty uncomfortable right now.

Anyways, all the best :-)

[tlich]

Just remember Uth's don't heat up ambient air temps if you take away the heat lamp from the tank make sure ambient temps don't drop below 75 degrees, you will probably need to just put a dimmer/rheostat on the lamp and turn it down some, if you add the uth

[Skittles1101]

Please, whatever anyone says, do NOT even attempt to remove the eye cap.

http://ball-pythons.net/forums/showt...light=eye+caps

[KrazyKevin]

It gets cold in my old home unless your in my sons room where his snake is. I heat up the room with a space heater and I also have a heat emitter above the area of the warm side. I use Eco-earth and a wet towel to keep the humidity up to around 50% , if you use the brick eco like me do not put a towel ove the top for awhile as even after you get out most of the water the humidity is already at 50% for a couple of days as the top is dry but you can see the moisture underneath.

[Annarose15]

Even during winter months when ambient humidity is terrible in most of the US, you can always provide a humid hide when misting isn't enough. Get a Glad/Tupperware (with lid) big enough for him to fit in and stuff it with dampened (doesn't drip when squeezed) sphagnum moss. Cut a hole in the lid or side so he can get in, but the moisture can't escape quickly. Make the tank changes recommended by the others, but get him a humid hide ASAP so he can begin rehydrating. His color change could actually indicate that he has an entire shed stuck to him, and he's hissing because he can no longer see what the huge warm thing is that is passing by him, and translating it to be something dangerous.