Our new BP (9mths?) seems stressed/frightened - help a newbie out

[Evenstar]

The warm side is about 80-85 with a basking temp of 90. The cool side is 75. Humidity has been hovering around 40-50%. I'm hoping to feed him outside of his enclosure because I have kids that will be handling him and dont want accidental strikes associated with food entering the tank. I'll cover the cage back up for a while and check back in about a week.

Actually, your temps are slightly off. Basking temp of 90 is perfect, but how is that basking spot created? By a light or UTH?? This makes a difference. And how is it controlled? Do you have a thermostat??

Your ambient temps should NEVER be below 76 and even that is really too low. 78-80 is what you want. Ambient = air temp measured on the cool side of the enclosure. Pick up an Accurite indoor/outdoor thermometer from Walmart (about $12) to accurately measure your temps. The little round dials are terribly misleading. And humidity should be about 60-70%. You might need to mist periodically to get that up a bit. But let's deal with the temps first.

Your BP could well be stressing due to the inability to properly thermoregulate. So let's get this fixed and see what happens.

Once you do that, leave him completely alone for at least a week to settle down. Then offer him his first meal. If he eats, wait 48hrs for him to digest, then you can begin handling him gently.

Feeding in his enclosure will NOT make him aggressive or cause him to bite by thinking hands in the enclosure means food. That really is a myth. ALL of my snakes are fed in their enclosures and I can scoop up any one of them anytime without fear of being bitten. They learn when to expect food and when not to. For now at least, feed him in his enclosure until he settles down. If you are still unsure, we can discuss it more later.

Oh! And welcome to the forums!!