Is it normal?

[Fester_Fang]

Is it normal for my juvenile BP(about 1 month old)to be highly active about an hour after she consumed a hopper mouse?Sphinx was stuck in the dashboard for 2 days,then took a mouse when I got her into a tank.She's been pretty active day and night,I avoid handling her so she doesn't regurgitate,and only get into the cage to change/add water,check for any messes,check temps,etc.Could it just be her temperment?(She can be pretty feisty)

[satomi325]

It sounds like she's stressed. High activity suggests that. A happy ball is a hiding ball.
Can you describe your husbandry and set up?

And you can black out the cage on the sides and back with black construction paper or whatever you want in order to make the enclosure feel more 'secure'.

[Royal Hijinx]

Active right after the feed may mean she is looking for more food. Is the food 10-15% of her body weight?

[snakesRkewl]

Quite a few ball pythons will roam after eating before settling down on their hot spot, IF they have one.
You need to describe and or show your set up before anyone can give you good sound advise...

Temps, how you heat it, what you use to read temps, hides, water dish, etc...

[Fester_Fang]

Her tank setup-a 38x18x18 tank,with aspen bedding,her basking area is 88-92(i have a cage thermometer,and a probe),and her cool area is 82(with cage thermometer and probe),I have water dishes on both sides,and hides on both sides.I use a heat lamp and UTH on the basking side.For humidity I keep part of the tank covered on the top,and building some humid hides,the petstore is out of stock on the moss . As far as stress,she isn't getting aggressive,if I'm cleaning her water,she'll come over and investigate and try coiling on my hand(if shes out while I'm doing so).And the mouse is a small hopper,Sphinx is about 15-16 inches long,so maybe I need to increase the mouse size?The guy I got her was feeding hoppers,but she seemed to digest this one pretty quick,maybe its just me,but my other BP digested fast and was timid for about a day after eating,and was out of her hide box to explore before settling back in. Phoenix seems more laid back with handling,and rarely coils unless in her hide box,Sphinx takes a few minutes to uncoil and is very cautious.So its hard to tell whats going on,whereas Carmen(the smallest of the 3),is always timid and needs more handling.

So I wonder if I need to increase the mouse size,seeing as after Sphinx and Phoenix ate,they were highly active.I'm covering 3 out of 4 walls on my tank,do you think that will be too much?

[SRMD]

You need to get some digital scales and weigh your bp and feed them 10-15% of their body weight.

[ExotixTowing]

That's a large tank for such a small snake


Sent from my iPeed using Tapatalk HD

[Lisn123]

Im just a rookie snake owner, but the tank size might be a bit large- causing him to stress out. Im sure the experts will weigh in.
Our baby was that way when we first brought her home (first few days- literally) I think she was just getting settled in on where she was comfortable "hiding". Then she would get that way about 4-5 days after we fed her. and realized we needed to up her feedings, to every 5 days.

Now she's acting "normal"- sleeping most of the time- at least 2-3 days after eating. Then I start to notice that she comes out to "redecorate" her tank at night time. (moving objects around) She's usually back in her hide by morning

[Kaorte]

I'm fairly certain the OP is housing all the snakes together in that large tank. Correct me if I'm wrong.


As per your original question, I think its quite common for a snake who has just eaten to cruise a bit, although I think in this case you are probably underfeeding. Hatchlings straight out of the egg eat hopper mice. Bump her up to adult mice. I would get a scale and start keeping track of their weights. Feed 10-15% of the snakes body weight once a week and you should notice the cruising after meal time drop off.

[Fester_Fang]

Yes I house the 3 girls together for the time being,I've asked plenty of people on if it was ok or not,and I have gotten plenty of ok's with it,as long as I seperate them to feed.When they start to get bigger I'll house them seperately.Don't think 3 full size BP's could fit in that tank together.I mostly have experience with smaller snakes,so I still have a lot to learn with BP's,but I do appreciate the tips and suggestions,and don't take offense,we were all new once =).I'll weigh the girls this evening,all of them are in the hide boxes,one was active a bit earlier,got a drink and went back to her box,so the activity has been back to normal for the past few hours,usually they are active at night.