Interesting beginning to owning a ball python, help???

[XoKarma]

About two weeks ago I walked into a local private owned pet shop in my town, and almost immediately a very moldy aquarium behind the counter caught my attention. I was told it contained a ball python who was a lost cause and she was disposing of it. The snake however lethargic was breathing and me being me I am unable to let any animal suffer without trying to help, so 130$ later I had the snake, a new tank from a friend, bedding, a hide, a pool, a basking light and a black light. I took him home knowing very little about ball pythons, and or any snakes. But confident I could learn and proud for saving his life I hit Google lol. All the woman would tell me is he eats live feeder mice.

For the first few days he barely moved at all, I I guessed he was sick from the moldy environment as any animal/being would be. But to my surprise the fourth night he was actively moving about and exploring his new home and raising up to the black light on top of his tank. He is still very active at night and sleeps in his hide during the day. I am currently waiting in line for an appointment with the only local vet who will tend a snake but from Google help he shows no visible signs of illness. I haven't handled him much or tried to feed him due to his previous living conditions and his new environment, I don't want to traumatize him any further, but he seems happy.

I'm new to snakes so any advice, info, tips, tricks.. Anything would be helpful. Below are some pictures from today while I was changing his water. He actually crawled/slithered? I onto my hand and let me hold him. He seemed calm and stayed very still. I would appreciate any input on his age or gender, hes about 20 inches or so long and thank you.

[The Serpent Merchant]

Well there is no way to tell gender from the pictures you posted (To tell the gender you have to either pop the snake or probe the snake. You can find info about both methods on this site but be warned that you can injure a BP by improperly sexing them)

I would put that age at no more than 4 months but likely younger.

Do you have any thermometers/hygrometers in the cage? what arethe current temperatures/humidity?

Check out these 2 threads, they cover all of the basics and should answer most of your questions.

Care: http://ball-pythons.net/forums/showt...ius)-Caresheet

Cage heating: http://ball-pythons.net/forums/showt...t-Thermometers

Welcome to the site. If you ever have any questions feel free to ask!

This is how I house all of my Ball Pythons:

[Anthony Renna]

Hello and welcome to the site I have no idea where you are located but if you are anywhere in New York I'd be happy to come help you with anything you need to know in person. If you aren't I can help with any questions through the site, I admire that you jumped to the care of a defenseless animal and will do whatever I can to help you. Just a word of warning ball pythons are super addictive yo will probably end up with more sooner or later

[LotusCorvus]

Congrats! I don't know what that woman was talking about, he doesn't even look especially underweight. Good on you for taking him in. He was probably just lethargic from being too cold and poorly cared for. Definitely read through the threads (and switch him to belly heat, esp in a glass cage those bulbs won't quite do the trick), and in no time he should be all the way back to 100%.

[The Serpent Merchant]

Congrats! I don't know what that woman was talking about, he doesn't even look especially underweight. Good on you for taking him in. He was probably just lethargic from being too cold and poorly cared for. Definitely read through the threads (and switch him to belly heat, esp in a glass cage those bulbs won't quite do the trick), and in no time he should be all the way back to 100%.

What do you mean those bulbs won't quite do the trick? Heat bulbs provide belly heat just as much as UTH's do. Their only downside is that they are hard on humidity (but that is an entirely different matter). Heat bulbs heat cages better than just about anything. In most cases they make the cage slightly too hot (but that can be fixed with a simple light dimmer). UTH's come with their own set of issues. For one they don't heat the air inside the cage so if the room that the cage is in drops below 75 a heat lamp will be required anyway and the added cost of a thermostat which is not optional.

[XoKarma]

I have limited funds at the moment. He has a reptile bark substrate, a large metal dog bowl for a pool, he has two hides now. The split log on the side away from his light and a solid box with a hole just big enough for him on the warmer side. I have an indoor out door thermometer on the warm side of his tank at his ground level that reads 83 and climbs to 90 if brought up towards the top of his hide during the day and is about 75ish at night. For heat I'm currently using a basking light and at night just a heat light because my house is chilly and im in ohio so it's pretty cold out. I have covered 3 sides of his tank with black poster board (its what I had available) and currently for humidity I'm lightly misting his tank 2 - 3 times a day

[XoKarma]

I have limited funds at the moment. He has a reptile bark substrate, a large metal dog bowl for a pool, he has two hides now. The split log on the side away from his light and a solid box with a hole just big enough for him on the warmer side. I have an indoor out door thermometer on the warm side of his tank at his ground level that reads 83 and climbs to 90 if brought up towards the top of his hide during the day and is about 75ish at night. For heat I'm currently using a basking light and at night just a heat light because my house is chilly and im in ohio so it's pretty cold out. I have covered 3 sides of his tank with black poster board (its what I had available) and currently for humidity I'm lightly misting his tank 2 - 3 times a day