Underweight??

[Evenstar]

Your setup looks pretty good. I would add some more plants up near the top to help her feel more secure. And I'd be very careful to take steps to keep your room at 80 all year long and not allow it to get warmer in the summer. If you need to use fans or mini air conditioner or something else, then do it. Many snakes do not do well at higher temps and GTPs are one of them. Mine is kept at 77 ambient with a hot spot at 88. This generally works better for GTPs. Ball pythons tend to do ok on slightly warmer temps, but not certain boas or GTPs. And 85 with a 90 hotspot is not enough of a gradient to allow the snake to thermoregulate. JMO.....

I also agree with reptileexperts. Even though she doesn't much like it, I'd try to mist her directly at least once a week. Even if she's drinking from her bowl, this will do wonders for her. And rather than wait until she's up to weight, I'm going to adjust what I said earlier and suggest that you switch her to mice right away and not continue to feed her rats. There is a reason most GTP keepers and breeders feed their snakes mice. These snakes have different metabolisms and nutritional needs due to their arboreal nature. In the wild, their diet would not consist primarily of ground-dwelling rodents such as rats. Their diet would be birds, bats, and small tree-dwelling mammals such as small marmosets and sugar gliders. Mice more closely meets these snakes' nutritional needs than rats do. As such, your snake will actually gain weigh better on mice than she would on rats even though rats are larger. But a large or jumbo mouse will be almost the same size as a rat pup and provide better - more appropriate - nutrition for your GTP.

[earthdragons737]

Do you think it would be a good idea to feed her chicks, because I can get them from rodent pro? The reason for my temps is because I breed ball pythons so the temps in the room are controlled by a thermostat. I can keep it at 80-82 in the summer. I agree it would be betterfor her. Also spraying is no longer and issue, She is OK with it now that it is done regularly.

[Evenstar]

Do you think it would be a good idea to feed her chicks, because I can get them from rodent pro? The reason for my temps is because I breed ball pythons so the temps in the room are controlled by a thermostat. I can keep it at 80-82 in the summer. I agree it would be betterfor her. Also spraying is no longer and issue, She is OK with it now that it is done regularly.

I personally would not feed chicks. Chicks are not like the birds these snakes would catch in the wild. Just like mice are different than rats. Many snakes seems to have really messy, sticky, and stinky poos with chicks. Colubrids, such as kings or indigos, seem to do ok with them, but even then keepers only occasionally supliment them with rodents. Stick to mice and don't do anything fancy and you'll be fine!

If the temps in the room are not right for her, perhaps you can move her out of the BP room? I keep mine in our basement rec room. The room temps are around 72 and the RHP is all that is needed to keep Hunter's temps perfect. Just a thought.