Should I worry?

[Kane]

I've had my ball, Violet, for about 2 months now. She's almost a year old. For the first month that I had her, she fed great... immediately took the f/t mouse. She was active, exploring her cage a great deal. For the past 3 weeks, she hasn't eaten and whatever hid she is in she stays in. I've not seen her out, even at nite. Is this a reason to worry or is this common?

The first time she didn't feed was my fault. I removed her from her hide to feed in another tank. While doing so, I dropped the lid of the tank and the crash scared us both.

The humidity is usually around 50-55%. She's kept in a 40 gallon tank with a screen lid. Duct tape covers most of the screen with a couple air holes and spots for black light heating. The water bowl sits over a heating pad. It's all controlled by a thermostat and the gradient right now is 92 in the hot spot on the right down to 79 on the cool side.

Thanks!


ed: One more thing. She had a successful shed about 3 weeks ago. Well successful except the last centimeter of the tail looks like it didn't shed.

[Eddie_Z]

I am not sure that you have anything to worry about. So long as all of the conditions of your tank have remained where they need to be, all should be well. BP's are known to be very tempermental eaters. What kind of substrate are you using? What are you using to measure the temps & humidity?

One other thing i gotta say is that you should do sumthin to get that shed off of her tail. If she gets old dead skin built up on her tail, it could cut off the circulation & cause her to lose her tail. Just soak her in an inche or so of water that is just short of being warm to your touch & help her get it off.

[RPlank]

The first thing that comes to my mind is that the tank may be too big. If they are in an enclosure that is too big, they will stress. The main sign of stress is going off feed. If possible, try a smaller enclosure, maybe even put her in a rubbermaid inside the aquarium until she's bigger. If that isn't possible, try giving her plenty of hides/cover in the tank, so she doesn't feel so exposed.

[Kane]

Eddie - I'll do a soak, thanks. Since she's always in her hides is it ok to remove her from them? The temps and humidity are measured by probes. The temps are just barely under the substrate which is jungle bark... that's cypress I believe.

RPlank - The age is a guestimate. She's about 25" long... haven't weight her yet but I just got scales so I will. Is that still too big an enclosure? I kind of picked this one because it was easy to get a gradient but I'll move her into a smaller if you think that's better. I read something about covering the sides of the tank. If y'all think it's a good idea, I can cover at least 3 of the sides. What do you think?


Thanks for the help. It's interesting. There are 3 pet stores around here that sell reptiles and they all give different/conflicting suggestions. One of them said never trust the info you get on the net! Forums like this have been invaluable.

edit: Would tinting the glass make the snake feel more secure? Also, I have a 29 gallon (tall) tank that I use for feeding him. Would he be better off in there?

[JamminJonah]

I put a background on the back and covered the sides and that got my BP to settle down - as long as there is no noticable weight loss you should be fine. Your temps and humidity are great! It is okay to remove the BP from the hides for handling but if she is not feeding I would rec. not handling for about 7 days and trying to feed again.

Cypress should be fine others to check out if interested are as always newspaper - the cheapest and easiest, repti-carpet (be sure to have 2 pieces so that you can clean one and leave the other), eco-earth, or Bed a Beast. It sounds like your temps and humidity have been fine so you may just want to keep doin' what you're doin. If you feed on newspaper, carpet, eco-earth, or bed a beast you should be fine, by fine I mean able to feed in the same enclosure that she lives in. If she's 25" and hasn't had a problem feeding thus far the tank size might be okay. Just watch for any noticeable weight loss and take her to the vet if something doesn't feel quite right (inside - gut instinct) if she hasn't been checked for internal parasites take her by the vet.
Often they won't eat during shed and I know she just shed... my best advice would be to stop all handling (other than absolutely necessary) wait a full seven days and try feeding again. As long as there isn't noticeable weight loss you're doing fine.
hope this helps!

[Marla]

Kane, it sounds like you have a great setup going for your ball python. I'm glad to see you've done your homework. Randy referred to the enclosure possibly stressing Violet because it's on the big side, and you asked for more info on that. Generally a good rule of thumb to go by with ball pythons (and some other snakes as well) is that ideal enclosure size is that floor space = length of snake + 1 foot. Since your snake is about 2' long, you'd need about 3' of floorspace, which you can accomplish with a 24"x18" or similar sized enclosure.

Some balls are just particularly prone to stress, and the lid crashing could certainly throw her off. I'd just make sure that you give her every opportunity to feel secure, and I am sure she will get back to eating for you. Moving her into the 29 gal tank may help with that, or making sure that her hides are snug and secure (preferably with some heft to them, like clay or wood) and giving her some extra cover, either by covering the sides of the tank or by adding natural-feel cover such as fake vines. And like Jonah said, definitely give her at least 7 days before trying to feed again.

Welcome to the forum, and good luck with Violet!

[Eddie_Z]

Kane, what I have learned & what others have echoed around here, is that if you wait to handle your BP for any reason, be it necessity or just the desire to spend some time with it, until they are out of their hides, you will probably wait forever!! Yeah, it is ok to remove her from a hide. The best thing to do though, is to lift the hide off of the snake. You don't want to put your hand into the hide cuz there is a good chance the snake will be highly threatened & that could lead to a love tap.

[Ginevive]

If you have a screen lid, you may have trouble holding in humidity during sheds, which could be why your BP has a bit of retained skin. But don't despair! It is pretty easy to tape either contact paper or regular old plastic wrap over most of the lid, during shedding times, to retain humidity.

[Kane]

What a great forum. Thanks for the advice. I think I'll start by putting a lot of vines around the sides. Her hides are secure. Both store bought with some heft. I also have some tinted plastic cling-on stuff I may cover most of her tank with. The top of the tank is mostly covered by duct tape so the humidity is probably ok. I'm going to Home Depot today to see if they sell plexi-glass & may switch to that as a cover.
If none of that helps, then I'll switch her to the 29g tank I use for feeding.

[Marla]

Sounds like a good plan. Good luck to you, and yes, this forum is excellent. :lol: