New To the Forum!

[jdillio1988]

Hey Everyone! My Name is Jonathan! I have owned my ball python, Nagini, for about one year now. I rescued her from a women who bought her because she thought her 2 year old son would think she was "cool". When I got her she had a burn on her belly that covered about 2/3 of her body. I am a Veterinary Technician at an exotic/small animal clinic so after a couple of trips to work with me and she was all healed up.

For while she lived in a a 40 tall tank but about 6 months ago I "upgraded" her to a 40 long. She seems to be pretty well established and all of her vet checks are always good. I just have a couple of questions.

1.)Right now I have her warm side of her tank at about 85 with a basking stop of about 90 and the cool side at 75. I was having a hard time keeping up the humidity so I placed a heating pad underneath of her water bowl and it seems to have helped BUT what im noticing is that the warm side says that the humidity is at 33 and the cool side says its as 60. Is that normal? I would think that the humidity would be the same throughout the tanks?

2.)I noticed that within the last couple of days she is ALWAYS out and about, either moving around her terrarium or just hanging out. Is that normal behavior? Im so used to thinking that they LOVE to hide that Im worried that this behavior might be a sign of something.

3.)Im pretty sure I know the answer to this one but I guess it doesn't hurt to ask. Can I put more then one BP in my tank? Nagini weighs 615g, how big should the other snake be before keeping them together?

Thank you all so much! Im really excited to be apart of this forum!!!

[Bigfish1975]

Welcome to the forum. This is a great resource for learning. I'm not sure how much I can help with a couple of your questions. I keep my snakes in a rack set up so its a bit different. I'd think that you could try covering the warm side or over the water dish to help hold humidity a bit. If the enclosure is new, she's probably investigating. How's she eating? That could be a good indicator of stress or curiosity. I'd suggest keeping her by herself. Unlike mammals, most reptiles prefer a solitary existence. They typically only come together to breed. Good luck. Hope I could help

[nightwolfsnow]

Do you have a heat lamp over top of your warm side? That's probably what's drying it out. Try covering the lid with aluminum foil like this http://ball-pythons.net/forums/showt...tment-Tutorial. Make sure your snake can't touch the tape anywhere. But I cut my holes like this http://ball-pythons.net/forums/showt...e-using-a-tank!. It holds humidity so much better. I soak some moss, squeeze excess water out and put it under the hides and in a little condiment bowl in a corner and resoak it every 3 or 4 days, don't even have to spray anymore. General consensus is don't house snakes together, it stresses them out, and they could attempt to eat each other. You see it done at pet stores just because of spacing. Did you name Nagini after Rikki Tikki Tavi ?

[Reinz]

Good tips mentioned here.

Welcome to the forum JD.

[jdillio1988]

Thanks for all the great help!

I was keeping towels over my tank to try and keep the humidity in and the only part of the screen that is exposed is the part under the heat lamp and a small part on the cold side for ventilation. The foil tape is brilliant. I went and picked some up today! I also got some moss today to try that.
I figured that they should be house together but thought i would check!
I cant wait to learn everything that I can here! Im hoping that the knowledge I get from here will help me to better communicate with clients at the hospital! We are primarily a dog and cat clinic but an exotic vet started working for us about a month ago so all of this stuff is pretty new to me!

Nagini is Lord Voldemorts snake/horcroux in the Harry Potter Books!

[nightwolfsnow]

Nagini is Lord Voldemorts snake/horcroux in the Harry Potter Books!

OH yeah! Duh. Guess I need to reread Harry Potter lol.

[jdillio1988]

OH yeah! Duh. Guess I need to reread Harry Potter lol.

LOL, Im a little bit of a fanatic!

[nightwolfsnow]

LOL, Im a little bit of a fanatic!

I was a huge Lupin fangirl lol.

[jdillio1988]

So I think she was out and about because she was hungry? Does that makes sense? Was she doing the snake version of begging? LOL. I fed her a small rat (her first time with something that big) and she has been doing her "normal" basking and hiding routine.

[nightwolfsnow]

So I think she was out and about because she was hungry? Does that makes sense? Was she doing the snake version of begging? LOL. I fed her a small rat (her first time with something that big) and she has been doing her "normal" basking and hiding routine.

Yeah its common for them to be more active when they're hungry. They go out cruising for prey, especially at night.