New ball python owner with concerns??

[Lyle]

Congrats on your new snake and welcome to the forum...

I would feed tonight as scheduled. Can't hurt to offer. She may or may not eat, but I would offer anyway. If she refuses, wait a week and try again. No worries at all.

As for handling, I would wait at least a week. I personally like to wait until a new snake has accepted and eaten 3 consecutive meals with me before I do much handling. Until then, I keep handling to a minimum. This may be a bit over kill, but it works for me and my animals just fine.

Lastly, it's perfectly normal for a BP to explore a bit at night. She may be hungry, but she may just be exploring a bit. If she was active all day/night that would be cause for concern and probably mean something is off with your husbandry. Speaking of...

What are you running for equipment?
How are you heating the enclosure? How are you regulating your heat sources?
What's your humidity?
How are you reading temps and humidity?
Where are you measuring your temps?

Providing us with this info will help us help you make sure everything is good to go for your new snake.

So here's an update I guess lol: I tried offering her food tonight and she not only refused but was very clearly in defense mode and tried to snap at me. So I'll leave her alone until next week. I felt kind of bad even trying because after I left her alone she still stayed in the S shape for a few minutes. I know this is silly to say but I hope she doesn't hate me and I hope I'm doing everything that's required of me. Right now I'm just using the heat lamp the past owner gave me but it's kinda frustrating trying to make sure the heat and humidity are always where they're supposed to be. I have a UTH but I don't want to use it until my thermostat comes in the mail this week. I've heard humidity is more regulated with a UTH but it's so difficult to keep moisture in the tank with a heat lamp . And I have two thermometers one on the cool side one on the basking side, I know it's silly but it makes me less paranoid about the temps and the humidity.