3 days in after bringing home my first BP! Meet Guts! (help needed) *LONG POST*

[Luvyna]

Congrats on your new BP and welcome to the forum! Guts is a great looking albino, I really like his soft colouring. Reminds me a bit of a yogurt dessert

From what you've described I don't think Guts sounds overly stressed (you'll know for sure when you try to feed him though). If he's thermoregulating, drinking, and hiding, that sounds like pretty healthy behaviour for a BP. Another obvious signs of stress, along with the ones others have mentioned, is a ball python roaming the tank constantly and refusing to hide during the day (cruising at night is normal though).

If you're using a glass tank it's definitely harder to maintain temperatures and humidity, but still doable. If covering the screen top and using the humidity-holding substrates mentioned above isn't enough, you can also saturate some sphagnum moss with water, squeeze out the excess, and scatter it around the enclosure and inside the hides. I would definitely aim to get the humidity in the tank up to at least 50% since it isn't healthy for a BP to stay in a humid hide all the time, although it is a great place for them when in shed.

I have also read that red lamps can cause stress to snakes, especially if left on all the time, because snakes can see red light and that means they never feel like it's dark in their enclosure. This probably isn't good because BPs usually come outside at night to drink, explore, and look for food and if it's never dark they might not feel safe to do so.

For feeding, see this helpful feeding chart:

I recommend feeding just once a week because power-feeding (feeding more than once a week) reportedly reduces a snake's lifespan and causes obesity. It's normally done to bring breeders up to size more quickly.

Also, I would switch out the log hide with a "cave" style one asap because BPs are not the brightest bulbs and can get stuck inside them by doubling over or coiling up inside (example here). You need to be very careful with putting any kind of tube object inside a BP enclosure because they can't simply be lifted off of the snake like a cave can, and BPs are excellent at wedging themselves into tight spaces. Even toilet paper tubes used for enrichment should be cut along the vertical side so they form a "U" shaped hide rather than a tube. Also, that small hole I see in the side of the log could be a hazard if your BP gets a little bigger and tries to climb through it.

It sounds like you want the best for your snake and have done research. It's fine to not be an expert at everything yet, everyone is constantly learning when snake-keeping. Good luck with your new BP and feel free to ask any questions you have here, everyone here is eager to help