Another new dad worry post; first BP

[spiralout_keepgoing]

Please post pics of your set up. This thread will show you how: https://ball-pythons.net/forums/show...-Post-Pictures. In addition, what are the warm and cool side temperatures? Aside from the spikes, what's the level of her humidity? The more info we have the better the advice we'll give.

I suggest holding off on feeding at least until Sunday. Repeated attempts to feed a snake that doesn't want to eat will stress your snake and make her less likely to feed. Between now and then, you'll want to get the temps and humidity dialed in. She'll feel much better eating if her temps and humidity are correct.

I understand your anxiety. Been there. This is the worst part. I assure you, once you've got everything in the enclosure properly set up, it's pretty much easy sailing.

Below is a photo of her set up. It's pretty snug, and when she's fully stretched out meets the rule of thumb I've read about. I have a 20gal on standby that I'm working to get all cluttered and cozy for when I'm ready to move her over. My thinking is to make it dense for her to feel safe despite it's size. And like I said, I put cardboard on all four sides to add a sense of security when in hide or skulking the floor.

But for now, this is her home. The black hide she's currently in is on the hot side, connected to an inkbird pulse themostat (soon to be replaced by a vivarium ve-200 proportional thermostat). A note - The thermometer is taped to the heat pad itself under the tank, it's not glued inside the tank.

The hide on the cool side is one of two of the same hide, I just replaced one with the black hide to see how she'd like it. I have one for the cool side, but it's a little bit shorter so I can keep the branch in there for now, however I decided to keep the transparent one in there for now since it's familiar from the last week and half.

Temps read about right to me, her hide is coming in between 87-90, and tapers to about 75 at the coolest end. This has taken some real trial and error to get, but I think for now it's fine. I just don't know if these temps are staying consistent always because of the pulse thermostat.

The thermometer/hygrometer was reading 73 ambient (it's not directly on the ground so I'm guessing it's reading the air) and humidity 68. I seem to be able to keep the humidity between 60 on the low end and 73 on the high end, save for when she spilled water everywhere Otherwise the only other spike I saw was when she pooped several days back. I've cleaned up the poop since.

Lastly, I got her on February 17th. She was fed on February 13th by the breeder. And I can't find the date of her last shed but it was before I got her, I think before she was fed on the 13th.

(Oh one othere note - some of the foliage I've moved around or she's redecorated as well. There's some fake plants on the side that she decided look better there for now lol)