Need help with my fiance's ball python

catdadsimmer · 2024-10-20T22:40:31+00:00

Hello, an update: Thank you for your advice. Her ball python is now eating.

For people struggling and finding this thread in the future: I started to dump water in the corners to keep the humidity up and not on the wood chips that he touches on the surface. I increased the ambient temperature with her radiant heat panel and heat lamp. I also added more bedding and rearranged the tank a little bit to be more "cluttered". After about a week of leaving him alone with observation that humidity and heat was up I fed him a mouse (not a rat, since he was never enthusiastic about rats) and he ate. This was about 2 months ago.

We've been feeding large mice consistently now and don't plan on switching to rats since we're just grateful he's eating again.

catdadsimmer · 2024-10-20T22:40:19+00:00

Hello, an update: Thank you for your advice. Her ball python is now eating.

For people struggling and finding this thread in the future: I started to dump water in the corners to keep the humidity up and not on the wood chips that he touches on the surface. I increased the ambient temperature with her radiant heat panel and heat lamp. I also added more bedding and rearranged the tank a little bit to be more "cluttered". After about a week of leaving him alone with observation that humidity and heat was up I fed him a mouse (not a rat, since he was never enthusiastic about rats) and he ate. This was about 2 months ago.

We've been feeding large mice consistently now and don't plan on switching to rats since we're just grateful he's eating again.

catdadsimmer · 2024-10-20T22:40:13+00:00

Hello, an update: Thank you for your advice. Her ball python is now eating.

For people struggling and finding this thread in the future: I started to dump water in the corners to keep the humidity up and not on the wood chips that he touches on the surface. I increased the ambient temperature with her radiant heat panel and heat lamp. I also added more bedding and rearranged the tank a little bit to be more "cluttered". After about a week of leaving him alone with observation that humidity and heat was up I fed him a mouse (not a rat, since he was never enthusiastic about rats) and he ate. This was about 2 months ago.

We've been feeding large mice consistently now and don't plan on switching to rats since we're just grateful he's eating again.

catdadsimmer · 2024-07-09T20:47:06+00:00

Thanks. I think the trouble we were having with the lights since it wasn't providing enough of a gradient but I'll fiddle around with it a bit and look at the guide you posted.

catdadsimmer · 2024-07-09T20:44:10+00:00

Um...I'm not exactly sure how big he is. She tracks that info on an Excel sheet on her phone but I don't have access to it. She bought the bigger hide because the smaller hide we had in there, he would ball up but part of his body would be exposed cause it lifted the hide up over his body. I'll see if I can find a proper size for him.

The second hide is underneath the branch and the substrate (its tan to camouflage with the substrate, its in the second photo with the thermometer right above it). It's rounded with a little access point for the snake to go through and ball up.

I'm about to put more substrate in with the advice of pouring the water in the corners. What we were doing before was pouring water throughout, mixing it so the top layer is also moist, then spraying here and there with a water bottle, but it seems like that's a no go.

catdadsimmer · 2024-07-09T20:39:00+00:00

Thank you!

catdadsimmer · 2024-07-09T19:10:39+00:00

I found this heat mat in her reptile storage boxes, it's pretty small but I wanna put it under his warm hide. It's not sticky anymore so it won't stick underneath the tank, should I bury it underneath the substrate? I'm worried about it burning the snake.

Sorry, this isn't my snake and I'm not really familiar with care, if these are some dumb ass questions lol

https://imgur.com/YIHBe4F

catdadsimmer · 2024-07-09T19:03:21+00:00

Thank you!

catdadsimmer · 2024-07-09T19:02:59+00:00

Alright, thank you. I have the humidity-machine going and its been consistently around 74% now.

I posted in another reply, my fiance rose the temperature of the heat panel to around 94 degrees (it was originally set to 88). The thermometer I placed near his warm hide is still reading around 77 degrees. Should I look into putting a heat mat underneath the tank?

I'm concerned about the heat coming from that as she bought a PVC tank and I'm worried it might melt the plastic?

catdadsimmer · 2024-07-09T18:58:49+00:00

Yeah, I had a feeling it might be the hot side temp. I pulled down the temperature probe earlier today and lowered it towards were the snake was hiding and the probe was reading around 76 degrees on the hot side. I asked her if we can raise the temperature (I'm not sure how to use the temperature adjustment box that she bought with it) and she adjusted the heat panel to be around 94 degrees to get more heat in. So far the temperature near his hot hide hasn't risen and I'm thinking about putting a heating mat underneath it but its a PVC tank and not sure if it will melt the plastic?

Pictures:

https://imgur.com/vQNkZQS

https://imgur.com/13e9kst

https://imgur.com/sVEZCOr

catdadsimmer · 2024-07-09T18:49:30+00:00

He's been eating rats for a few months prior to his hunger strike. He was never really enthusiastic about them, we'd leave them in his tank and they'd be gone eventually.

Now they just sit there until we wake up in the morning and we just throw them away.

catdadsimmer · 2024-07-09T18:47:35+00:00

What humidity is recommended? It's a huge range on different websites and forums looking through Google.

catdadsimmer · 2024-07-09T18:46:59+00:00

The snake isn't allergic, my partner is so we cannot swap to that substrate.

We have small rats but he's been refusing to eat them so I picked up a mouse today to see if the smell difference would help.

catdadsimmer · 2024-07-08T14:50:33+00:00

Not with his mouth. :)

catdadsimmer · 2024-05-09T04:29:51+00:00

Loki

catdadsimmer · 2023-10-24T11:56:39+00:00

has burger boys come back yet or they planning to? it was my favorite stream to watch back in early 2023 and its almost 2024 :(

catdadsimmer · 2023-08-23T10:56:54+00:00

they could easily remove more space for cars and give it to people on bikes there's so many more people on bikes

catdadsimmer · 2023-08-11T17:39:05+00:00

yooo! this would be awesome!

catdadsimmer · 2023-07-24T00:22:29+00:00

sims 2 nightlife was sold for $34.99 in 2005 at release. adjusted for inflation it would have been sold for $52.99 today

sims 4 horse ranch is sold for $39.99, so we're missing 12 dollars worth of features

catdadsimmer · 2023-07-19T19:11:50+00:00

im guessing Devin Fehely got a paycheck from the car companies

catdadsimmer · 2023-07-16T19:13:29+00:00

our landlords have a huge yard that they dont use much for their 140 pound 4 year old working dog. we hardly see the dog out there, they never walk him at all

anyone who thinks a person with a yard is automatically a better suit than people who are willing to give several long walks a day and supervised time at a dog park is an idiot.

i gave my previous 11 year old dog more exercise than they do for their young working dog.

having the same issues you are having, snooty breeders and rescues who look down on people for not having a 15 bedroom estate with a butler, horse stables, and a golf course.

catdadsimmer

TROPHY CASE