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Over my head

enchantress62

enchantress62

In love with Frank
1 month ago I bought my first corn snake, Frank, he is thriving, eats f/t every Monday like clock work, and has had a successful shed. I love him so much. About two weeks ago I went to Petsmart for more supplies and decided to visit with the reptiles. As I stood there looking at the lizards I caught site of a baby ball python staring at me. She was in her hide with her head out. When I looked at her she withdrew. I looked away and she stuck her head out again. I turned towards her and she disappeared, turned away she came out. This went on for several minutes until I was completely charmed. I asked to hold her and... long story short... I came home with her. lol

I had her for a week and in that time her charming behavior changed. She became grumpy, striking out frequently, hiding all the time, and not eating. I tried everything, bought better gages for temp/humidity, bought better hides, plants, etc... but she died! I still don't know why. Everything in her viv was brand new. I couldn't see any mites, nor any sign of mouth rot. There was no blood so I doubt she got hurt.

I took her back to Petsmart and they were very apologetic. The girl I spoke with knew a lot about python's and she couldn't find a reason for the death either. Anyway she gave me another baby BP and I made sure I cleaned or replaced everything in the viv before introducing her to her new home. Still, I'm a little paranoid now. So far Baloo, the new BP, is doing fine. She's active and friendly and even ate a f/t fuzzy yesterday. But I can't help feeling like I killed the first one and I don't want to make the same mistake with Baloo.

When I clean my snake's cages I use Wipe Out 1 by Zoo Med and I clean everything in the viv. I use Forest Floor cypress mulch by Zoo Med for the substrate. I keep the temp between 85F and 90F on the warm side and around 75F on the cool side. The humidity is a little high at 50% but she has a rather large water bowl so I can't get it to go down any more. Please tell me if I'm doing anything wrong. Baloo is so cute and if she dies I will be very sad.
 
I'm sorry your first BP died. You would have to do something _grossly_ negligent to kill her in only a week, like cook her. Good luck with Baloo- it sounds like she's off to a great start. Now you have time to read up on the fun feeding habits BPs go through as "teenagers!"
 
I am so sorry to hear about your loss! Nanci is right, you would have to do everything wrong and then some to kill her in a week. I have read that baby balls are shipped out right out of the egg to these big chain stores and sometimes will never have eaten and just dont thrive!

Good luck with Baloo, my hubby's bp was a rescue and was under weight due to the previous owner not being able to afford food for her. She is fat, happy and extremely spoiled now. Great temperment and knows when hubby walks in the room. They are such a unique snake with awesome personalities even when grumpy LOL

I will stick to my corns and let hubby have his fun with pythons and boas :)
 
I am sorry to hear about your first BP dying so suddenly, it definitely was not something that you did. Also, a fuzzy is a very tiny meal, usually ball pythons are offered hoppers right out of the egg, or if possible rat pups. I love my ball python, and I'm sure you'll love yours, and as Nanci said, be ready for their picky teenage years!
 
Yes! I am not looking forward to the teenage years either with HarleyQuinn... LOL nor my own kids! We feed Harley rat pups! She hasnt refused a meal yet.... crosses my fingers! She is a true sweetheart!

I am going through the picky teenage years with our spotted python, Serj!
 
Sorry to hear about your snake :( Im sure if it died in a week it was most likely not something you did. It was problebly sick from the store.

If you can get him/her on rats though I would do it ASAP. I am having problems getting one of mine to switch over from mice to rats.
 
So sorry for your lost but sounds like you are doing everything right for your new BP make sure you read everything about them and always ask questions if you are not sure of something.
 
You need to see a feeding record and see it feed before getting the animal....
Anyone who is legit will have these and do it for you...
Bp being big business lead to flippers, just for the coinage involved....
Sorry to hear you have become a victim of fashionable greed...
 
To latch on to AliCat, 75 is a little low for the cool side too, I like to keep ambient temp for my BP at 80, so my cool side heat mat (I use reptitherm) is set at 80 and warm side is 90.

I'm wondering if you might consider switching to paper towels, only because BP's, especially as they get larger tend to have quite a bit of fluid in their eliminations, and cleaning it out of mulch might be really difficult. I alternate between paper towels and aspen with my BP. Neither one does quite what I need, but then again, I don't think anything would.

Remember, a hiding Ball Python is a happy Ball Python. I hope things go much better this round, and I'm sorry you had a rough go at first.
 
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