New Owner Has Questions

My girlfriend and I just bought our first Ball Python. I have a bit of knowledge of handling of snakes because my uncle used to own a Red Tailed Boa. I know they are two different animals, and this is why I have some questions.

My baby isn't more than a foot and a half long, and we provided him a small hide box in the form of a plastic decorative log. It is in the portion of the cage over which the heat lamp hangs. I should now say that it lives at my girlfriends house, and I only see the little guy about once or twice a month. Back to the question. He hides all day long, as much as we pass and observe him at any rate, in the log. I understand that he is a nocturnal creature, and we generally do not observe him at night, however it just seems odd to me that he would hide 12/7 in his log. We try to keep his cage at the appropriate temperatures (Around 80 during the day, around 75 at night).

Also, when my girlfriend handles him, she notices that he is distinctly warmer after about 15 minute of handling. She may becomeing accustomed to his body heat after a while, but I was wondering if this could be a cause for consern as well. Any feedback would be appriciated!

This might help a little, this is taken for the NERD ball python care sheet

Lighting
Supplemental lighting is not necessary for this species, but if used should run on a 12/12 cycle, meaning 12 hours on & 12 hours off. Continuous bright, overhead lighting is stressful to snakes, especially a nocturnal serpent such as this one.

We stopped using lights and have better success and they seem to be more active.

Hey jeremy..welcome to Fauna!!

Ball Pythons are naturally shy snakes, and are usually only out and about at night. With my guy, come 11pm I know he's going to be out and searching the cage. It also depends on whether he's eaten or not, my guy tends to cruise a lot more when he's hungry, whereas after he's eaten he wont come out of his hide for around 2-3 days solid.

A couple of things though. You should ideally have a hide on both the warm and cool side. Dont make your BP choose between a hide and correct temps. Also, you want to up your temps -- 80F is too low. You would ideally like a cool side at 80F and a warm basking spot at 90F. If the temps are too low, you run the risk of a respiratory infection. You said you keep your temps around 80 during the day and 75 at night..where are you measuring these temps in the cage, and what are you measuring them with (i.e. stick on analogue thermometer, or digital therm?). Also what are you using to heat your cage?

There's a good caresheet sticky in the ball python forum which you may want to look at for hunsbadry requirements.

That makes sense. Would this also explain his constant hiding? Notably, as soon as she takes the little guy out of the vivarium and handles him in either the sunlight or even sitting down and watching television in the livingroom, he wont hold still, he crawls all over the place and is very happy and explorative.

Skunky - We are using analog thermometers on both the cool and the warmer sides of the tank. We are also using a heat lamp, just the way the guy we bought our guy from had his cage set up.

I understand now that heat lamps aren't the best source of heat for these guys, and my girlfriend mentioned bulbs that emit heat but don't emit light. We are also going to find a heat pad that goes underneath the vivarium that someone told us would be a good start as well in regulating temperatures.

Thanks again for the help, and more feedback would be great, we love our snake very much and we want him to be a happy little guy.

If his temps are low, he's bound to be more inactive. Once again, check to make sure your temps are correct. Other than that, you may just have a bashful BP on your hands

One other thing, at a foot and a half, he's probably less than a year old..it could be that he's still getting accustomed to his cage and surroundings. Especially if there's a lot of movement by his cage. If it's by a major traffic point in the house, try move it to a more quite area of the house so he's not disturbed by the constant movement past his cage.

Thanks a lot. We appreciate the help, if we have more questions we know where to go to, and I'll forward her the sticky so she can read it as well, since as of now she is the primary care taker.

In my view, UTHs (heat mats) are much better source of heat than heat lamps..I think direct belly heat is more desireable than higher air temps. They also wont dry out the air as heat lamps will do.

I would definitely advise getting a digital thermometer/hygrometer though..can get them cheap ($12) at Walmart. The analogues are notoriously innaccurate.

JerJax, I am sure you looked at the care sheets by now but just some things to keep in mind. If buying a UTH (under tank heater) make sure you also buy a thermostat or a reo-stat/lamp dimmer switch to go with it as well. UTH's will put out way to much heat and you risk burning your snake! Also the 2 hide rule is really important. A good rule to use is that you can never have to many hides for them so feel free to go nuts!! lol
As far as temps yeah 80 on the cool side that number can drop into the high 70's at night, IMO. You definitly want to maintain a 88-92 temp on the warm side 24/7! Make sure you are measuring your temps on the substrate, the temp on the aspen or newspaper or whatever your snake crawls around on!
Get those things in check man and you just might find you have a more active python and if he has been a picky eater then you might see his feeding response increase aswell! Then again his activity might just stay the same!! lol
Good luck man and send some pics if you got'em!

I believe everything you have been told applies should do you well. Most breeders don't bother with night-time drops anymore, so there really isn't a reason to let your ambient temps fall below 80 degrees, IMO.