Ball Python impulse buy

[Caramell]

Well guys, my mom, who swore she hated snakes, came back home from the pet store yesterday with a Ball Python she knows nothing about. "Because it was cute." :wall:
I have done a bit of reading on them before, but was definitely NOT ready for this. I just need a bit of feedback with what I have now.

The Ball Python is a bit over a foot long, and we used a spare 10 gallon tank, filled it with aspen bedding, put a half log in one corner and a large zip-lock container in the other corner as the water bowl it could soak in. There's a low power heat pad under the corner with the half log, and so far the temperature in the tank is a steady 81 degrees F. Is everything here good?

The Ball Python is active according to my mom, since last night she went downstairs for something and saw the snake soaking in the bowl and exploring the new small cage. It's got some shed on the whole dorsal area and I think the eyecaps,too, but I think that should come off in time(I bought shed aid just in case).

Now with feeding, am I right to be thinking that I should remove the snake from the enclosure and feed it in a separate container to avoid impaction from the substrate? And I shouldn't handle the snake 24 hours after feeding, right? The feeding chart that the store gave us is complete...poop. The last time the snake ate was July 22nd, but then the chart is blank for 2 weeks, then it says x4 fuzzies and then is blank for another 3 weeks... Then it says that for 3 weeks that the snake was fed, but did not take any food. So confusing. Should I be worried? I've read somewhere that Ball Pythons can go several weeks without good, so when should I start worrying?

And another minor thing: My mother will not be bothered with taking the snake to get probed, so I would just like some hints on the gender of the snake. I read that there is slight sexual dimorphism in the species. Apparently males have longer but thicker tails, and females have short but thin tails and larger heads than males. Can anyone post some pictures for comparison?

I would appreciate any bits of advice!
Thank you.

 

[pitbulllady]

Man, that was NOT a good impulse buy! Most Ball Pythons in pet stores are wild-caught imports and can be virtually impossible to pursuade to eat in captivity.
OK, let's start with temps. 81 is good for the COOL end of the enclosure, but BP's need a higher temp of around 85-90 for the warm end to properly digest food. They need high humidity of around 75% if they are to properly shed and avoid respiratory issues. When you see one having retained sheds, that is usually a humidity problem, and most often, keeping them in the standard glass tank with a screen top is a cause. Supply a large water bowl, keep it full, and place something over the top to hold in humidity. Aspen or cypress mulch substrate will help a lot, too. These snakes like their privacy, so a hide is a necessity, especially if the cage is in a "high-traffic" area of your home.

Start the snake out with f/t mice of appropriate size; try jiggling the mouse by the tail with tongs or forceps in front of the snake first, then if it doesn't strike and begin constricting(which it will do whether or not the mouse is already dead), place the mouse at the entrance of the snake's hide at NIGHT, since these are usually nocturnal feeders. Give the snake a few days first to settle down and for you to increase temps with a proper reptile undertank heater and thermostat, NOT a human heating pad(which have a tendency to catch on fire or shut down, leaving the snake with no heat source at all) and most DEFINITELY NOT a heat rock, which will burn your snake, before you try to feed it. If you try f/t and the snake won't eat, try a freshly-killed mouse, and if that won't work, try live. Many BP's unfortunately will only eat live, including captive-bred snakes. Many WC's won't touch mice or rats at all, but will only eat gerbils or African Soft-Furred Rats, IF they eat at all.

Retained eye caps are a big problem in this species, and can be a really bad health problem, since the retained caps allow infection to build up between them and the eyeball, and the snake can wind up losing an eye, or both. Soak the snake inside a wet pillow case(do not submerge in water)and this will help.

As for gender, with a young snake, it's nearly impossible to accurately determine sex without probing, so if that is important, you'll need to find someone who is experienced with probing Ball Pythons to find out whether it's a male or female.

pitbulllady

 

[Boanerges]

Congrats on your new addition and I sent most of my answers via PM. The only things I did not answer I think was:
No there is no accurate way of telling the sex of a ball python just by looking at it.
When a ball python starts to lose weight is when to worry about it not eating. It is more of a concern with the babies then adults. Also, the store might have not feed him/her for those weeks which could be why it did not eat weekly. I would also try and feed him/her whatever the store was feeding him/her. I wouldn't try to switch yet personally.

 

[Caramell]

Thank you for your replies!
I read the PMs and I'm reading the stickies on BP.net right now.
I bumped up the humidity to 80% and placed a sheet of plexiglass over 2/3rds of the top of the cage and added an infra red(all I have right now) lamp on the other side for more heat.
We're browsing craiglist frequently to try to get a bigger cage soon.
I'm going to do my best with this snake! :worship:

 

[Caramell]

Short little update from me.
The python(now named "Caesar") had now been in our care for six days. I changed the substrate to paper towels, added the heat lamp, and bumped the humidity up to 70%. Hot side is now 93-95 degrees, and the cool side is a constant 80. I replaced her half log hide with a plastic container of a smaller size. The snake has been very active every night, and now sleeps outside of her hide at times, so I believe she is getting used to her surroundings.
We attempted to feed her yesterday night. I thawed the fuzzie, placed Caesar in a separate container, and then left the rodent next to the container to pre-scent the room. At first I held the fuzzie with my tongs and wiggled it around, and when she struck it, I dropped the tongs(stupid noob mistake...:8o) and she missed. Second time she struck she missed completely because I was just moving the fuzzie to a different side of the container. Then I just left the fuzzie in the container, and Caesar found it, grabbed it, skipped constriction(maybe because she is used to eating f/t) and started swallowing. She had the whole thing down and in her system after 5 minutes. We kept her in the container for 15 more minutes, and then when she started trying to get out of the container, we gently put her back.
As of this morning, she is curled up on the cool side outside of her hide. I plan to soak her on Sunday to get rid of the pieces of stuck shed on her back.

How am I doing? I've been spending every day on ball-pythons.net, so I hope I have everything right.