Acclimating your new Baby Ball Python:

When you receive a new ball python, it is important to set it up in the correct environment so it can acclimate and begin feeding. Our ball pythons are raised in plastic boxes within a rack system. These boxes are usually not very big. Babies are housed in 6-quart containers. Larger juveniles and subadults are housed in 12–20-quart containers. These boxes are opaque so only diffused light enters them.  These conditions are ideal for ball pythons. In the wild, these snakes spend most of their time in rodent burrows, rock crevices, hollow logs, etc. They feel secure when in close quarters and get stressed when they are in big, open spaces. The best way to set up a new ball python is to replicate how it was housed at the breeders. However, most people that are keeping an individual, or perhaps several ball pythons, prefer to house them in larger display cages in a naturalistic setup. That way they can more easily observe the snake's feeding and behavior. It is not difficult to acclimate ball pythons to this kind of setup, but it does take a little patience. First, it is best to make sure you have hides setup in the enclosure. The snake will probably spend most of its time in these hiding places. Make sure there is one on the warm side of the cage and another on the cool side. Newly acquired ball pythons normally begin feeding within the first week or two. However, the stress from shipping and being placed in an unfamiliar environment can sometimes make the snake go into a non-feeding mode. This is nothing to panic about, if there are no other health issues with the snake. Newly acquired ball pythons should not be handled unless necessary for the first couple of weeks, or until it has fed several times. Handling is somewhat stressful to a ball python, even if they don't show any signs of stress. Ball pythons that are stressed tend to go off-feed. Allow the new snake to adjust to its new environment slowly.

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Temperature:

Regardless of the type of caging you choose. It is important to create a proper environment for the snakes. The ambient cage temperature should be 82-85 during the day, with a slight drop at night.  A hot spot should be given that stays a constant 89-92 degrees. A Cool Spot of 75-80. It is very important to make sure there is a temperature gradient, so the snake can choose whether it wants to warm up or cool down. Rack systems are generally heated with heat tape or heat cables. Most racks have tape or cable on each shelf in the rack. This must be connected to a high-quality thermostat to control the temperature. A thermostat is probably the most important piece of equipment you can buy.  Don't risk using a low quality, cheap thermostat. A thermostat that fails could lead to the deal of your snakes.

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Humidity: 

Ball pythons require a fairly high humidity. 50-60% works well for them. Conditions that are too dry can result in health problems. They will have a difficult time shedding and may retain patches of old skin over their body and eyes. You will know when the humidity is high enough when the snake sheds all in one piece. That is a great sight for a ball python keeper! Low humidity can also cause respiratory infections (RI). Signs of RI are wheezing or foamy discharge from the mouth. Minor cases can be cured by raising the temperature and humidity in the cage. However, most RIs should be treated with medication from a veterinarian. If your cage has a lot of ventilation, such as a screen top, you'll want to make sure to provide plenty of extra moisture to help keep the humidity level high enough. Some types of bedding, such as cypress mulch, retain water fairly well. Wetting it down once or twice a week will help keep the cage humid. A humid hiding place is also very effective. We use a plastic box with a hole cut in the lid large enough for the snake to enter and leave. Moistened paper towel or sphagnum moss is kept inside. The paper towel should be changed once or twice a week. If sphagnum moss is used, it should be re-wetted once or twice a week. The snake will spend a lot of time hiding in the box where the humidity will be higher than in the rest of the cage. There are several types of bedding that can be used with ball pythons. Newspaper and paper towel are good choices. It is cheap or free to replace. You can replace it whenever the snake defecates or as needed.  The drawback to this type is that it doesn't look natural. Newspaper and paper towel work best for rack systems. Aspen bedding is another popular choice. It is very clean and easy to see when it needs to be changed.  However, it tends to mold easily when wet. Since the humidity level of a ball python's cage is fairly high, this can sometimes cause problems. Pine and cedar shavings should never be used. These produce a gas that can be toxic to reptiles. Cypress mulch is an excellent choice. It retains humidity very well and is very unlikely to get moldy. It also has a very natural appearance and looks great in display cages.

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Food size and feeding schedules:

We feed our hatchlings pink/fuzzy rats. We only offer mice as a last resort if the hatchling does not take to rats. We try to get our babies to take rats at an early age. Ball pythons raised on rats tend to grow faster than those that are raised on mice.  Once a baby has started feeding on rats, we no longer offer it mice. We feed most of our ball pythons once a week. This includes our babies, juveniles, subadults, and breeders. If there are any individuals that we want to grow and mature quicker, we will sometimes offer them an extra couple of feedings each month. The size of the food item should be roughly the same diameter as the thickest part of the snake. On an average feeding schedule a 60–75 gram hatchling can easily reach 600-700 grams by the time it is a year old. Many ball pythons go off-feed for several months after they are a year old. This is normal behavior for this species. When ours do this, we continue to offer food every 7-10 Days. After several months, most of them will resume feeding.

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Getting problem-feeders to eat:

If a particular snake (Hatchling) is a stubborn feeder, and absolutely refuses to eat, it is best to try to figure out why. Is the cage setup ideal? Is something causing the animal stress? Does it want a different type of food? It sometimes takes trial and error to figure out the problem. We've had ball pythons that would refuse to eat anything. Then, we moved them from one rack to another, and they fed within a few days.  One trick we've learned with feeding picky babies is placing them in a deli cup (with airholes) with a pink/fuzzy rat and leave them overnight. Sometimes, being in close contact with the prey item for several hours does the trick

 

MAIN THINGS TO FOLLOW WITH YOUR HATCHLING

1. MAKE SURE HUSBANDRY IS CORRECT

2. DO NOT HANDLE. LET THE BALL PYTHON SETTLE IN! NO STRESS!

3. ONCE SETTLED IN OFFER FOOD. IF THE BALL PYTHON DOES NOT EAT TRY AGAIN IN A FEW DAYS. IF THE 2ND ATTEMPT FAILS GIVE A WEEK TO TRY AGAIN! PUT IN A SMALLER CONTAINER ALSO AND PUT IT IN THE DARK AWAY FROM EVERYTHING!

4. DO NOT HANDLE FOR 48 HOURS AFTER FEEDING!

5. REPEAT STEP 1

 

ALL BALL PYTHONS THAT ARE PRODUCED BY US ARE FEEDING ON LIVE RATS. IF THEY ARE NOT IT WILL STATE THAT INFORMATION ON THE FEEDING CARD/CHART.

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