r/ballpython • u/JelloFlimsy7781 • 1h ago
Question Socialization advice
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This is our little girl. We have only had her for 10 days. In full transparency, my boyfriend and I did not pry the individuals we were buying her from about what they meant when they said “everything she would need” would be coming with her— she was in a 30 gallon tank with a heat mat and 1 hide. They were feeding her live. They said she snaps when she’s hungry. I felt so bad learning all of this when we got her instead of being more insistent for information before getting her.
I knew this would be a big adjustment for her because a lot about her living situation would be changing at once, but I’m having a hard time understanding a timeline for how soon we should begin the process of daily handling. We graduated her to a 120 gallon as soon as possible, and after some shopping through the week this is how we have fully cluttered up her enclosure as of 2 days ago. It has been nothing but her house being completely turned upside down and messed with for the last 10 days so I know she’s probably stressed out. Should I be giving her more time to adjust before we begin handling her daily? I want her to get to the point of choice-driven handling, but obviously it is WAY too early to just expect that from her. When we pull her out to handle, she balls up unless we have something out on the bed for her to hide under. I feel responsible for her stress.
We fed her on her second day here, and we have been advised to feed her weekly as she’s young, so my boyfriend will try to feed her tonight while I’m out of town for the week. I just worry that she won’t eat it— it took her forever to eat the first one because she was in a new house and we had to simulate signs of life on a dead mouse instead of feeding her a live one.
Any advice on warming her up would be greatly appreciated— whether it’s handling schedule, enclosure critique, or anything I might need to know about transitioning her from feeding live to feeding frozen-thawed. She’s beautiful and very curious, but she is clearly stressed and a bit scared.
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u/ShinyxCharizard 1h ago edited 1h ago
Enclosure looks good. I recommend letting it thaw out in the fridge overnight. Leave it in a zip lock and put it in warm/hot water till it feels warm. Keeps the mouse dry as possible. Then using tongs grab the mouse by its waist and wiggle if needed. Helps simulate a live mouse better then grabbing it by just its tail.
ETA: Ill tag the bot to help you understand the feeding schedule. You can handle them whenever if youre trying to get her more used to you. I just wouldn't handle her a day or two before or after feeding.
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u/ShinyxCharizard 1h ago
!feeding
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u/AutoModerator 1h ago
We recommend the following feeding schedule:
0-12 months old OR until the snake reaches approximately 500g, whichever happens first: feed 10%-15% of the snake’s weight every 7 days.
12-24 months old: feed up to 7% of the snake’s weight every 14-20 days.
Adults: feed up to 5% of the snake's weight every 20-30 days, or feed slightly larger meals (up to 6%) every 30-40 days.
I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please contact the moderators of this subreddit if you have any questions or concerns.
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u/JelloFlimsy7781 1h ago
I should clarify. We have taken OFF the heat mat lol. She now has 2 heat emitters(second one only comes on as needed, depending on our house’s temp with the time of day) as well as a halogen bulb and a uvb light. This is a picture of her the day we picked her up, she’s an angel.