Reptile & Amphibian Forums

well i've had my first little girl for about 2 and a half months now. everything in her cage has been on and perfect since i have gotten her. lately, in the last week, i have noticed her "pacing" at the front of her cage, she's in a 38 gallon cage. she just keeps on crawling back and forth in the front of the cage. she also will climb up the wall and just kinda stay there for a while. also she has lately been sitting with her head out of her hides, or on top of the hides, which has not been a usual behavior that i have ever seen her do before. a week and a half ago i got a new bp girl and she lives on the shelf below my first girl (the second is in quarantine and has no visible mites and is going to the vet next week to get checked out, i would have them in separate rooms but where i live right now there is no space for that ). both were just fed two days ago and both are always fed out of their cages, in feeding boxes, so i know it's not because she's hungry.

so my question is that is my first girl smelling the new one and trying to figure out what is going on, or is she just finally really comfortable in her cage and now explores it more often?? or is it something else??

i'm hoping that this new behavior is nothing to worry about, i'm sure it's not, i'm just a nervous new snake mom

thanks for any advice in advance
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~dana~

0.2 ball pythons (roxy and haileigh)
0.1 albino cornsnake (avery)
1.0 cat (whiskers)
1.1 russian hamsters (peanut and tj)

I'd say that she's just more comfortable and explorng more. BTW having her in the same room as the other BP isn't exactly quarantine. There's more to worry about than mites or ticks, worry about IBD.
boapythonfool

yeah i know about the quarantine issue. like i said before i wish i could keep them further away from eachother, but my room mate would kill me if i kept the new one in another room, she's affraid of them, but doesn't mind if they stay in my room. the first girl is in more of a display cage, and the new girl is in a rubbermaid container, with little holes drilled into it for ventilation. they aren't in a rack system, just on these big industrial like metal and wood shelves.

i do wish i could keep them in separate rooms, but i just can't. i had observed this new female at the pet store for about three months, and at that time she was only with one other ball python, and neither of them died and both would eat and shed normally. i know that it can take IBD a while to show it's self, and that's why i'm taking her to the vet this week, or whenever she poops so we can go earlier whenever it comes to handleing them or cleaning the cages, the second female is always the last to be touched, and i clean everything that i used with her off afterwards to seterlize it.

thanks for the reply!
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~dana~

0.2 ball pythons (roxy and haileigh)
0.1 albino cornsnake (avery)
1.0 cat (whiskers)
1.1 russian hamsters (peanut and tj)

Does she explore her cage during the day, or at night? My large male bp alqays comes out after dark to cruise around his cage. I think he's looking for a mate or food, maybe? But by morning, he is always curled back up in one of his hides.
Maybe she does smell the other snake. Although, my two bps seem to just ignore one another when they're close together.
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*~Ginevive~*

If your going to tell her to worry about something then atleast explain what it is!

IBD---Inclusion Body Disease........easy way to explain it, it's like AIDS for Pythons, if they get it, they will die.
IF it is caught early enough in boa's there is an ever SLIGHT chance to cure it.

Things to look for...
Star gazing (just having the head raised up higher than it's body, and just sits there like that for hours), if you roll it over on it's back and it has difficulty getting back over on it's belly or can't get over on it's belly.......

call your best Reptile vet and let them know you are bringing in a snake that possibly has IBD. and when you bring them in they will run tests to be able to tell you for sure.

While in quaratine, do it hosptial style.
Throw away everything (except water dish because it can be cleaned)

Box hides or cleanable buter bowl with a hole cut in he side for entrance, news print or paper towel as substrate, preferably paper towel so you can see the mites easier.

Leave it like this for a MINUMUM of 3 months. Get atleast 2 fecals done, one when you got her, and one before you move her to a permant cage.

Are you going to house your bp's together? I hope not! It is so easy to go get a rubber maid and turn it into a cage!
Do you use a UTH.Do you have a digi thermometer (about 13 dollars at wal-mart) put the probe over the uth (probe on the inside uth on the outside under the tank) if it gets over 90-95 degrees go get a lamp dimmer ($8.98 at wal-mart) and hook it up and take the temps down.

Your snake in the glass tank could be to hot also and just now feels comfortable to go look for a cooler place. go get a digi thermometer for this cage as well, Most if not all UTH will go over 100 degrees and that will cook your snake. Make sure to have 2 hides, and a bowl of water big enough for them to soak in. any other questions just ask.
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1.1 Ball Python, 0.1 motley amel corn

thanks for the reply. before i got my first ball i did a whole lot of research because i wanted to know what i was getting myself into, the possibilities of diseases and behaviors and all of that.

that said, i have checked this new little girl for all of the signs for the IBD. she turns over right away when i flip her onto her back, and she doesn't star gaze either. i do have her in a rubermaid contanier and her temps have the gradient of 95- 79 on the cool side. i am a 3rd year nursing student so i am all up on the hospital style cage, she's got a normal ceramic bowl, hides made out of kleenex boxes and white paper towel down on the bottom for substrate. her humidity is hanging out around 50%. for my first girl her temps also have the gradient and the humidity of about the same as the other cage.

i have watched the new girl for about three months at the local pet store, i used to work there so i would go in about twice a week to visit old friends and to check on her. she always had good sheds and would eat with no problems when offered food, same thing along with the other bp in the cage with her. the one thing was is that since one of the managers that worked there was our reptile person and he was transfered stores, the poor little things were not being feed enough, so i just had to bring her home to give her a better life than that. i have talked with my vet and he agreed that i should wait for her to poop for me, and then we're going to take a trip to the vet to get her checked out. she has been feed two times since she has been home with me, so i'm hoping that she'll poop soon. but i do plan on keeping her in the minimal style cage for at least 2-3 months, and deffiently till i get a clean bill of health from my vet.

thanks again!!
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~dana~

0.2 ball pythons (roxy and haileigh)
0.1 albino cornsnake (avery)
1.0 cat (whiskers)
1.1 russian hamsters (peanut and tj)

she does this at dusk time, which is normally when i'm at home the most to notice it. i'm a late nighter so when i see her doing this i let her come out and crawl all over me, and once we are done with that i put her back in and she'll just start doing it again, unless i place her on her branch, at which point she will just curl up there for a few hours. her temps are on in the cage, so i know that it's not from being too hot, i check the surface temps and the ambient ones daily and they are all with in range.(surface 93-hot and 80 -cool, ambient 89-hot and 79-cool side) she will go back and forth during the day from her warm hide to cold hide at will, and will sometimes go and curl up onto her climbing branch for a while too. she also had a hide in the middle of the cage too if she wants.

thanks for your reply
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~dana~

0.2 ball pythons (roxy and haileigh)
0.1 albino cornsnake (avery)
1.0 cat (whiskers)
1.1 russian hamsters (peanut and tj)