Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I have a ball python that is about 3 years old, im not sure. Any way, i have her in a 45 gallon tank with one hide rock, and one humidity box. Large water bowl and repti bark for substarte. I have fake vines and cork bark for looks in the cage. The warm side of the cage is about 85-88 degrees and the cool side is about 75-78 degrees. The humididty is between 60% and 70 %. But im gettin very frustrated because she never comes out of hiding. When i feed her i have to lift the rocks up and get her out then feeed her the rat which i feed about once every two weeks. The only time i have ever seen her out is when she wants to soak. She never comes out at night either like my kingsnakes do. I know ball pythons are ground dwelling snakes. But is this normal? I have had her for about 8 months now and she has always done this. I dont breed so i was lookin for a larger snake that actaully can be on display. I am getting very frustrated with this snake and i want to sell it but if im doing something wrong then i would like to correct it. Whats going on?

"Chris sorry for the long post

That's the nature of ball pythons - they hide a lot (I'd guess about 90% of the time). They feel more secure in their hides rather than out in the open. He probably comes out a bit when you're asleep as they are nocturnal. I personally think your temps are too low. Should be more like 90-95 on the warm side and 80-85 on the cool side. And those are belly/surface temps. They're not as active as kings.
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Check Out My Albums

1.0 Ball Python "Aragorn"
1.0 Kenyan Sand Boa "Gimli"
1.0 Saharan Sand Boa "Frodo"
0.1 Rough-Scale Sand Boa "Arwen"
0.1 California Kingsnake "Gentoo"
1.0 Mexican Black Kingsnake "Indigo"
1.0 Snow Corn snake "Chile"

0.1 Australian Cattle Dog/Pointer
"Kira"

I'm at the other end of that stick. I have a BP male that won't go in his hides-period. I know my temps and humidity, etc. are perfect. I have no clue why hes such an outie. Maybe its because I rescued him out of the street and he ran wild, dunno. She sounds like a good match for my male, lol.
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"Isn't sanity just a one-trick pony, anyway? I mean, all you get is that one trick: rational thought.
But when you're good and crazy, man, the sky's the limit!"

1 BP Rescued from street
1 Double-yellow headed Amazon Parrot
2 Tiels
6 cat rescues
1 Cocker rescue
What can I say? They can see the invisible "Sucker" tattoo on my forehead, lol.

LOL. Maybe he's just happy to have a nice home? My Bp was very active for the first couple of weeks and then seemed to settle in to be a typical 'lazy bp'.
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Check Out My Albums

1.0 Ball Python "Aragorn"
1.0 Kenyan Sand Boa "Gimli"
1.0 Saharan Sand Boa "Frodo"
0.1 Rough-Scale Sand Boa "Arwen"
0.1 California Kingsnake "Gentoo"
1.0 Mexican Black Kingsnake "Indigo"
1.0 Snow Corn snake "Chile"

0.1 Australian Cattle Dog/Pointer
"Kira"