Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Sheesh..can someone please help me. I am the proud mommy to a 3 month old Ball Python (oh he's the cutest little thang!) Well I purchased him about a month ago from a pretty reputuable place. He has not eaten but up until recently had been drinking regularly and also had a BM which makes me believe...he's healthy. He's very friendly...let's me pet his head...isn't skitchish at ALL! He actually was very active moving all around and exploring.

Well not that I've given you the 411...the problem is about a week ago he started staying in his log ALL DAY long. Not coming out and constantly balled up. He's also VERY lethargic. He's not really drinking and he keeps trying to bury himself under his mulch. I don't know what to think this is my first snake and I don't know what to do....

I recently changed his mulch because the one kind was scratching up his scales...but with this new mulch all he does is bury all day long. He won't come out of his log and when I take him out now...he seems nervous and very anxious. And then I put him back in his tank and he's looking to hide again. And the temperature is very hard to maintain in our house for him...but during the day it's about 87 degrees. But it's like he's cold or something.

Can someone please help me with any advice..of course I'd be willing to try anything at this point. The only things I've done recently differently from before was I changed his mulch and I let him swim around in a warm "bath". Oh I'm so sadddd...

you said the daytime temp is 87 what is it dropping down to at night if it dropping lower than 75 you might be causing him to go into hibernation,it has been my experience that no matter how much you try to regulate lighting and temps an animal instintivly knows the changing of a season. after a long night of being cool/cold he wont be very active. I recommend if you dont already have one an undertank heater to stay on 24/7 and a heat lamp during the day do you have a good temperature gradient in the tank,also bp's are nocturnal so he may be hiding during the day but 20 minutes after those lights go out he might be all over the place,you say he has not eaten either, a baby bp can be givin a pinky mouse as a first meal if givin to large a food item especially as a first meal it might be intimidating to him. what size tank is he in i would put a pinky mouse in his tank at night b4 you go to sleep and if he is not drinking soak him for about an hour 2x a week to prevent dehydration if you have any other ?z you can email me nyhellraiser@earthlink.net also make sure he is not by a drafty window that can cause an R.I