Ball python going inactive?

Question

Alright, so I bought a ball python probably 4 or 5 months ago. He was fairly young and small. He ate fine for like 3-4 months and then stopped as winter rolled around. I know this is normal. However, he was also VERY active. I built him a jungle gym out of a PVC pipe system and he loved it(It's temporary until he gets large). He used to climb on it all of the time. Then, last week he stopped. He doesn't do much now. I checked him for mites, nothing. I've been checking up on him and he seems generally healthy. I live in central New York so it's kind of cold, I'm hoping it's just temperature. I've kept his tempurature up there but I've let it drop a few degrees(3 at the most) because I've read that's okay to do. I'm not worried about him not eating but his inactivity has me stressing out a lot. I wake up constantly to check on him.

The humidity stays at about 50-80%, I mist frequently to make sure it stays up there because it dries out quite fast. I also put ice cubes on top of the cage in order to keep it humid well I sleep. I keep one side of the cage at about 90s degrees F and the other side at about 80 all day around. During the night I drop the 90s into the 75s by turning off the basking light. I talked to the guy I normally buy my mice off and he told me to just wait a few weeks and that the eating is normal. So that's what I'm doing. Before he was eating one large mouse every Friday.

Answer 1

It's nothing to worry about, your snake is slowing down because it's winter. He/she will be much less active and probably not be very interested in eating for a while, but keep your eye out for the first time your snake eats like it was starving. My ball python slowed his eating and activity for a few months and when he came out of it he went from eating a mouse every 2-3 weeks to eating 2 mice every 6 days. He went from inactive to active and growing overnight. Also watch the shedding to see if the humidity is appropriate.

Answer 2

Baby snakes are more active because they have to eat more to grow, thus they are on the move to hunt. Adult snakes can eat larger prey less frequently, so they spend the majority of their time curled up hiding, and only come out when in search of food or water. Normal snake behavior.
Are you measuring his temps? Make sure they are accurate both at glass level with the UTH and ambient air temp--should be warmer at one end and cooler at the other. Watch humidity in the winter especially, as things will dry out much faster. Balls need a bit higher humidity to stay healthy and help with shedding. Some excellent info here:

http://www.kingsnake.com/ballpythonguide/

Answer 3

that is accessible that your female is going into shed yet, if she isn't and staying by potential of the warmth source perpetually she could desire to be ill. while snakes strengthen into ill, they'll seek for out a warmth source to help them recover from the ailment. This habit is named" behavioral fever". heat blooded animals can fever on their very own yet, chilly blooded creatures desire a warmth source to advance their physique temps to obtain a fever. pass forward and time table up alongside with your vet and be looking out too for the signs and indicators of an on coming shed. that is a solid concept to maintain your snakes in separate enclosures because of the fact if one turns into ill, gets mites or, has any style of wellbeing situation, the different snake housed interior an identical container would be susceptible to those themes too.

Answer 4

he's probably geting ready to snuggle under something and hibernate mine did the same thing he'll be fine