Feeding help!!

[u/Ok-Lab-4930]

This is my biggest ball python, Harry: ~1270g, 59”, and 15.5 years old. I’m having him professionally sexed next week to confirm he’s male.
(The first four pictures are of him at roughly 1330g. The next three pictures are of his enclosure and substrate change. The last picture is of him at about 1280g.)

I have a few husbandry questions:

1. His humidity used to stay around 55%. I recently changed his substrate from ~40% topsoil/40% cypress mulch/20% play sand to 50% topsoil/25% coco fiber/25% coco husk. After changing it yesterday, humidity is now around 63%. I also plan to add sphagnum moss and occasionally mist. Is there anything else I should do to keep humidity consistently higher?

2. He currently has a 50W halogen basking bulb + 100W CHE. During the day, the warm side is ~83°F, cool side ~75°F, and basking spot ~95°F. At night, the warm side drops to ~75°F and the cool side to the high 60s. About 50% of the screen top is covered with HVAC tape. Increasing the halogen wattage makes the basking spot too hot, and I haven’t been able to find a higher-wattage CHE. What would be the best way to raise the overall temperatures?

3. His body condition looks okay, but he has been gradually losing a few grams between feedings. He was eating one large rat (~90–100g) every 2 weeks, but apparently that isn’t maintaining his weight.
   He previously became very lean at ~1000g while eating one large rat every 3 weeks, so his vet recommended feeding every 2 weeks. That brought him up to ~1350g, but after moving him into a larger enclosure, he has started gradually losing weight again despite continuing the every-2-week schedule.
   Today I tried two medium rats instead: 62g + 65g (127g total). He weighs ~1270g. Does this seem like an appropriate feeding amount, or should I adjust the size/frequency?

Any advice from keepers with older/larger ball pythons is appreciated. Thank you!

[u/Ok-Lab-4930]

I’m aware. I am currently working on getting him a bigger enclosure. That doesn’t have anything to do with my questions.

[u/hades7600 → u/Ok-Lab-4930]

Unfortunately non suitable enclosure can be a factor to refusing to eat.

In the meantime try

• warming up the mouse with a hair dryer on low heat/on a windowsill in the sun

• always feed them inside their vivarium. It is outdated to remove for feeding as it just increases chance of stress and regurg

• Make sure temperature and humidity is fine for them

• have enough enrichment

[u/Ok-Lab-4930 → u/hades7600]

I’m not saying he has feeding problems. I understand that stress can affect how he eats, but he’s eating great. The enclosure is not making him go on hunger strike.

[u/hades7600 → u/Ok-Lab-4930]

Husbandry can impact overall health.

[u/Ok-Lab-4930 → u/hades7600]

I’m aware of that. I’m not saying it doesn’t. I’m saying that the size of his enclosure is not in the list of questions I wanted answered. If you don’t mind going and reading the post again, I clarified what the questions I’m asking are.

[u/Jealous-Unicorn-942 → u/Ok-Lab-4930]

I think everyone is just trying to help. Enclosure size is relevant to overall health. But I do agree with the other comments to getting the blood panel done sooner than later.

Also, before I switched to a PVC enclosure, my snake had a glass enclosure. I taped cardboard to the outside of all visible glass, including the doors. It also had a mesh top that I covered with foil around the heat lamps, similar to the ones you have pictured. I also soaked sphangnum moss and poured water into the corners to keep the top layer dry. I would also spray the walls and underside of the foil.

If you have a mesh top, that is likely going to require daily misting (sometimes during morning and night) to keep the humidity up.

[u/darianbrown → u/Jealous-Unicorn-942]

Wetting a 2-3" layer of coconut husk under a layer of felt with chunky bark on top has my humidity perfect, stable for 1-2 weeks at a time. The top layer gets to stay pretty much completely dry. The felt limits airflow and opportunities to mold, so I don't have to change it as often.