Help with young darwin

[rodreagos]

Hi guys/girls,
I bought a baby Darwin carpet yesterday set up small plastic enclosure with bowl, heatmat and hide. This morning when I woke (bout 7 30am) the snake looked happy patrolling round on top of it's hide. Bout 8am he went back in his hide I went out got home bout 1pm and he was still in his hide couple hours later I got him out of his hide and handled him for a good 5-10 minutes and all he was trying to do is get under my tshirt or my quilt ( in the dark) i put him back and he hasn't come out. It is now 8pm

Is this normal?? Are darwins more nocturnal???
I have heat matt under hide side and thermometer in cage is averaging between 25 -28 degrees.

A quick reply would b great as I'm kind of worried as a first time snake owner

Thanks

 

[Eddie2257]

pythond tend to hide alot so its normal for a small python to hide. i only see my hachie coastal when i feed him othwise he is hiding. also you should let him settle in befor you stat handling him give him about 2 week then start to handle.
good luck
Eddie...

 

[pythonmum]

Most carpet pythons are active at night. It is normal for a baby to hide during the day and hunt at night. You can use this to your advantage and he is more likely to feed successfully at night.

 

[Raddy318]

im not to sure with darwins, but i have a diamond youngin and a bredli youngin. they both seem to come out at night aswell.
im not sure how true this is, but ive been told by a snake breeder not to handel young snakes for over 2-4 minutes as it may cause them to stress out.

darwins are awsome snakes tho, hopefully have one in my collection soon good luck with your baby! you will want more soon haha

 

[rodreagos]

Thankyou for the quick reply and tips. Wasn't sure if he was too cold or what have spent the last 4 hours googling it haha
Thanks

Also how long should I wait to feed him as I don't know when he was fed last. I am goin to try him on pinkies? Any tips with feeding would be muchly appreciated

 

[Em1986]

I just got 2 darwins on friday as well (they are hets from last season) and i have barely seen them yet as well. I don't even know what their patterns look like properly yet lol.
I haven't tried handling or feeding my 2 yet either as you should usually wait a week or so for them to settle in before doing those things otherwise you may stress it out and then end up with feeding issues.
Contact the breeder and ask when it was fed last. My 2 have been fed on a fuzzy rat each week even though their heads look tiny they must be able to handle it i guess. Ask the breeder what size and type of rodents it was fed on as well because mice smell different to rats to snakes and you want to try to keep it the same as what they are used to.

 

[pythonmum]

A newly hatched Darwin can handle a fuzzy mouse, so I would not bother with a pinky. Feed whatever the breeder was feeding, so that it has a familiar meal. If you cannot find out what that was, weigh the snake and choose a food item that is 10-20% of the snake's mass. However, you need to give it a week to settle in. Don't handle it for 2 or 3 days after feeding. Depending on the snake, you can gradually work up to longer handling times. The first priority is to let it settle in and establish feeding. When that is going well, work on increasing the handling frequency and length. That can be frustrating, because you really want to handle your new pet! Try to be patient.

 

[rodreagos]

thanks everyone for your help i was only handling him because the breeder said there would be no problem with this. ive heard so much stuff on the net one person says one thing another person says another. all good. ive got a little branch in his enclosure but wanna spruce it up and chuck some leaves in can i treat any leaves like i originaly did with the branch by letting it soak in boiling water or should i just buy some fake leaves.

stupid question i know but knowing my luck ill put something in there and he'll poke his eye out or something

thanks

 

[maddog-1979]

i put gum leaves in my enclosures, just pick em fresh of the tree, then bake em in the oven for about an hour at 120degrees. just to make sure no little bugs or anything gets inside, that should stay outside. alot of people just put em straight in fresh, but i'm a bit anal like that

 

[pythonmum]

I sterilize everything. I use cheap fake vines from the local shops to spruce things up for decor. I just twist them around the branches. In a click clack, they are happy with plastic grid to climb on and a cardboard box to hide in. It doesn't have to look nice to offer the exercise and comfort they need. You can get a lot better than that for display, however! I generally use soufle dishes or casserole dishes as water bowls because they are easy to sterilize and cheap at Kmart or similar. My adult Darwins have ceramic lasagna dishes as water bowls - big enough to crawl into and to provide adequate humidity.

 

[Cockney_Red]

Keep it clean....

 

[Tegstep]

There's no stupid questions. Only stupid people I love that quote
I wouldnt be handling or feeding for the first week. Let him settle in, will make for a much happier and healthier snake in the long term.
I'd also crank the heat up just a little. 27-29C is a nicer temp zone for a baby. Many people keep these guys too cold, and they are so prone to resp problems and feeding problems at this age.

 

[rodreagos]

Cheers guys hes feedin really well left him for a week and handled him the other day no signs of him being stressed or snappy he was just happy to crawl around my arm. Then fed him next day so left him to digest that without me interupting him. Ive only got a small enclosure so far. Will be building him a bigger one soon as I'm moving house. No point of setting up a good tank then having to dismantle it.