Meet my BP!

[arkuden]

first of all let me do a little intro and what not. This is my first time to this site and it was a little hard to even find the forums here but ive heard references to it over the net and thought it could be cool. Everything so far seems correct too!

In may of 2004 I made the plunge after about 4 months of researching and thinking and got my very first ball python. He came overnight shipping from a great guy named Brandon from albinomophs.com and i couldnt have been happier with the business i got. So with out further adeu.. I present to you Echo in picture the day i got him.

Echo 1 (http://arkuden.com/echo4.gif)

cute isnt he? Followed by a few more pics shortly after him getting used to his new setup.

Echo 2 (http://arkuden.com/echo2.gif)
Echo 3 (http://arkuden.com/echo1.gif)
Echo 4 (http://arkuden.com/echo3.gif)

those are just a few. Since having him, there has never been a dull moment! I dont claim to know a lot about BPs and welcome any advice given. Im finding somethings contrary to my inital research now that i actually own one and i still look stuff up often which brought me here.

I currently feed him baby mice that are no bigger than 2x his head, although one time he took down a fat baby rat and i couldnt believe it. Pet store assured me he could and they were right! He has shed twice now as hes very young yet. His frist shed went totally awesome and not a single problem. Im guessing it had a lot to do with the cypress mulch substrate. I had many problems with that and the water dish in there. (my first exp. with mites, although none of them got to echo.) It made me question how well cypress multh would work in the future, so i got a new water dish and started using paper towels becuase it was easier to spot poopies and clean. Hes been able to put away a live baby mouse every few days for the past few months. I didnt want him to eat live for the longest time but he refused to eat after trying the first f/t mouse after tossing it back. Finnaly i thought i would try a baby mouse (so tiny with closed eyes and mouths yet) and he took it with lots of enthusiasm. I bought a few adult mice and started breeding them for echo only :) Since then hes been a health BP! Im going to take some new pics tomorrow of his custom stand and new tank setup and of course; pics of Echo himself.

Just recently he had is second shed and it didnt go so well. It came off in parts. very small parts. He got most of it including the eye caps... i think (hard to tell cuz the eyes look clear) but he couldnt get his tail end. Ive been giving him warm water baths but he HATES them. As soon as hes in he floats to the side and makes every attemp to get out. Could it be just not enough humidity to begin with, should i switch back to cypress? Hope you like the pics!

[Ptindy]

Arkuden, nice BP! Nice light gold on him. I'm no expert or anything, but I've had my own BP for 3 months myself. I would get him on weaned or rat pups ASAP. When he's older you wont want to feed him 4 adult mice to fill him up when you could do it with one large rat or whatnot. My BP's first shed was in pieces as well, I grabbed an emptied out tupperware container or margarine container (can't remember) and put holes in the top. I then filled it with warm water and let him soak for a while. After that I emptied it out and put wet warm paper towel in there and put the lid on. After 30 minutes he finished off his shed. Since, then I've kept him in a rubbermaid to bring the humidity up when he's going into shed and his last shed was perfect. I use aspen shavings and they don't hold moisture very well and he still shed in one piece. I would just spray him a lot more during his shed period. One more thing, I hope his aquarium isn't by the window permanently. Sunlight and aquariums are like a green house, good for growing green stuff and cooking reptiles. Have fun with your BP

Mike

[Vengeance]

You may want to take a few other things into consideration....

1) Aquariums are not very good for keeping hummidity. If you provide a humid hide it will help with the sheds, but I'm assuming you have a screen lid so if you don't get the hummidity up to around 50% - 60% you are going to have constant shed problems.

2) You should add another hide. That way your snake doesn't have to choose comfort over security.

3) I can't tell from the pictures, but how are you heating? Looks like you are only using a light for a heat source. In custom cages, a single light may do the trick to keep tempatures where they need to be but in a glass tank I think you'll find that it is not as easy. My suggestion is to get an UTH (UTH = Under the tank heather). These can be human heat pads or the ones you get at your local pet store, just don't stick it too the glass.

4) I would ditch those little stick on thermometer and hydrometers, they are usless. Get yourself a good digital thermostat hydrometer, if possible with an external probe. You need to know exactly what the temps and hummidity are, espically in your hot spot.

5) If you do switch to a UTH, you are going to need a dimmer/rehostat to controll the tempature or your going to burn your snake, also again why you need a good thermometer

6) Food is too small, feeding on baby mice is much to small a meal. Rat pups would be a better source or small rats. As for feeding live, as long as you feed live responsibly, it can be ok. Few pointers feeding live, if it can bite, restrain the prey item as to avoid injury. Never leave the prey in overnight, allways watch to make sure nothing goes wrong. Feeding F/T is a prefered method as it is much safer but done properly feeding live can be ok.

[arkuden]

thanks for the replies!

The tank is a hard acrylic tank with a latching screen top and the heat source is a UTH that was made especially for snake tanks. Once i graduate from college and get my own place where im making a steady amount of money then ill be investing in a nice custom case and getting everything grand. There is a second hide spot now on the opposite side of the tank thats not heated but more humid. Ill try to get some new pics up tonight for ya so you have a better view of how it is. im in a different place now than when the pics were taken cuz of school

Thanks ill go see if the pet store has any good thermometer/hydrometer. Would the ones at places like target, wal-mart...ect... do the trick or get one from a pet store?

Where can i find a dimmer at?

I wont ever leave a live mouse unattended in a cage, i always watch to make sure Echo has grabbed it and firmly coiled around it before i think of looking away and usually hes feeding in a plastic tub by my feet so i can easily see. How would you restrain a mouse or rat. Ill look into seeing if i can get rat pups around here. I was afraid to try and feed those live becuase they are so much smarter and could probably do a lot more damage.

Thanks for the advice and ill see about getting some new pics tonight!

[nita]

The ones at walmart or home depot are great! Home depot type stores also have the dimmers.

[Brent Strande]

Where are you located in Minnesota?

[arkuden]

alexandria, mn


I just went to the pet store and got a hopper rat. Im taking some pics as we speak. The pet store said that echo would be able to eat it just fine but i think the thing is just to big for it. Im posting some pics very quick here. Echo's strike on the rat was not a clean one and let lots of room for the rat to fight back. he started chewing on echos back and so i flicked it hard in the head and it stoped for a few seconds like it was knocked out and then went back at it. So i flicked it again and... wow i dont think echo can eat this. Below this pic ill be attaching some photos of echos cage taken today and his eating process right now. Hope this helps. Im kinda scared

[arkuden]

OMG HE ATE IT!!! w00t!


ok here they are guy sorry for the blurry ones and for the long load. My website isnt ecactly fast or anything.



http://arkuden.com/echo10.JPG http://arkuden.com/echo11.JPG http://arkuden.com/echo12.JPG http://arkuden.com/echo13.JPG http://arkuden.com/echo14.JPG http://arkuden.com/echo15.JPG http://arkuden.com/echo16.JPG http://arkuden.com/echo17.JPG http://arkuden.com/echo18.JPG

[Vengeance]

Whats wrong with the back of your Ball pythons tail? Looks like either is has stuck shed or has been bitten numrous times on the back. Can't tell due to the blurryness, but the safest way to feed a live rat is restrained, you restrain a rat with a pair of hemostats, you grab it by the scruf of the neck and then pin the rat down the bottom of the cage so he can't move. Then once your ball has a good hold of the prey item with the head in its mouth hopefully, let it go.

If you don't know what Hemostats are they look like this....

http://www.atozsurgical.com/images/160-786_t.gif

You can pick them up at any medical supplies store or possibly at something like a Shoppers Drug Mart.

[arkuden]

ok ill have to do that.

yes his tail was the remainder of a bad shed. Hes been really grumpy about getting wet recently so i didnt want to strain him anymore that he already is. Im going to get a warm wet towel to try and help it off once hes done digesting a bit

[arkuden]

ok so a bad thing happened on sunday. I was moving my apt. around and what not becuase i felt the need for a little change i guess and while i was moving stuff echos cage got bumped and spilt most of his water, and sometime soon after that his power switch was bumped shutting off his UTH. So i see that hes sitting in cold water and waiting to be taken out and i quickly finnish moving my last item so i can move echos tank and clean it out for him too. I reach in to grab him and all im pulling him out, he snaps and manages to bit my other hand. It totally took me off guard! I can imagine he was pissed at me for letting him sit in the water for that short amount of time. Thankfully i didnt jerk away and he let go pretty quick but it still stung quite a bit and left a good staple looking mark on me, after i cleaned the blood. I cleaned his tank and put him back in very cautiously and now he seems a lot different in how he acts. If the room is dead silent he will just lounge and round and be lazy like usual, but if he sees any movenent at all he gets in the position that you can see in the last pics i posted of him in his tank. Underneath that sloped rock. If i go in to pick him out he will get back in a S shape where it looks like hes ready to bite if i get any closer, i dont really want him to bite again, and its almost making me afraid to pick him out of his tank. Does anyone have any ideas of how i should handle this?

[Artemis]

Uhmmm... Well to start, Im assuming you fixed the heat source issue so he isnt in there freezing now :)

With regards to his diposition, there are a couple of possibilities here. One is that your snake is quite hungry. I would first offer him food first, and see if that takes care of things.

If this still doesnt do the trick, leave him alone for a few days. Sounds like he needs a break from all the excitement.

[arkuden]

yeah since i have fed him the baby rat that you can see in the pics above. Im letting him chill for a few days and relax a little bit. The apt. im in is having major heat issues this year and i may have to go get extra heat sources for echo this winter.

[zero&stich]

If you have the stomach, and I mean this litteraly :) if not trying to switch to froz I suggest tryin pre-killed and offer that to your ball since readin, that the rat had a clear shot of possiably causing damage.

How I go about prekilling and I mean quite litterally, killing the snakes meal myself, is taking the rat by the tail and using a thick "Stick" I use a thick screwdriver and pin the nape the animals neck down, where the backbone is connected, with the screwdriver or anything that is sturdy since a rats neck is very strong for the animal it is. By pnning the neck down on the rat and pulling or jerking the tail very hard you should hear a "crack" that is the backbone giving away/dislocating it causing the animals demise. Unfortunatly even though the neck has been snapped, the nerves can cause the animal to kick. Sometimes I find I have to repeat the same procedure to make to sure the animal is pretty much dead. Sometimes the "jerking" from the nerves can aid in the reaction to the snake.

I highly suggest you find a person who knows what pre-killing an animal entails and the proper way to go about doing it and to show you step-by-step and having to try it yourself. Fair warning though, at least for me, if the rat isn't pinned firmly down, a bite could happan and it hurts far more than what a ball could inflict.

Btw, I enjoy looking at your rocky hide with the cermanic bricks piled up. Good shedding feature to :)

[arkuden]

ill see if i can get the pet store to show me how to do it becuase i know they feed pre killed to their snakes. The ceramic bricks i really enjoy and each time i clean out his tank i make a new little place to hide. They also hold some of the UTH heat as well so when it gets really cold these things provide a lilttle bit more than looks. They dont get very hot either so its not a problem like a heat rocks issuse. Thanks for you help

[Linds]

You don't necessarily need someone to show you. Most methods are pretty straightforward, and unfortunately, only experience/practice will help to perfect it. I kill most of my prey by putting it in a pillowcase and wacking it as hard as I possibly can three times quickly off the cement floor. I do it three times in case I didn't get it on the first hit, I don't want to waste time checking, but rather get it over with as fast as I can. Smaller animals will not require as much force, rat pups tend to split this way. Small prey you can dislocate their necks by pinching really hard and fast on their neck to 'pop' their head off the spine, or by pinching their brains in to the back of their body.

[arkuden]

ok, as long as some nerves are still twitching then echo should go for it. He had no problems going from mouse to rat and still could care less either way lol