just got a new ball python, need help.

[LeiavsLaylo]

I just got my first snake yesterday & im looking for someone who has advice. after i got him i took showed him to the people i got rats from to see what size rats he would eat and they said he was way too skinny. if you could help id appriciate it. he is almost 3 1/2 long. I just fed him a small rat last nite which took him a little while to swallow so im not sure if i should feed him the medium rat which is what the people selling the rats suggested.

[Kmef07]

did your snake have problems swallowing it or did it just take a while. my snake every once in a while is just half ******** when trying to eat and it and takes a while and other times with the same meal size it is really quick. the rule i've always been told is feed prey items that have the same girth as your snake at the snakes biggest point. if you stay around that size you should be fine.

[LeiavsLaylo]

what is the girth? I tryed to give him a bath last nite but i dont think he liked it. it was warm water, not hot, but a good temp for him, prolly about 85 degrees. so idk whats up with this snake. when he ate he swalloed the rat ok i guess it was just very slow. since they said he was too skinny i wanna get him BIG quick but in a healthy way, in suggestions? thanks

[Chu'Wuti]

Is that 3.5 feet long? What is his widest girth? An inch? 1.5"? or more? As Kyle explained, feeding a prey animal about the same body width as the snake's widest body width is a reasonable rule of thumb.

Another is to feed about 10% of the snake's body weight, but for that you need a good scales. If your BP is really skinny, though, getting a good scales to monitor his weight would probably be a good idea.

I'm impressed that you got him eating immediately after acquiring him--that's unusual! He must have been pretty hungry. I'd say give him a few days to digest & eliminate waste (3-4 days), then watch him for signs of hunting. It probably wouldn't hurt to feed him every 4-5 days for awhile on smaller items like your first feeding, then increase the size of the prey item as well as the length of time between feedings so that he eats about once a week. IMHO, putting some weight on a skinny BP is more important than worrying about a strict feeding schedule; once you've got the weight on, then you can establish a schedule.

[LeiavsLaylo]

I havent gotten to measure him yet but i will soon. the rats im feeding him now might be a little bit smaller than his width, but the next sie up rat may be a little bit bigger, but since he is underwieght would it be okay to give him the rat that is just a little bit bigger? he ate last sat, and i noticed he was hunting alot today so i put another rat in his cage and i didnt eve get it set down before he ate it, so i think the snake was not being fed properly.....so i think im going to wait another 7-10 days and give him the bigger rat. thanks for the advice.

[Chu'Wuti]

As he is underweight, I personally wouldn't wait more than 6 days to feed him. I'm glad he's eating so well. Now that he's eaten again today, wait and see what happens; if he starts hunting again in a few days, aim for 6 days and try feeding the larger rat. However, if it is too big, he'll probably either refuse it or regurg it. If he does refuse it or regurg it, then go back to a smaller size for a couple more feedings. If he keeps it down, you're good to go to that size about once a week until he puts some weight on.

Good luck!

[Kmef07]

also with the bigger rat he might be kind of skiddish around it and seem unsure of what to do with it. so don't try and force the snake to eat the bigger rat or leave the rat with the snake for too long because you will stress the snake out too much and might make it stop eating for a while. give it about 5 mins and then offer the smaller rat and if it doesn't eat either wat 4-5 days and offer the smaller one only.

[Chu'Wuti]

Girth is the width of his body (as opposed to the length).

Are you feeding F/T or live?

Trying to force him to eat a bigger rat than he is comfortable eating could actually backfire, as he could refuse to eat if it's too big; that's why I suggested sticking with one about the same width.

Why were you trying to give him a bath?

[LeiavsLaylo]

i've been feeding him frozen rats. and he does really good with them, the last rat went down really easy, sooo im think the bigger rat will be ok, so next week i will try it and if he doesnt ill offer a smaller one. i was giving him a bath to get him warm, clean, and just for him to enjoy it but i dont think he liked it, so i wont do that again for a long time.

[Chu'Wuti]

I imagine he didn't like it. What was the temp of the water? Snakes will feel cool to us, and it could be easy to get the water too warm for his comfort.

They do like to soak sometimes, especially after eating, but they don't like being bathed and really don't need it unless they are having difficulty shedding. If you give him a bowl of water he can get into when he wants, he'll be much happier. Just be sure to wash it and change it daily.

Were you told to only feed him every 7-10 days? BPs should not look "skinny" at all, and your thought that he hasn't been fed properly sounds on target. IMHO, he should not wait too much longer to eat again; I would not wait until next week. You could feed him again this Friday or Saturday if he has defecated and appears to be hunting. Until he has put on some weight, feeding a little more often wouldn't really be harmful, and you can reduce the frequency of the feedings as he builds up his weight. I know some people are all about "proper" schedules and not "spoiling" the snake, but when a snake has not been eating well (as sometimes happens) or appears to be underweight, I personally believe schedules should be less important than health in making decisions about when to feed.

[GoodSmeagol]

Before Mykee sees this, use extreme caution when determining a proper bathe temperature.
Use a thermometer, we are told a bath a little to warm, can cause shock.
Also, if Mykee does come, do not be surprised if he asks "why the hell you would give a snake a bath"
I only do it, if I find it trailed through his fresh crap, or a rat decided to bleed...

[siz]

If you could post a picture of your snake with something for size reference, that would be helpful as well. We can let you know just how skinny it is.

[LeiavsLaylo]

i'm not sure what the bath temp was, but i made sure it was not hot nor cool. ive helped give a friend his bp a bath twice so i knew about what temp to have the water by feeling it. Since i had just got him last week and have no idea when the last time he was given a bath i just wanted to go ahead and do that and he was still sheading a little bit. I think I will offer him the bigger rat this weekend if i see him hunting, but he hasn't moved since i fed him monday. I'm trying to let him be while i'm trying to build weight on him. The sanke definately isnt round and his backbone is sticking out. he is more of a triangular shape. ive been researching a lot and he does seem to be very skinny. thanks for all the help everyone.

[LeiavsLaylo]

here are pics of an empty toilet paper tube to refer to his width. i have a 4ft long aquarium his is in and he just a few inches shy of being the full length.

[LeiavsLaylo]

oh, another ? N.E. 1 know a good morph to breed him with in the future?

[Chu'Wuti]

ive helped give a friend his bp a bath twice so i knew about what temp to have the water by feeling it.

1. Why is your friend giving his BP a bath? Snakes almost never need a bath, and if they decide they do, they can give themselves a bath if you have provided a water bowl big enough for it to soak in.

2. Your hand cannot "measure" temperature accurately enough to ensure the temp of the water is appropriate for a snake. You can easily be 5-10 degrees off in a guesstimate made by using your hand. And in fact, if the water felt neither too warm nor too cold to your hand, then it definitely was too warm for your snake. Your body temperature is about 98.6 deg F. That is HOT to a BP. You were likely burning him.

3. The toilet paper roll & your pics give us an idea of the height of your snake's body, but not of his width, which is measured from his left side to his right side. If you could take a picture from above him, we could get a better idea of his girth. However, his skin does appear to be a bit loose.

4. What is his genotype?

[LeiavsLaylo]

im not sure wat genotype means. i guess its just a normal cuz it was cheap. Yea he has a big waterbowl. I finnally fed him the medium rat and it took a Long time but he got it down. he's looking a lot better and i have backed off from power feeding, so he is eating every 6 days

[Aaron_S]

Since he's technically an adult it's better to go a longer period of time between feedings. I had an underweight borneo short-tail python and I kept her on 7 - 10 day feedings and it took only a few months to get her upto proper healthy size. There shouldn't be a rush to gain weight.

For breeding purposes, anything you want to breed him too. The only suggestion I will make is since he's a normal that you go with co-dominant or dominant mutations as you won't really have to deal with hets.