New ball python

[LadyLockeout]

Greetings.

A friend of mine recently gave me a 3.5 foot ball python named Oscar. I've been reading up on their care, but I'm finding lots of very conflicting opinions and wanted some "live" advice, as it were.

Oscar doesn't come out at all any more, even at night. He's still alive, I can see him breathing under his log, but he just stays there, even when it's dark and the house is quiet. I know that BPs are nocturnal and shy, so I'm not reaching in after him or trying to force him to interact, I just want to make sure he's alright.

He's currently in an 18x18x24 exoterra terrarium, with two heat bulbs (one for the day, and a lower temp red for at night). During the day the temp in his cool spot is between 78 and 81 degrees, with his basking spot between 90 and 95. At night, his cool spot is about 75, with his basking spot around 82-85 degrees.

During the day his humidity stays between 40 and 60, but at night I have seen it drop as low as 30. Do I need to do some husbandry adjusting? Said friend never really gave me much detail before he jetted off to another state, I only know that Oscar came from his brother who was getting rid of all of his reptiles, and that his last known feeding date was "possibly the 5th of June". Is it too soon to try feeding him again? I haven't been able to get a length or weight on him because I haven't wanted to handle him too soon in a new environment, though R (former owner) claimed to have him out of his enclosure quite a bit interacting with him without problems.

Any and all help is greatly appreciated. I want to make sure Oscar lives long and happily, and I really don't want to screw it up!

http://i137.photobucket.com/albums/q234/LadyLockeout/Oscar.jpg

[Snakefood]

how long have you had him at your house??

[maximus30576]

My ball pythons will take spells and stay hid for a while . Eventually they will come out and prowl around though usually at night .. I wouldnt be too worried yet .How long have you had him and has he ate yet ..

[LadyLockeout]

He has been at my house since about 6/11/12. I have not offered him food yet. Previous owner said he was live fed, and picky about having to have male mice. :confused: I'm hoping to transition him to pre killed or f/t.

[maximus30576]

Never heard of one only eating males ....I would try switching him to rats while your at it , but it may be too late .. i have one that will only eat live and he was grown when i got him and i cannot get him to eat a f/t ..

[Snakefood]

He has been at my house since about 6/11/12. I have not offered him food yet. Previous owner said he was live fed, and picky about having to have male mice. :confused: I'm hoping to transition him to pre killed or f/t.

He should start settling in soon, sometimes they take a bit to readjust to a new place.

secondly at 3.5 feet, he should have been switched off of mice EONS ago, especially if they were feeding every 3-4 weeks, I can't imagine how many mice it would take to keep an adult BP healthy. That's crazy

Try to switch him over to rats ASAP, when switching from live to F/T, I would start by stunning the rat, once he is taking that start offering fresh killed, once he is taking that offer F/T. this process can take quite a while but is definately worth it in the end.

[LadyLockeout]

What's the best (most humane) way to stun the rat? Also, are there "feeder" rats like there are feeder mice?

[alessia55]

What's the best (most humane) way to stun the rat? Also, are there "feeder" rats like there are feeder mice?

You can buy frozen dead rats at most expos and some pet stores. If you want "fresh killed" rats to help with switching over to frozen/thawed, some reptiles stores will have live rats that they are willing to kill for you. This way you don't have to do the killing yourself.

[alessia55]

Also, 30% is too low as far as humidity goes. The humidity in the enclosure should never drop below 50%. Ideally, it should be between 55-60%, and up to 70% when your snake is getting ready to shed.

[LadyLockeout]

I have nothing against killing the rats myself if necessary, I just want to be able to do it as humanely as possible.

As far as the humidity goes, I have a large bowl of water in there with him (container is 8"x6"x2" and about 3/4 full) and I have the screened top blocked with aluminum foil except where his heat lamps are. Is there something else I can do to up the humidity besides get an auto mister, or is that my only option? His last shed was sometime in March (that's as specific as I was given). He's starting to look a little dull, so he may be due?

Thanks for all the feedback! I want to make sure he's healthy, I love snakes! :)

[Snakefood]

best way to stun a rat is either to knock it on the head, or put it in a box and shake the box. I personally knock it on the head to stun when need be, then when you move up to fresh killed, you do the exact same thing except you "knock" it harder. this is usually done by taking the rat by the tail and smacking it onto a hard surface, the difference between stunning and killing is just how hard you do it.

when I am doing fresh killed, I knock them seconds before putting them in with the snake, this way the last of the pulse is still there along with the proper heat signature, and usually the nerves are still twitching.

Some switch over very easily (my Spider gal went straight to F/T, with only my leaving the rat in her viv overnight) My Pastel is still insisting on fresh killed, although I will keep trying the F/T as that is my prefered method for feeding.

And listen to Alessia about the humidity, she is smack on!!

[Snakefood]

I have nothing against killing the rats myself if necessary, I just want to be able to do it as humanely as possible.

As far as the humidity goes, I have a large bowl of water in there with him (container is 8"x6"x2" and about 3/4 full) and I have the screened top blocked with aluminum foil except where his heat lamps are. Is there something else I can do to up the humidity besides get an auto mister, or is that my only option? His last shed was sometime in March (that's as specific as I was given). He's starting to look a little dull, so he may be due?

Thanks for all the feedback! I want to make sure he's healthy, I love snakes! :)

my humidity does drop below the required %'s. I combat this with having a permanent humid hide in thier viv's. get a tupperware container that 2 snakes of it's size will fit in, and then fill it 1/4 with damp eco-earth and 1/4 with damp moss, my babes spend about 1/4-1/2 the day in thier humid hides and feed and shed well.

[LadyLockeout]

I checked just now, his eyes are dull blue. That indicates it's time for a shed, correct? I'll be misting his enclosure more than usual tonight, and I will make him a humid hide box. For tonight will damp paper towels be alright, then I go get moss tomorrow, or should I avoid paper towel all together?

[LadyLockeout]

I am pleased to report that on 6/30/12 Oscar had a perfect shed, and on 7/5/12 he had his first feeding here at my house with no trouble, no fussing, and no complications.

:) :) :)

I appreciate everyone's help. I look forward to giving Oscar a long and healthy life.

[maximus30576]

Thats great to hear !!! now it will all come easier to ya ..

[alessia55]

I am pleased to report that on 6/30/12 Oscar had a perfect shed, and on 7/5/12 he had his first feeding here at my house with no trouble, no fussing, and no complications.

:) :) :)

I appreciate everyone's help. I look forward to giving Oscar a long and healthy life.

That's great news!!!! :D

[LadyLockeout]

Thank you. :) I was a bit worried about the feeding because I know he was used to mice, but I described him to the guy at the reptile place I frequent, and he gave me a small feeder rat. I figured I would try it live before killing it, and Oscar hunted it like a champ. One strike, nailed it straight in the eye, had it suffocated in under a minute. I did have to reach in with tweezers at one point when a rather large piece of bedding got caught in the rat claws, but Oscar didn't regurgitate or panic, he just stopped swallowing long enough for me to tweeze it out and then carried on. I still want to transition him to f/t, but I'm glad that he'll eat for me. I was really scared that he wouldn't.

\o/

ETA: Next feeding I will put newspaper down to avoid the bedding issue.

[TinkerbellsMom]

you can take him out and put him in a separate box, tub, shoe box; etc. so the bedding won't be an issue.

[Valvaren]

If he ate fine in the tub he is in I wouldn't bother with a feeding tub.

[Lankyrob]

Putting the snake in a separate tub to feed is stressful for the snake and you then have to lift a snake that A) has eaten and B) is in feeding mode back into its viv, not worth it in my mind :)

[TalonNC]

Goldie(My BP) Feeding Tub days were very short lived...especially after he began to smell the bucket(even after washing) and go into feeding mode before i could get him in.

[Wildside]

It's so good to see other people who don't believe in tub feeding. Dumbest thing I've ever heard IMO.

[StudentoReptile]

It's so good to see other people who don't believe in tub feeding. Dumbest thing I've ever heard IMO.

Ditto.

Again, another useless snippet of garbage perpetuated by people with no experience.

[LadyLockeout]

It's now been 5 days since his meal. Is he safe to move? I really want to get rid of his old substrate, I have no idea how long his former owner had him on it, and it's starting to stink. I don't want to risk him regurgitating though.

[StudentoReptile]

It's now been 5 days since his meal. Is he safe to move? I really want to get rid of his old substrate, I have no idea how long his former owner had him on it, and it's starting to stink. I don't want to risk him regurgitating though.

Oh yeah, he's fine to move now. The minimum period is 24 hours, while many suggest 48 hrs.

But 5 days is plenty of time for that meal to settle. You're good to go!

[MoreliAddict]

It's now been 5 days since his meal. Is he safe to move? I really want to get rid of his old substrate, I have no idea how long his former owner had him on it, and it's starting to stink. I don't want to risk him regurgitating though.
Depending on the meal size, I give my snakes 2-3 days off after eating. 24 hours is probably fine to avoid regurge, but I know my snakes just like to digest for a while after eating so I don't bother them.

[KSTAR]

Great news!! keep us posted and dont worry he will be just fine in no time....

[Wildside]

Ditto.

Again, another useless snippet of garbage perpetuated by people with no experience.

Have you ever asked any of these "separate container" believers why they feel it's a good idea? The answer I got was more ridiculous than the practice itself.
More than once different people have told me to do this so the snake will learn not to strike upon opening the cage :O_o: Way to throw this age-old predator's hunting instincts right the **** out the window!

[LadyLockeout]

Thanks. I put him in on new bedding, he seemed confused that it wasn't the large pieces of bark, but burrowed back under his half log readily enough. He was fun to hold for about 10 minutes, before I put him back. Didn't want to overdo it, but I got a measurement on him of about 45 inches.

[LadyLockeout]

Just a further update. :)

Oscar had his second successful feeding at my house on 8/5. \o/

He is now appearing to be comfortable enough with the ambient noise in the house to come out and bask a bit during the day instead of just hiding. I went over this morning to switch from the red night light to the regular day light, and he slithered right out to say hello.

http://i137.photobucket.com/albums/q234/LadyLockeout/OscarHi.jpg

I've held him a couple of times, and he seems to prefer to coil up around my wrist and just lay his head on top of my hand. Very docile snake.

[alessia55]

All good news. Thanks for the update! :D