My little one arrived!

[limey]

My little one arrived yesterday, she's a very rich dark colour like dark chocolate.

She's cute though, that's for sure. She's quite active and very nosy! Always wants to know what's happening! Pops her head out the hide every time she spots me.

So it would seem she's settling in well so far. Had her for about 18 hours now.

What I would like to do is replace the DIY rock hide on the cold side with a bigger hide from Petco as she can't fit her whole body underneath... it's not big enough for her. So I will do that this afternoon without disturbing her too much.

Then I'll give her a shot at feeding tomorrow evening.

(More, better pics on the way later)

[Wildside]

Looks pretty good, Congrats!

[dbassa]

Cool! Ball pythons are awesome, imo. Keep us updated.

[snake man12]

Nice limey. What prey size are you going to feed your cute little friend, hoppers??

[limey]

Nice limey. What prey size are you going to feed your cute little friend, hoppers??

Yeah mate, hopper mice to start out until she gets some girth on her. When she's grown some, then I'll start her on rat pups/ weaners.

I've heard that rats are more nutritionally complete.

[snake man12]

Yes and It can be hard for balls to switch from mice to rats

[Lankyrob]

I would go with appropriate sized rats from the off, saves having to chang eit over later on :)

[snake man12]

I agree with Rob. Just remember pythons can handle very large meals. Have a lot of fun with the ball. Cheers Zach

[limey]

Problem is... she's already been started out on mice before I got her and I have several hoppers in the freezer which I bought.

I'll use up the hoppers and we'll see about changing her over ASAP.

If she's as hungry as she is nosy, then we shan't have much to worry about.

What a nosy, inquisitive little girl she is... :)

[alessia55]

Major congrats!! I know you've been waiting for her to arrive for a long time ;)
So glad you're enjoying her. Switch to rats as soon as you finish up the mice you bought. Good luck, keep us posted, and let us know if you have any more questions along the way :D

[snake man12]

Oh it doesn't need to be switched immediately finish up the mice and slowly wean it over to rat pinks

[limey]

Aww man... I fed her just now. She ate the hopper mouse no problem... EXCEPT she also ate some aspen shavings along with the mouse!

Is this really bad?

Lesson learned, I should probably feed her in a separate tub. Hope nothing bad happens now.

Do you think she'll be ok?

[alessia55]

Aww man... I fed her just now. She ate the hopper mouse no problem... EXCEPT she also ate some aspen shavings along with the mouse!

Is this really bad?

Lesson learned, I should probably feed her in a separate tub. Hope nothing bad happens now.

Do you think she'll be ok?

She'll be fine. Unless she ate big chunks of it, she should be ok. In the wild, ball pythons don't have a clean area to eat off of. They might eat their prey with leaves, dirt, etc stuck to it. Only large pieces are of concern.

Don't bother with feeding her in a separate tub; this can be stressful for the snake. You might also entice a bite, since she might remain in feed mode after feeding. And you have to deal with moving a snake with a full belly.

If you're really worried about her eating the aspen bedding, feed the prey item over a plate inside her enclosure.

[limey]

Okay thanks. She did eat several shavings, and they weren't exactly tiny pieces. But we'll see.

Hopefully she'll be okay.

[millertime89]

How big are we talking? Could you place similarly sized pieces next to a quarter for scale? Like Alessia said, I wouldn't worry too much.