Rescued three year old Ball and need Help

[reddsurion]

I took a Ball python in becuase the owner decided he didn't want it anymore. Once I saw the environment the snake was in I could not refuse it. The snake cage had not been cleaned for months and the water dish had green slim in it and no temperature controls for it when the house seemed about 70 degrees. The snake and environment looked so bad I wanted to slap the guy.
Took the snake to the only so called experts in town and other than some skin issues that needs clearing up the snake is fine.
Bathed the snake and put it in a clean and temperature controlled cage and in only the two days I have owned it the snake has been looking much better and is more active.
The previous owner said he had always feed live since he had gotten the snake.
The snake will not eat yet but I figure thats from the stress it been thruogh with being handled and bath and the new environment. I have read were that Balls go for months without eating when stressed. I have tried to feed it but tried with F/T vice live.
Oh yeah just FYI this is not my first snake only my first Ball Python
My question are as follows:
1. Is there any chance in changing it from Live to F/T? if so whats the best way to go about it?
2. Will he ever get to a point he is not so skiddish? He jump everytime you touch him but never has bitten. I have been handling him almost every night for a short period of time(10-15minutes)
3. He is currently in a 20gal long and I was thinking of building him a 2'X2'X4' cage. Is this size cage big enough for him?
4. At three years old he looks small. right now he is about 2 1/2' long How big should he be at three years old?

With the questions that I have asked you can see the "expert" was not much help

Thanks in advance

[Corran]

Its sad to hear stories like that, although I hear similar and worse stories as my friend runs a rescue specifically for reptiles. Now for your questions, Ball Pythons are notorious for being picky eaters. It could be possible but it can be very difficult under normal circumstances, for an abused animal it's a long shot. Give him a week to settle in and try to feed again. Make sure the prey item is quite warm, because of their heat pits some of the more picky eaters will lose interest very fast if the prey is not warm. Building an enclosure would be a very good idea, 2wide2high4long is plenty for any BP, all they really need is enough room to stretch if they feel so inclined, most of the time they just hide. At 3 years old at that length i would say he is a fair bit smaller then he should be. Males usually average 3 1/2 - 4 ft range at full growth which they hit in 3-4 years (although all snakes grow throughout their full life) My female is getting close to a year and she is about 27 inches now. I save question #2 for last because this I have first hand experience with sever snakes. He may be skittish now but there is a good chance that with proper care and handleing he will get better. A very bad case I dealt with involved a 10yr old male. Im a sucker for bp's so when my friend told me about him I had to come see. Monty the ball pyhton had 3 scars on his neck and one on his head all from ciggarette burns. On top of that he also had many many scars all along the lenght of his belly. You havent seen skitting untill you've seen him like he was before. The first time I tried to take him out of his enclosure he made a big noisy protest, but being the big wussies they usually are that's all he did. Before we started socializing him, he would pull his head back so fast if anything within 10 ft moved. Now, 6 months later, he is doing so much better and makes me so happy to see it. He is at the point now that if you go into the basment and start doing anything, he comes out of his hide because he wants out. He will not go back into his hide untill you take him out, leave the room or untill he gives up after a few hours =p There is always hope when a gentle hand is there to help. I hope this helps, best of luck to you, and if you would like more info or have any questions, feel free to ask. (please excuse any grammer, typos, spelling mistakes etc, =D )

[reptiles4me]

Do you know for a fact that the snake is a male? Females can get bigger. My female is 5' long. The dimensions you have for the 2'x2'x4' would be better if the enclosure was longer or wider as opposed to 4' high. BPs aren't really arboreal so they don't need height. I have my female in a 4'x2'x1.5'.

I would also not handle (unless for medical attention) for a week until he gets settled. BPs stress easily and when they're stressed they can be a pain in the keester to get to eat. When you do offer him food after a week or so, I would try the F/T again. It sounds like his previous owners weren't so bright so they probably weren't too strict about a feeding schedule. Do you know when he ate last? If you're lucky, the snake might be hungry enough to just go straight to F/T, especially since he'll be in a clean, warm environment. If he doesn't go for the F/T, I would offer him live, just to get some food in him. You can worry about switching him over once he's settled and eating regularly.

Once he's settled and fed, you can start handling him daily again to get him calmed down. My male was pretty nasty when I first rescued him but with some time and patience, he's ended up being pretty mellow.

It's nice to hear of a BP with a happy ending. He probably thinks he died and went to heaven.

[Edmond Y]

Reddsurion, Good for you to take it over. A 20 gallon tank is just fine for this size of snake. You don't have to worry too much about size of enclosure now because snake can live just fine with every size cage. You may want to make sure you have a hide for him along with the right temp and humidity.
I won't surprise he is so small for three years old because of not feed and live well with the former owner. I won't recommend you to change it into F/T food now because you may want feed him nicely and put some more weight with him. once you find him is in a very health condition, then you can feed him a small live rat and a small F/T rat after he took the live one. He will take the F/T because the first meal is too small for him. change slowly and will see. Get a chance to post some pics?

Edmond

[reddsurion]

He is a male for certain. I had him probed to ensure that. From what the previous owner told me it's been close to two weeks since his last meal. and since I got him his scales have really started looking better and the overall condition of his body has greatly improved. I bathed him and used some ointement on him to him his skin/scales.
He looks alot better than he did the day I brought him home.
I picked up some live prey for him and will try to give that to him. Then slowly convert him over to F/T. Using live prey then Fresh Kill then F/T.
Sorry I think I mislead you on the size of the enclosure I thinking of a 4' long X 2'Wide X 2' high enclosure, Sorry my fault.
Will take pics and post soon

Thanks for all your help

[reddsurion]

Got him to eat tonight. Took about an hour but he did take a large mouse and so I put another one in with him and he took it in ten minutes. Two Large mice in one night now I'm not as worried. I feed him mice hoping to prevent him from regurgitating. Now that he has eating I will try a small rat next time. He is still skiddish but that will go away in time also.

Thanks again for all you help

[reddsurion]

He is looking massively better since a good bath and being kept in a clean tank. Here is a couple of pictures.

[Edmond Y]

It is a great news and he seems quite good , he soon become your great pet.

Edmond

[-okapi-]

You might want to do a fecal float next time he poops, because I doubt the first owner even knows about parasites.

One trick to making a live feeder switch to f/t is to:
1) warm up the f/t mouse in warm water
(I microwave the water for 45 seconds then set it on the counter and drop the mouse in).

2)Then when it is warm, I dry it off with a paper towel (or you could have warmed it inside a floating ziplock bag and skipped this part).

3) Then I take a paper clip and poke a hole in the mouses head, in the center above the eyes but infront of the ears, this is called "Braining"

4) Then I leave it in the snakes tank with its head just inside the hide box, turn off the lights in the room and leave the room for two hours. They usually eat the mouse within those two hours. If not throw the mouse away and try again in a day or two.

That trick worked for me when I was trying to convert a live feeder to a f/t feeder ball python when I interned at the shelter.

[paolo]

Good Job reddsurion! I hate hearing stories like this but on the other hand I like the ending where someone like you comes to the rescue and the snake / pet is now in better hands.


good to hear that he finally ate. keep up the good work and keep us all updated.



BTW, sorry for this weak question, but what does "0.1" Albino mean? the number part of it?

[Edmond Y]

0.1 albino means a female albino. The number code is design for the sex of snake.


1.0 means one male,
0.1 means one female
1.1 means one male one female
The first digit is male, second is female, the third is unknown etc;

Hope this help
Edmond