Am i doing this right??? Help!!!

Daniogirl · 06-14-04, 03:40 AM

We bought "Lilo" from a reptile show last august as a 14" juvenile ball python. They sexed her for us and said she was about 4-5 months old and was captive bred, and would grow to be about 3-5 ft long.

Well since we've had her,(10 months), we've upgrade her 20 gallon tank to a 48" long 55 gallon refurbished fish tank. Some bone head at the local pet store said.."oh yeah.. use this sand... it's great!!!" it looked great,and was easy to clean with a kitty litter scooper, but we eventually realized that pythons aren't desert snakes<<DUH!!>> , and found out that it can harm them, so, we've recently changed her substrate to bark. Which also looks great!

We had trouble with the tank staying at a constant temperature, it would fluctuate between 60 and 80 degrees on the hot side of the tank. So, we've recently added a red heat lamp which brings the temp up toa constant temp of about 95 and we mist daily with a spray bottle, to bring the humidity up and turned off the heat pad under neath since it's summer time..we are worried about baking her!

Now, our little "Lilo" has shed about 7-8 times since we've had her and she is now 2/3 the length of the tank( so about 3 ft). She is only about as wide as 2 of my fingers (~1.5-2") so i know she has more growing to do. But do ball pythons normally shed so much??? i mean she has quadrupled in size since we've gotten her.

We currently feed her 1 live mouse a week. but we have upon occassion given her 2 mice, which she had no problems dispatching. she is a no nonsense eater,dispatching the mice very quickly (within 30 seconds for the last one).

Since she is still growing so much, and she always seems hungry, if another mouse is available, should i start giveing her 2 mice a week (together or on separate days?) or should i upgrade her to baby rats? her girth doesn't seem to be too big, but when compared to her length, she seems to be skinny for a ball.

i'm guessing she's about 15 months old now, but i don't know if she is at an ok size. and the pet store people here in Woodland, CA don't know anything about snakes, really, muchless carry mice on a regular basis, and i've read my python book but, it's so scientific that it confuses me & i still can't tell if i'm treatingher well. She is alert,eats well, looks healthy (even thought she's little in width), feels strong when we hold her, but she's having difficult & incomplete shed, and i'm just worried that i'm doing something wrong???

mykee · 06-14-04, 08:56 AM

Wow! I really hope the above post is a joke, BUT in the off-chance that you're truly serious I'll help out. OK........

1. Ditch the overhead heat, get an undertank heat source that should cover 25-33% of the bottom of the cage (on one side, not in the middle).
2. Warm side temps should be 90-95 and cool side temps should be 75-80.
3. Buy a digital thermometer and use it. You NEED accurate temps.
4. A 15 month old ball, if fed PROPERLY should be eating 100-150g rats. Get you ball onto rats immediately. DO NOT FEED LIVE. Frozen/thawed or fresh-killed ONLY.
5. Temps should remain constant all year unless you're breeding. Otherwise, leave it. Check them to ensure consistency and leave it alone.
6. Keep humidity in the tank at a constant 60% and as high as 80% when in shed.
7. Normal balls will shed every 6-12 weeks depending on thier diet. I'm surprised your ball has shed that many times with a mouse a week diet.
8. The tank seems to big. a 55 gallon tank is huge for your ball. Get her back into the 20 gallon or get her a 33 gallon tank. SHe can HAPPILY live in a 33 for the rest of her life.
9. Get lots of ides for your ball. One on the hot side, and one on the cool side as a bare minimum.
10. Your ball pythons seems really undersized. By your description, I have 6 month old balls bigger than that. You need to feed her a 100g rat, or 1.5 times the girth of the largest part of your snakes body every 7 days, two if she'll take a second food item.
11. PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE read everything that you can regarding the husbandry of ball pythons, because after this amount of time, a lot of your questions you should know the answers to if you did your research.

Good luck.

Piers · 06-14-04, 09:03 AM

You should try to get her onto rats asap! young snakes shed usually once a month, maybe a bit more, mabe a bit less.
I'd stop spraying the cage down and use a bigger water bowl or even use 2 of them to keep the humidity up.
I'd also look into a better cage and heating system. glass is a poor insulator and I bet you will always be fighting to keep good temps plus if the snake can get close enough to the heat bulb it can get a nasty burn.
look around and see how other people keep their ball pythons to get better ideas and go from there.
Other than that the snake looks fine and is defenetly growing so you're doing something right.
Piers

Piers · 06-14-04, 09:11 AM

Mykee don't forget that her snake is a pet and its not getting power fed to breed. yeah it should be onto bigger meals but at least it eats constently. We see on this forum too often beginers really screwing up. At lest she is doing a decent job and asking the right questions.
Piers

Wish fire · 06-14-04, 10:26 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by Piers
... glass is a poor insulator and I bet you will always be fighting to keep good temps...

what would you suggest is the best thing to keep a ball in that insulates the heat?

Cruciform · 06-14-04, 10:50 AM

Rubbermaids/Sterilites, or a waterproofed wooden enclosure with a glass viewing area.

A good wooden enclosure will give you the advantage of good insulation with a nice view, but you'll have to deal with the weight if you need to move it for cleaning and such.

Wish fire · 06-14-04, 10:56 AM

thank you very much

sapphire_moon · 06-14-04, 01:12 PM

also at wal-mart they have this mylar stuff that will probably keep it insulated pretty well, it's used to reflect body heat.

Also when you use the digi thermometer.

Put it UNDER the substrate, but right over the UTH (which should be on the outside of the cage, the digi thermometer on the inside).

Temps of 90-95.

But a rat a week is good. I'm not trying to breed and I still try to feed a rat a week.

As for over feeding, personally.
As long as none of the skin of the snake (not the scales, the skin) is showing, then it's not overweight.

mykee · 06-14-04, 06:30 PM

Piers, if you think that one mouse a week is a healthy diet for a 16 month old ball python, you should seriously reconsider your husbandry. Also, could you please explain to me your definition of 'powerfeeding".

daver676 · 06-14-04, 06:34 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by mykee
Piers, if you think that one mouse a week is a healthy diet for a 16 month old ball python, you should seriously reconsider your husbandry.

My 12 month old is taking down 100-120 grams rats, and is roaming around looking for more 4 days later. She gets fed every 7 days or so.

mykee · 06-14-04, 06:37 PM

I've got a few 900g, 10 month old pastels (one male, one female) who consistently eat 100-120g also. BUT I guess we're "powerfeeding". Shame on us....

Piers · 06-15-04, 08:50 AM

easy mykee, if the snake is growing its doing fine,some of the oldest snakes I've seen 20 years + all were fed a modest amount. Ie one 200 gram rat for a ball python or 1 adult rat for an adult male boa a month. Their is a direct coralation between overfeeding and longjevity.
We use the feeding responce in ball pythons that "eat now because their might not be food for another year.
Most ball pythons in the wild only eat for a few month a year and only breed every 2-3 years pluse it might take a female 5 or 6 years to get breeding size and weight.
That being said you are right the snake can and should be eating larger meals. I've noticed though that my ballss that only every two weeks of so are less likely to go off their food unlike the balls that I feed 1-3 times a week.
Piers

sapphire_moon · 06-15-04, 09:00 AM

I am sorry, but if you are feeding your adult ball python more than once a week (especially 2-3 times a week) there are problems........IMO only
all my snakes get offered food ONCE a week. thats 4 times in one month. Sometimes they eat, sometimes they don't.

Piers · 06-15-04, 09:13 AM

sapphire I have ballpythons that eat only 2-3 times a year(adult males) and females putting on weight for breeding. If a ball wants to put on weight I feed them as much as they want. I also know my snakes and most of the ones that will eat more than one meal a week will go off their food soon. Could be in a week or a month, but they will go off for up to 6 months in extreem cases but they never look the worse for it.
90% of my snakes are fed every 1-3 weeks depending on size age sex type of snake and so on.
I have 60 + snakes do you really think I could aford to feed all the snakes 3 times a week even if they all wanted it? Let me tell you most of them would lol.
Piers

mykee · 06-15-04, 10:04 AM

Piers, so it's a money issue? Also, who said anything about feeding their snakes 3 times a week? Rather than telling my balls when to eat, I let them tell me when they want to eat. If they will take a second food item, I will offer it. It's all a matter of personal choice. My theory is this; when I was a kid, the food was put on the table and if we wanted more, we could help ourselves to a second helping. I've been to places (restaurants for example) where the food is put on your plate, and once you've eaten it, you're done, still hungry or not. I prefer to feed my balls via the first route rather than the second.