Hello, im new here. Heres some backround on myself and how Ive come to were I am in the Snake world... Ive been a big fan of snakes since the 4th grade...loved them with all of my heart. In the 5th grade, the 6th grade science club allowed kids to take home some of their animals for summer vacation, so naturally I signed up. I lucked out by getting a 2 foot long Garter Snake named Tiny Tim. Well, 2 weeks before the vacation, someone accidently left the cage open, and Tiny Tim escaped. That sucked, so I guess I had to wait till 6th grade. Well, in 6th grade, I qucikly joined the science club. The teacher hads lots of reptiles, 3 huge Igunas, 3 5' foot Ball Pythons, 2 Burmese Pythons (14ft female, albino, and 12ft male), 2 Bearded Dragons, 2 Corn Snakes, a Rosy Boa, and lots of water turtles. Well, about a month in, we got a Milk Snake. I was allowed to take him home over Christmas Vacation. My mom was against it, mainly because when she was a teenager, she was in florida at a zoo, were they were milking a King Cobra outside. Well, the Cobra got loose, and struck at her. Thankfully, he missed, but my mom has been scared of snakes since. Somehow I managed to convince her to let me take it home. This is were I became a snake fan. Since then, Ive help a few friends with their snakes, but never allowed to own one of my own. Well, when my brother got into the 6th grade, the teacher was leaving the school, and had to get rid of some animals. Well, he got a really aggressive 3 foot long California Kingsnake. Unfair, right? The kid doesnt really care about them, and he gets one. Well, we've had that snake for about 4 years, hes about 4 and 1/2 feet long, and still crazy. Well, two weeks ago my friend had to move, and his mom was making him get rid of his snake. It happens to be a 4 foot long Burmese Python(4 yrs old). Well, story made short, I have him now, my mom accepts him, but still keeps an eye open on him. The snake is really friendly. I can open the top of the cage, and instead of trying to escape, he waits for me to put my hand on the rail, then'll he'll climb up me. He is extremely tolerante, which is as im told, rare for a Burmese Python. He enjoys being held by the family, including my little brothers. Here are some questions... 1)He's been eating live mice right now, should I continue this or try dead mice? 2)The previous owner never gave him a bath. Should I try giving him one? I dont want him to get too scared. 3)Right now, hes sleeps on paper towels, which is good for the young ones. When should I change to something else, and what else. I was thing sand or astro-turf (heard stuff about them). Thats all, a lot of info though, sorry. To make up for it, here are some pictures of him(Burmy). http://img297.imageshack.us/my.php?image=band091tv1.jpg http://img182.imageshack.us/my.php?image=band112ao9.jpg http://img182.imageshack.us/my.php?image=band110po9.jpg http://img182.imageshack.us/my.php?image=band097jh7.jpg My brothers kingsnake http://img297.imageshack.us/my.php?image=band093cy6.jpg
Welcome to the room. Tell me about your set up. How large is the enclosure? What temps do you keep him at? You can try frozen/thawed. A lot of people are switching from live to f/t because live can harm your snake if you don't watch it. Funny story...my friend was wondering what would happen if he left this small sized rat in the aquarium with his turantula. He left for a little while and came back and the rat had eaten all of the turantula's legs off and the spider was still alive and moving but with no legs. Lol. Anyway, A bath isn't nessecary. Although you may want to soak him in lukewarm water when he is about to go through ecdysis (shedding). This will help him shed. That's the only time when I give my snakes a "bath". I know most large snakes don't shed in one piece like smaller snakes do. I don't know what people use for a burm when they get larger. But a juvie you could probably use turf if you want to. I wouldn't use sand though. Maybe bark or aspen...theres always good old newspaper. Can't believe your mom (who's scared of snakes) let you have a snake that gets that large...and could possibly strangle the both of you. Nice snake though.
For substrate, I find that non-adhesive shelf liner works best for me (I have a BP). Just a thought! ~Michelle
Its funny, because she doesnt like the idea of having a snake that could possibly eat her one day. I try to explain to her that its 4 years old, only 4 feet so far, and it has some 20 years to get that big. Its kinda funny, my grandmother refuses to come to our house now...My mom has always known about my passion for snakes, and she has always been a big fan of Steve Irwin, I guess she's lightened up because of him. The aquarium is small, I need to get a bigger one. Its 13in wide x 24 in long and 14in high. Small for his size, but he enjoys it. Hopefully soon I can get something a lot bigger.
I would suggest a lot bigger enclosure soon. He will get big and fast if fed right, for 4 years old he is tiny. Are you sure hes 4 ?. But he looks good none the less, maybe hes got a bit of dwarf in him who knows. I know they are breeding dwarf and super dwarf retics now. But anyway for a snake that small, I believe young, but make sure hes got the right temps, hum, and feeding every 5 days or so and the right sized food. I would put him on just newspaper, with a UTH, and a heat lamp. I believe he is small for 4, and he was either A not getting the temps, heat, he needed or not the right amount of food. I've seen burms that big after a year, and burms do grow fast. He'll be needing a very large enclosure in the next few years. Just a heads up, keep him happy, and you'll be happy. I love burms, just a thought are you going off to college, or anything that how old are you, and when you leave who is gonna care for him if you do go to college ?
Why i say I don't believe that snake is 4 years old, is because this is my friends burm who is only a year and 3 months
Also never use sand, just keep him on newspaper, or you could put tile down once your build him a large enclosure, I can post pics of his enclosure if you like, its around 6ft long, 2 and half wide, and 3 feet high, and to my knowledge most burms are very docile, and well do well with handling, if kept happy. Just wanting you to know how big this snake will get, and how long it will live and hope you have plans for its future.
He's actually 4 1/2 years old, he'll be 5 in June. Hes only 4 foot 5, and healthy. I think its was the way he was feed, usually once a week, that explains his size. No mites. I expect him to easily last another 20+ years, but I dont expect him to get over 20 feet in lenght (think around 15 at the rate hes going) His cage is usually well kept, with paper towels covering the bottom and a nice water bowl. The humidity is usually a little bit less than 60, but always above 50. Temperature never gets below 75, and its usually in the high 80's to mid 90's. The heating light it on a timer. On friday I went to Disneyland for my Orchestra and Marching Band, came home about 11:03pm. Outside was about 45 degrees and his cage was at 79, the lowest its been. I turned on the timer a few minutes early to get the temperature up. On saturday he pooped a big one, and decided to lay in it.. :? So I put him in an extra cage while I cleaned his. Then I decided to give him a bath, which he had never done before. He was fine the first few minute I put him in, slowly checking out the water (water temperature at 90.4) He explored the tub and decided he didnt want to be in there any more. He hissed for a second and I got him out. He quickly calmed down, and I returned him to his clean cage. It was a new experiance for him, and I might try it again soon. Im a senior in high school in southern California. I plan to go to a community college close by for two years, then to a private college in Arizona. I plan to bring him along with me to arizona, where I will continue to take care of him. Attached is a picture of the bathing attempt. http://img395.imageshack.us/my.php?image=band089pg1.jpg
Update: I finally got to feed him on Sunday night. Earlier that day, we moved his cage from the top of the microwave to the top of the entertainment system shelf. We went to Petco, saw a few cute snakes (Baby Ball Python a Sinalon Milk Snake, and a brand new baby Mexican Kingsnake). We got a live mouse for my brothers Kingsnake and a package of frozen mic for my snake. We go home, and we thaw out one of them for him to have(I had called the previous owner to make sure he ate pre-killed mice). Once it was up to temperature, we put it in. It took him a few minutes to find it, but he did eat it. Then yesterday I went to check on him, and he was fine except that he was what seemed as a little bit more jerky. What I mean by this is before he used to see us come near the glass, and slowly come to us. Now it was fast. Then today he was doing the same thing, so I tried to hold him. I opened the top of the cage and let him climb out onto my hand. He starts to come out and heads in the direction of my face. I move my head back, and he slowly moves his head back too. Then he starts to hiss at me and going slowly into an "S" position. (hes only about 7 inches out of the cage). I calmy set him down on the rim of the cage. He stays motionless for minutes. I had my dad watch him while I got out my gloves and a wooden spoon. I slowly then approached him and put the spoon in plane sit, and cautiously touched him with it. Nothing happened. I then slowly lifted him with it and we put him back into the cage. Any ideas on what caused this? Perhaps the moving the cage or the feeding? I wanted to put him in another cage to eat, but it wasnt ready and he needed to eat. Im taking a calm way in taking care of him, trying not to make him feel threatened.
how long have you had him now? a week or alomost a week(or so) right? well did you give him anytime to himself to get settled into his new cage? the recommended time is atleast 1 week. if you kept holding him and moving him around he's probably still stressed out and needs a few more days of leaving him alone to let him settle again before handling by the way congrats on getting him he's a beautiful snake...and you lucky my mom would NEVER let me keep a burmese python...they get to big and tend to eat rabbits when full grown...and i can't have any snakes that could have the capablity of eating rabbits...mice and rats are fine but rabbits are a big NO. again congrats!!
Wow thats a small burm! Not to doubt you but are you positive that hes almost 5 yeards old? Do you know the previous owner or what was the situation that you got him? Not trying to say your wrong or anything but thats crazy for a Burm. Even being fed once a week he should be huge after that long unless he was feeding undersized food items. But looks to healthy for even that. If does stay that small your gonna have to find a mate to breed with and hopefully transfer the genes over that keep them small like that. I want an Albinon Burm so bad. I have the money and everything but not ready for a snake that size specially with my livingin conditions. I do have a few snakes capable of getting pretty big including a Blood Python. As for your question. If you have had him for only about a week I would let him settle in more without any handleing. You can change his water and stuff but give him so alone time to get used to his surroundings. It took my blood python around 3 weeks to get used to his surroundings and eat. Atleast the little guy is eating for you though. Congrats!
He is almost 5, come June. The person I got him from was a really good friend from school, and I remember when he got it because I told my mom that I wanted one and she told me no. He seems very small for a Burm, but im fine with that. If he grows huge, then awesome! If he stays small for his age, well then my mom will be a little bit happier. Ive had him for a little bit over a week. My friend live not even 15minutes away from me, so he wasn't moving for that long. We (My dad and I)took him out after we came home, and he was happy about it. He would curl up around us, explore the carpet a bit, and even my mom held him for a while. Thats pretty much hows hes acted the entire time until recently. He enjoy my familys company when we took him out. Then lately after he ate, his been sleeping most of the time, and when hes awake not really moving around, which was a bad sign. This morning hes moving around like he used too, so I dont think theres a problem anymore, but im going to wait a while before I take him out again.
Well after they eat most snakes are sluggish and not very active. I fed my Blood and Brazilian Rainbow Boa last night and they are lazy for atleast a day after I feed them Same way with my Ball Pythons I guess too. I wouldnt worry to much unless he shows sign of this at other times. Any idea the last time he shed? May have to look for that too. Not sure if your friend ever took him to the vet at all but it wouldnt hurt to get him checked out and get a fecal done. Are local herp vet charges I think 35 for a checkup. I would say worth just getting him checked over for reassurance.
I might do that. He shed two weeks ago, right before I picked him up. This morning he was calm, but I had to go to school so I didn't hold him, and when I came home he was acting jerky again...my dad says to leave him be for a few days...I dunno, maybe hes constipated or something....
Now when you say jerky do you mean like skiddish as in when you reach for him he might jerk away....or when you are holding him he will have lil bursts of his head in another direction? If so I would say he is still getting used to everything. My 06 Ball Python from this year is like that. He just needs handling from me. I would say give him some more time then let him start getting used to being held. First start out with short periods once a day then increase the time and maybe like twice a day. He may seem fine being held right now but snakes dont show emotion to well unless there mad and dont want to be touched at all. Just give him time and maybe get him looked at to be safe. Sounds like you will be a good parent though showing concern about him.
By jerky I meant he would snap his head in my direction after looking in the opposite direction...kinda freaked out my mom.... But we decided to take him out today. He was back to his normal self, very friendly and had no problem being the center of attention for 10 minutes (dont want to push it). He gets to be fed again tomorrow...
I don't think you have a Burm. 5 Years old and only 4 ft, sounds like A Ball to me. My Green is 3 and just over 7ft and she is small for her age. how big around is the snake? Burms Do NOT stop growing if they are in a small tank. I've been taking care of burms for 15+ years at shelters, and own one of the rarer breeds. If it is a burm I'll help all I can. You need to find a reptile vet and verify the speices. Smitty
It's a burm look at the pic, but its weird. If thats thing is 5 then its a new dwarf of some kind, my guess the one you saw your friend have 5 years ago died, and he got a new one and decided hes a like the kid he is that he dosn't want it and gave it to you.
Burmy will be 5 years old around June if I remember correctly...but we re-measured him...and that was surprising. The owner said he was a little over 4 feet long...well, hes 5'2 right now. He had a bad mite problem, but we've taken care of that. He eats fine once he finds his food (after going on top of it for a few minutes) and he still loves to be held.
