Hi All, I am a new BP owner, actually got it for my 9 year old and now I have fallen in love with her!! She is about 2 months old now and cute as a button, such an amazing snake, loves to hang out with us and is quite the comedian. My problem is she tried to eat a mouse backwards today and has been stuck with it in her mouth for about 2 hours now. I know you are not suppose to help her or try to take it out but I am getting paranoid that it is stuck. What should I do? Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated as I don't want my little baby to be in pain!
Best thing you can do is leave her alone, leave the room, turn off the lights and don't go back in for a good hour. She'll be fine, assuming the mouse is not overly large for her size, snakes have been doing this long before any of us were here. I've had snakes eat rats backside first plenty of times, nothing to worry about, they'll get it down. Just leave her alone, the longer you stand there watching, the more stressful it will be.
Update....you were right....leave her alone and 5 hours later we finally have success. I did put a heating pad under her feeding box and just walked out for a few hours. She is fine...call me over protective reptile mom!! Thank you so much for responding.....it did help to calm me down at least. Who knew how attached you can get to a snake in 2 months. Once I get this down I think I see more in our future!!
lol, they arent the smartest snakes in the world. mine always tried to eat her dinner from the side, it takes hours for her to finish eating and imagine how attached you will be 20 years from now
Glad everything turned out okay! I've got two little ball girls (well... one isn't so little anymore ), they really are the greatest!
You're welcome, that's snakes for you, sometimes they make things harder for themselves... They are also addicting, trust me on this one, you can't just have 1...
hello bpElizebeth glad your baby is ok. now you found a room that fell in love with ball pythons a long time ago. you can go back and see my name and see the stupid stuff I have asked. the room is great for answering you. and do not make you feel weird for asking a question. they rather make sure the ball python is ok. you couldn't believe how much you fell for the little one in two month. I have one that is 5,2 1/2 years old,and two spring hatchlings. and at the end of the month I'll have 2 more lol. my husband isnt a snake lover but he humors me rather well. lol. good luck and welcome to the room shy
Thanks shy!!!! I am very lucky in that my husband is almost as into it as I am. I look forward to learning more and more!! And of course probably getting more BP's
I agree with waiting it out. The odds are she had a harder time than expected, got tired, and is just resting. As long as the mouse is dead and there is no chance of a bite, and the snake is still breathing, it will work itself out. As young as she is it's still a learning process. One thing is certain - if you try to take the mouse out she will fight you for it, making her even more tired, prolonging the process and adding to the stress. Let us know how it plays out (or played out, as your post was a few days ago), and don't worry. Jeff
Sorry, I didn't see your post reporting a storybook ending before I posted my last. I'm glad it worked out for you. FWIW, when we got our first snake for our son a few years ago (I've had snakes on and off for many years but none for a long while) my wife reluctantly went along with it. Shortly after she asked if we could get one to keep in our bedroom so she could take it out at night without accidentally waking anyone up. Now we have 5 snakes in the house. They are addicting, as they all have their own subtle personalities, and are beautiful to just watch as well as fun to handle. Be careful or you'll find yourself running out of room before running out of desire for the next one. Jeff
This hobby and animals have a way of turning anyone into a fan sooner or later.... Soon your better halfs will be dragging you to reptile expos and filling your houses with snakes... Thankfully both my wife and daughter love snakes, our now almost 13yr old daughter was raised around snakes and has handled baby snakes all her life. Believe it or not, in my household I'm the one that has to set a budget and limit for snakes every year! Most woman are shoeholics, my wife likes expensive snakes!...
lol, your wife and i have something in common. the snake i want costs about half as much as my wedding budget last i checked ive completly got my fiance into snakes, he is even looking forward to the day i decide to keep venomous snakes ^.^
