Hey thanks, thats cool!! Just wait until you guys get comfortable with each other. You are going to love your BP!
Allright so today was feeding day. So I bought a mouse down at petco and took it home. The place I bought her (the snake) from was feeding her pre killed prey. So I had to think of a way to kill this poor little mouse. I couldt just smash it in fear that I might just disable it. So I thought freezing it was the best option, its like going to sleep right?!?!? (Im probably being very naive) So I froze the mouse for about 20 mins and took her out, she was gone so I dropped her in the cage. Pantoufle (my snake) was a little interested in it, smelling it and getting closer and closer. I think she saw me looking at her and so she hid under her log again. After 30 mins I had to be at church so I took out the mouse and put it back in the freezer. Came home and de-thawed the mouse and dropped it in again. I tried dangling it, moving it around with tongs. She got a little interested again, smelling it and examining it. But just went back under her log to watch it. So after an hour of this, I gave up and threw the mouse away. I guess I can try a live mouse tomorrow? She seems to be a very active snake, maybe shes really into the hunt? Was she smelling it and then realized it was dead, and got turned off. I have no idea, Ill give you guys an update after my attempt tomorrow.
One thing you want to make sure you do is heat the mouse up to a good 100 degrees or so. Pythons sense heat and it will sometimes help trigger the feeding response if the mouse is warm. Also, don't freeze the mouse to kill it as it is a painful death for the mouse. I don't know the right technique but I'd do some searching for the most humane way to kill a mouse. Just think about how you would feel freezing to death. Not a pleasant experience. I would definitely not try to feed a live mouse at this point. If you get a feeding response with a live you may have an extremely difficult time getting back to f/k or f/t. Does your petco carry frozen feeders? The one near me does so you may want to look into that. FYI, this will most likely be the thing with your ball that will test your patience. Sometimes it can take a lot of work to get them eating in a new home. I wouldn't try for at least another week and also don't handle it unless you have to. If the try fails wait another week. Don't try day after day as that is more stress and is actually making your job more difficult. Also don't worry about it going a few weeks without food, it's what they do. Just make sure it's losing weight. My ball for the last two years has stopped eating from the end of October to about May and is healthy.
We had Sampson for almost a month (it seemed like about 6 months) before he would eat. a mouse straight out of the freezer won't work. You need to put it in a cup of hot water, and let it get really warm, dry it off, and then dangle it.
"If you decide to pre-kill the item yourself there are a few quick methods available. The first is to place the mouse into a small bag and strike it against a flat object. The impact will kill the mouse instantly and painlessly. It is important to strike the mouse flat against the surface to avoid bleeding. Another method is to place a blunt object behind the mouse’ s head and jerk quickly up on the tail to sever the spinal cord. Suffocation and freezing are other possible methods, which can be employed. If any of these methods seem inhumane keep in mind that the snake will also suffocate the mouse itself and some of the methods described above are much quicker. The death of mice is a necessary part of keeping ball pythons and it is best to get accustomed to this right up front." http://www.ball-python.net/python.htm WOW!!! Thats a long time! I heard the record was a year or something..
I'm not sure of any record but I've read they've fasted for almost two years before. Who knows if that's true, though. :roll: Really I'm not real happy he fasts for that long but I haven't found anything that could be causing it at this point and since he apparently doesn't seem to have any negative effects from it I try not to worry about it.
That's why these animals are so interesting there is soo much more to learn about them. As long as the Ball Python is not loosing weight its ok, but I'll visit the vet just to make sure he is alright.
allright, so Im going to take your guys adivce and not feed her for another week. Today I had to clean her cage because shes had feces in there. There was one thing in her water, which I have to guess is her last meal. It looked like a very small version of a mouse who had not been broken down. At first I thought it was hair, but there was definatley an outline of a mouse. Is it commong for my snake to deficate a whole body like that? I mean, it was fairly small. There were other stools around the cage, mostly white as well. But nothing quite like the mouse looking one. I had to handle her today to place her in a seperate cage for so I could clean. She seems to "like" being handled, or at least curious as to where she is. I dont belive my petco sells frozen feeders, when I asked about feeders the lady kinda got testy and wouldnt say the word "feeder", she just admited that they had very small mice. This ended up being very long. Thanks for all your help guys, I'm glad I have people to talk to with prior experience.
That sounds like regurgitate.....Make sure your temps are okay, and this could happen just because of stress. Did it have a really disgusting smell to it?
No, it didnt have a smell to it, it kinda worried me too that it might be regurgitated. But it wasnt in there last night, it showed up this morning after I had tried to feed her. Is it possible that she got spooked and regurgitated her last meal from a WEEK ago!? There is only the wood smell of the bedding. She "let it go" one way or another in her water. I havent seen her soak in the water once. She drinks from it occasionally but usually trys to pass over it without touching the water.
You're sure it wasn't just hair, right? That's usually what find most of the feces is made up of is rodent hair. If not then you've probably got a regurgitation and I'd get a fecal to your vet ASAP to check for parasites. Like Janice said I'd also double check your temps. When was the last time she was fed? I highly doubt if she's going to regurgitate anything that's more than a few days old. Double check it, break it apart, take a bite(J/K), etc. and make sure it's not just a lump of hair. I'm betting it's just a lump of regular feces. Oh yeah, the white part is just urates, equivelant to urine for us.
You guys are the best, It looked like a clumb of small hair, and I could barely just make out what looked like the shape of a foot. My temps look pretty good, its at 90 right now in the warmer area of the cage. I sprayed the moss to get some humidty going, but it seems allright. She looks fine, she hiding right now in her hide on the cooler side of the cage. She has new water and everything. The last time she was fed was one August 3rd.
Yeah it's probably not a regurge then and if it was it was most likely from the previous feeding. Did you bring her home on the 4th or the day she was fed? See, that right there makes me wonder if maybe the info you got from the seller might not be top notch info. Really that snake shouldn't have even been moved until August 5th which would have been a couple of days after it was fed. Did you see the snake eat or were you just told it had eaten? If you would like to double check the info you got let me know some details about your setup and we can make sure you didn't get some bad info, which happens regularly to new retpile keepers. Temps - both warm and cool end What are you using to measure those temps? Digital thermometer or the round type? Where are you measuring those temps? Near the ground, about half way up, etc. What are your sources of heat? A light, under tank heater, ceramic heater, etc. How big is the tank? What kind of tank is it? Aquarium, Manufactured Habitat, etc. How many hides? Hides made of what and how big? Where are they located? That's about all I can think of right now. I just want to make sure you're all setup correctly.
Wideglide, you are awesome. I got the snake late in the day from LLLReptile in Oceanside California. Supposedly they are an awesome company, and I couldnt complain on how they teated me. I went in and asked all the questions, they told me she is farm bred and that she was about 3 months old. They also told me that they (other snakes in the cage) had just eaten earlier that day. I was a little dissapointed that I couldnt see her eat but I trusted the girl who helped me based on feedback left on thier site. I took her home that day (the 3rd) and let her be for the most part, letting her get used to her new habitat. Temps- Warm end is at 90, cool end is at 84 I am using one of those thermometers that stick to the glass (I know I need to get a more accurate one, money is tight untill payday though) I am measuring near the ground I am using a lamp The tank is a glass aquarium with screen on top, it is 30 gallons. There are two hides, one small carboard box in the cool end and one good sized log in the warm end. The faux rock water dish is in the cool end.
Hey thanks for that! You'll find there are a lot of awesome people here! There are a few things you definitely want to change if you want her to be happy. First, the store you got her from should not have let you take her the day they fed her. That's a common rule of thumb with snakes to not handle them for a couple days after they eat to prevent regurgitation. A snake can't move as fast when it's full of food so when they're stressed, if they've just eaten, they get rid of the food to be able to make a quick escape if needed. Very disappointed they let you take her the day she was fed. That being said there's nothing you can do about it now but you might have a more difficult time getting her settled because of it. Maybe not more difficult but it'll probably take longer. If I were you, if she looks healthy, I wouldn't mess with her for two weeks then try feeding again. I've got some more to say on this but I've got some things I need to go do right now. I'm sure someone else here will add to this but if not I'll add some more tomorrow.
Okay, definitely get rid of that stick on thermometer as those can be off by as much as 20 degrees so really your temps could be waaay off and you wouldn't even know it. Get a digital for about $15.00 at Walmart or somewhere asap. Just lay the probe right on the substrate to get your temps. If you're only using a lamp is it a red heat lamp? What do you use for night time heat? Really you should get an under tank heater as balls need belly heat more than overhead heat. I'd not go with zoomed because you have to adhere them to the tank I'd go with a Trex. You want it to cover about 1/3 of the bottom of the tank on the warm end. Don't use more than about an inch of substrate when you use the uth or heat could build up and cause problems. You also may need a rheostat or a thermostat for the uth to control it's heat output. Really it depends on what the temps in your home are like. You really need to replace those hides with something that the snake will feel comfortable in. Both hides you're using are really not optimal in the least bit. You want to use something that the snake can barely fit into. If you can't find anything then shove some substrate into the coarboard box to take up some of the empty space. Just get rid of the half log or at least put another hide near there. Really a half log shouldn't even be considered to be a hide and instead a decoration. Have you looked into the clay pot bases for hides? Might want to check those out. Do you have any type of humidity gauge? You'll need one of those as well. When you pick up your new thermometer check to see if they have a humidity/temperature combo unit and get that instead. Probably about an additional 5-10 bucks. I can tell you right now you're most likely going to have a problem with humidity because of the screen lid and the lamp you're using. If you switch to an under tank heater you may also need to continue to use the lamp depending again on what your temps are where you live. There are a couple of options for you with regards to humidity. One is that you can cover the screen lid with something like seran wrap or aluminum foil to help contain both some of the heat and humidity. Sometimes this isn't enough though. You may want to go with a humidity hide instead or in addition to the screen cover. Basically a humidity hide is a hide that you've put damp moss in. Something like a small rubbermaid type container or similar makes a good humidity hide. Humidity is important with bp's. That's about all I can think of right now. If you've got any questions on anything let us know. Here are a couple of caresheets you'll want to read and become familiar with. Lots of good info. http://www.newenglandreptile.com/CareBall.html http://www.reptilerooms.com/Sections+index...s-secid-18.html
You need to get a digital probe thermometer. It's a must have. LLLreptile has them if you are close by. Get a under the tank heater, and a rheostat to adjust temps. I swear by UTHs. You can supplement with the heat lamp if needed. But you will need a rheostat for this, this will adjust the current going to your heat sources. LLLreptile has these as well.
Good God, after what seems like forever. I just saw Pantoufle crawling around the cage "looking" for food so I warmed up a mouse from the freezer and dangeled it in her cage, she was immediatley interested. I kinda swang the mouse towards her and dropped it. I swear, she wrapped herself around that thing before it hit the ground. Now shes all wrapped around it and I just left her along. Quickly I grabbed my laptop and headed for the kitchen, turned off the light in the room and am letting her be. How long should this take? I am soooooo happy she is actually going to eat it, thank God. Ill report back when she has acutally swallowed the poor ugly thing. Peace yall.
