WEll if you have been following my posts. I am new to the BP's. Just got her a month and a half ago, maybe. She shed last week. I fed her. Held her once, twice, maybe three times. Went to hold her tonight. And she shed again. That is about once a week. Is this normal? I fed her again tonight. I need to find someone that will sell me one or two F/T rats of appropriate size. Then I can see if she will switch to FT rats. She did eat a Live rat pup if you remember. So since she does eat FT mice. And ate a live Rat. Is it a stretch to get her to eat FT Rats? If not I will just order some. The only reason I have not ordered sooner is: Some say that they will not take to Rats, let alone FT Rats. And most orders that are cost effective are 25 or more rats. I just hate ordering and finding out she will not eat them. And there is NO one local that sell FT Rats of appropriate size. They all sell live. And I do not want to start her on Live Rats and have her develope a preferrance. So does anyone have any suggestions. Or could I ask a favor and have someone that has placed a order for FT rats that will sell me just a couple plus shipping? must be doing something right since she is shedding so often. LOL Thanks, Radena ( I am in Oregon)
Shedding weekly certainly is not normal. Often it is a sign that something is wrong. Be it mites, internal parasites or other health problems. I suggest a trip to the vet and a fecal. I dont know who is telling you they wont take to rats, but they could not be more wrong. Some Balls can be picky and will only want rats or mice, but the vast majority will readily accept either. I currently have 17 ball pythons in my collection and every one of them are rat eaters. I have fed rats to my Balls since I got my first one in 1980. I have taken in a few rescues over the years that were mice only eaters, but like I said, the vast majority will eat either.
Sounds like she is not going to be a picky eater. Out of my 8, 1 will not eat mice, and the others eat whatever I put in front of them, even my hand if it smells like rats LOL. You could always freeze one yourself there are a number of humane ways to do it. And a vet check is in order, like Sharp said
I don't see any mites. I do think she is thin. So parasites could be possible. And the guy I got her from had gotten her from Petco. And who knows what they sold him in regards to substrates and such. Can they be impacted like Beardys do sometimes? If so would a soak in the tub move the bowels like it does beardys? She only has pooped once since I got her. And it looked like mostly urates. She like to stay on the warm side of the tank. It ranges 85 to 90* Depending on how warm the days are here. She can move away if she wants to. But rarely does. Thank you for your help. I will check with my vet. Next I will need to know how to administer wormers. LOL
If she isn't bloated, I would not worry about the poopage department yet. How often are you feeding? How big is this snake? From what I've read on your post, I would offer her f/t rats every 5 days. You could ask the place where you get your live food to prekill it for you. Take it home, freeze/ thaw and feed. Sounds like she needs to gain a bit of weight. Once she is a good size, you can cut back her feedings to every 7 days. If she is a larger snake eating tiny meals, she won't have much poop anyway. You really do want her on rats. I have 1 mouse eater in my collection and she cost me between 6-8 bucks each week in live mice. My others cost me less than 2.50 a week for large f/t rat. I am apparently the only person in the world that mice will not stop eating their babies for. Wild mice out of my ears, but I won't feed those to my collection.
