Me and my rescue say hello!

[RosieReal]

Hello everyone!
I've just joined this site a couple days ago, and thought i should introduce myself.
I've just gotten my first ball python, kind of through unfortunate circumstances. I rescued her from a home where she was not being fed/cared for properly. At this point i'm unsure of age, although my best guess is a couple years. the previous owners had her for a year or so. I am saying 'she' although it is an unsexed snake...this is more to make it easier to name her than anything elce, although i've yet to find a name that suits.
I was given the snake in a 10 gallon aquarium (the snake is approx. 3ft long) with a single hide, and a very small water dish. there was a heat pad on the tank, but it doesnt work. the top of the tank was covered with a broken piece of wood and books.
luckily for her, i have a large exo-terra viv. that she's in now, with a couple hides, large water dish and a working heat pad. I've read all the caresheets on these snakes that i could find and have the heat and humidity all within preferred ranges.
I have yet to try feeding her, although because she's been given one sub-adult mouse every 14days for a while she's looking a little on the thin side. i'm waiting untill i've had her for about a week before i try to feed, as i thought that she would need the time to settle in. that will be in about another two days or so. I also have yet to weigh her, as i dont have a scale that would work for a snake her size yet, although there is one comming to me via e-bay shortly. I'm making sure to keep her and her stuff separate from my other snake (cornsnake) and i dont handle them on the same days.
looking forward to my time here, its going to be great getting to know you all!
any and all advice on getting this girl back up to snuff will be totally appreciated.

[rabernet]

Hi and welcome! Sounds like you're doing everything right by this new addition! It sounds like, by her age, she should be able to take a full grown adult mouse for her first meal. I have hatchlings taking medium mice, so with her age - I would think she could handle that pretty well. Or if you can find them, a small small rat.

Please feel free to ask questions, and post pictures!!!

[RosieReal]

Thanks for the welcome! Will do on the photo's! As soon as i take a few pics, i'll post them. like i said, i wanted to leave her alone...so no photo shoot as of yet. I manged to find a couple very small rats, and i have a small mouse that the previous owners gave me when i picked her up.
its nice to hear i'm on the right track. and i do have a question! although its a bit long winded...I was thinking that even though she should be eating bigger meals, that i should work her up in sizes a little slowly...moving up in weight about 50% each meal until she's eating a size more appropriate for her. the rats are very small, but sill quite large compaired to the mice she was eating before. i dont want to rush her, but at the same time i dont want to be too conservative. what do you think?

[rabernet]

Thanks for the welcome! Will do on the photo's! As soon as i take a few pics, i'll post them. like i said, i wanted to leave her alone...so no photo shoot as of yet. I manged to find a couple very small rats, and i have a small mouse that the previous owners gave me when i picked her up.
its nice to hear i'm on the right track. and i do have a question! although its a bit long winded...I was thinking that even though she should be eating bigger meals, that i should work her up in sizes a little slowly...moving up in weight about 50% each meal until she's eating a size more appropriate for her. the rats are very small, but sill quite large compaired to the mice she was eating before. i dont want to rush her, but at the same time i dont want to be too conservative. what do you think?

It's probably not a bad strategy, especially since it sounds like she was really maintenance fed before you got her. You might also want to work her up slowly in size, but feed her like a hatchling on an every 5 day schedule. Once she starts to refuse on that schedule, then move her to once every 7 days.

[exiled reptile]

feed rats way more protein

[rabernet]

feed rats way more protein

Perhaps, but since there are no studies that have been done on the nutritional requirements of ball pythons, there's no conclusive evidence that rats are "better" than mice or that ball pythons require the protein level of rats over mice. More convenient in volume to volume, yes, but better - not necessarily? I raised most of my females up to adult size on mice, with no detriment to them, and there are plenty of healthy mousers out there.

I do feed rats exclusively now, but only because it's more economical for me to do so.

[BPelizabeth]

welcome aboard!! And good on you for saving your new baby!!

[RosieReal]

Thanks everyone!
and i do plan on feeding rats, but as i said, they're quite big compaired to what she was eating before. The plan is rats, once i've worked her up in food size.
I was up waaaaay too late last night just using the search function on this forum...theres alot of info about any topic just there for the finding. I love the reaserch end of anything new...so glad i found this forum. It makes me feel more confidant about my care of my new pet.

[Boanerges]

Welcome to BP.net