Noob questions

[TinMan13]

Hey y'all, I'm in West Texas (usually hotter n hell, but even hell freezes sometimes) and this guy at work just walks up and says 'Want my snake?'
'Excuse me?'
'I'm moving, and the new landlord won't let me keep it.'
'What kind is it?'
'A boa. About 4 years old and about 4 feet.'
'Okay. Why not?'
So I did my research on boas, and picked it up. 'I only feed it twice a month, so it'll stay small.'
It didn't look like a boa. Has these weird green alien looking spots, heart shaped almost with two black spots. Didn't look like anything I found until I looked up 'Ball Pythons.'
That's what she is.
Now, she's been kept on coconut husk substrate, but didn't have a hide (I took care of that right off). I gave her a week to acclimate, and then fed her.
But, I'm wondering if once every two weeks is enough, or if she should be fed more often?
And
Is the coco husk okay, or should I switch to newspaper? Or Aspen?

[mr. s]

I prefer coconut husk. It keeps in humidity and is really cheap where I am compared to aspen. Also, I like it more than paper because when the snake defecates, I only have to clean up a section of it as opposed to cleaning out the whole enclosure and having a terrible smell until I do.

As for the feeding, you'll have to give a little more info.
How big is the bp?
How old?
What do you feed it? (Mice, rats, frozen/thawed, live?)
How big is the prey item?

Generally speaking, the snake should eat a prey item as thick as the thickest part of its body every 7-10 days. (Sometimes more, sometimes less depending on situations).

If you could include a picture of the snake it would help us out to know if this snake needs to eat more or if it is looking healthy as it is.

Lucky you, picking up a free snake! Here in canada it does not happen as often; snakes are not as cheap here as it is for you yankees.

[BeastMaster]

Got any pics for us?

I use shredded Aspen, it is absorbent and seems to last well. I change it completely every month and spot clean as needed. I have heard that coconut is good, but watch that you do not keep it too wet or your companion may develop health issues like belly scale rot, not to mention the possibility of respiratory infections.

It is typical to feed adults every 10 days for maintenance, I think only twice a month is probably not enough. You don't have to worry about excessive growth, because it is probably about as big as it will get by 4 years of age.

Also make sure your humidity is at least 45-50% and that you have a proper temperature gradient in its enclosure.

[TinMan13]

Thanks for the suggestions, guys. I'll shoot her this evening when I get home from work and post.
They fed her live, and I did this past weekend, but I worry about the snake getting bit. The previous owners said they would 'stun' the rat by smacking it on the head, I tried that but it didn't seem to work. Is there a 'best technique' for killing the food item?
She's a little less big around than my wrist, so I got a rat that was about that size, moved her to a plastic container, and she fed with no problems, but seemed to have difficulty finding the head, first she tried the foot, then the back, and finally, after some repositioning on my part, she found the head and went to it.
Temperatures are something I worry about, as my house is kinda cold. I have a UTH, but it doesn't seem very warm, and I couldn't find a quality thermometer with probes locally.

[Danounet]

Dont interfere with the actual swallowing process, sometimes if it small enough, they will eat with back first. Untill you provide a picture, all everyone can do is give you text book asnwers.

I feed live and I dont have a problem with it, so I dont know what to say about feeding live or stunned or pre killed or w/e. If you dont like live, then look up to feed it F/T.

[Kaorte]

Temperatures are something I worry about, as my house is kinda cold. I have a UTH, but it doesn't seem very warm, and I couldn't find a quality thermometer with probes locally.

Check out home depot, lowes, or walmart for the accurite weather station with probed thermometer. It is an indoor outdoor thermometer (for your house) it should be in the garden section. If you can't find it, then ask an employee

The UTH is probably getting hot enough. You can't accurately estimate the temperature of surfaces with your hand. Get the thermometer ASAP so you can see some actual readings of the temps.

[BeastMaster]

Best F/T I have gotten yet.

http://loxahatcheerodents.com/estore/

Also, way easier than going to the pet store every week.

And for supplies, here's a few more links.

http://www.reptilebasics.com/

http://shop.reptilegeeks.com/

http://www.petmountain.com/

http://www.bigappleherp.com/

Hope this helps and good luck with your new snake.

BTW, don't forget to post up some pics

[TinMan13]

Hopefully I can do this right.
I added the twenty for scale.

[mr. s]

She looks to be a healthy size and weight. I would say keep up the 7-10 day feeding. Yes, get yourself something to measure temps and humidity soon. I have no idea how to properly stun prey. I feed frozen/thawed, and not only are there no live rats in our entire province, Alberta, it is actually illegal to have any live ones for any reason!