So I've crossed over to the Dark side...

[BroknBusted]

Just became a proud owner of a beautiful 2 month old female BP. I will post pics later of her. I was told she is a normal, but the lady I got him from said there was something unique in her markings but I don't recall what she had meant. I owned a BP when I was WAY younger, but it has been decades since I have had any snakes. I am still a bit nerveous about her becoming settled in.

Anyway, I brought her home Thursday. She has a new cage, but from reading this sites forums, I see I need to do some changes to it. It currently has a under the tank heater, a day light and a nite lite, a hide, water bowl and a nie climb. I realize now I need to get a thermostat and a better thermometer and humidty gauge.

So, I was told she eats every 2 weeks one live pinky and Friday was her day to eat. I hadn't found this site yet and didn't realize about acculmating her for a week. So I did hold her on Thursday and Friday, even though I realize now I shouldn't have handled her until she settled in. Friday she was out of her hide when I got home so I put in the pinky and within seconds she took it ( and I realize now I got lucky she did and doesn't seem to have issues eating!).

Since Friday, she pretty much stayed in the hide. Last night she was out for about an hour or so. She seems to be doing well and adjusting without any issues I can tell of.

I am concerned however over a couple of things.

First, is it usual for BP's to remain "inactive" a few days after feeding?

Second, I can not get her set up with a thermostat until later this week. Her tank temp has been mostly at 85ish. However, I have had short periods where the temo has dropped to 72-75ish for about half hour at a time ( when changing her water, checking on her when she wasn't coming out of her hide). Will short drops in temp like that affect them?

Third, is feeding her every two weeks to long in between feeds? I've seen on here people who say feed evey 3-5 days and once a week. Like I said, when I did feed her, she didn't wait more then 30 seconds when she went for the pinky.

Fourth, what is a good weight for a 2 month old? I would like to mointor her weight and planned on weighing her starting next week.

And lastly, how often do you guys handle yours? I have read that you can stress them by handling them to often. She is VERY friendly. The times I have handled her, she has wrapped herself around my wrist and looks like a snake wrist watch! No issuses with her trying to get away from me or biting or anything that seems like she does not like being handled. In fact, when I go to put her back in her tank, she doesn't seem to want to let go. When she does get in, she either goes right to her hide or goes to drink.

Lastly, I want to say this site is the BEST I have found in researching BP's. I am very impressed the knowledge base that is shown on here and look forward to being a part of the community!!

Jay

[steveboos]

Well first off welcome to the site.

A 2 month old ball python will only weigh around 100-200 grams, possibly as high as 325 grams if a really good eater. I would feed your little ball python ever 5-7 days. Since she was been deprived of enough food, it might be a good idea to offer some mice fuzzies or rat pups to her instead of pinkies.

As far as the temperature is concerned, once you get a good thermometer and get the actual temps, that is when we can best help you.

Even though you already know you shouldn't have held her, just leave her alone for about 10 days now so she can calm down. At least 7 days, just leaving her alone, offering food every 5 or 7 days. Since she is such a good eater, i don't believe handling is going to be an issue, but i always prefer to have a settling in period with my snakes.

She SHOULD be inactive a few days after eating, especially since she was so deprived of food before. I would let her chill out 2 days after you feed her from now on.

Your going to want to get 2 tight fitting hides and a water bowl in her tank. The branches and other decorative items are fine, just make sure she has a hot side around 90 and a cool side around 78-80.

[BroknBusted]

MUCH thanks Steve for the info and suggestions!!

I plan on posting pics of her cage setup as well as her soon. I don't know if her hide is to big or just right. I already have the water bowl setup. The termostats and guages will come later this week.

She is eating live pinkies now. Do you think it would be to soon to try her on the next feeding with a frozen one?

[Alexandra V]

Congrats on getting a new BP!

A week without a thermostat isn't going to harm her really, it's not the end of the world as long as you get one as soon as you possibly can. If I were you I would ditch the lights and just stick with the undertank heater, as that's all they really need. Most heating devices are well capable of surpassing 120 F where as a ball python actually only needs about 90...

Pinkies are far too small. If I were you, I'd stick with live though just to get her to eat, but maybe bring up the prey size. Either way, once every two weeks is way too far apart for feedings for a 2 month old in my opinion. She's still young and growing, so you'll want to move her up to every 5 days, or every 7 days at least.

As far as weight goes, there's no set averages because each animal is an individual and they can vary greatly. Personally when thinking of weight I tend to remember that most ball pythons weigh about 60g out of the egg, and there should be quite the growth curve over the first few months of the snakes life. They all grow at different rates, so as long as she doesn't look thin (like her body starts to look triangular) then I wouldn't worry too much.

Snakes are really good at being on powersave mode, especially after feeding, so it's completely normal that all your snake wants to do is lie around for a few days after she's eaten. When I handle mine, I'll do so every day that I can for about 20 minutes (to avoid stressing them out by having them out too long), except for feeding day and the two days following it to allow them to digest.

[steveboos]

Yeah keep with your Live feedings, she needs to keep consistent so she can get back up to size, so i would feed her a fuzzy mouse or rat crawler next time.

[BroknBusted]

Thanks Lexxie!