New Baby Ball

[annacobb]

My mothers day gift was a baby ball python, I've been talking about wanting one and the x took it upon himself to get one from petco for me and my son. YAY(ish). He? is skinny and looks dehydrated. I took a visit to the store and there were 2 dead snakes, and crickets...dude working said the vet was there today and said they were fine just wouldn't eat pre killed food so they were supplementing with insects...I'm cringing...I'm worried, but he looks much better than the other two did. I weighed him and set him up in his home. 99 grams, but his spine shows a tiny bit and the folds of his skin makes me a little nervous. I've had corns and kings for a while, this is my first ball...he was an unexpected addition but hes welcome I've got the humidity at about 55 the temps are at 70 cool 86 hot and I'm basically doing it like I do for my corns otherwise...hides proper sized water bowl ect. just wondering if I've missed anything.

[Foschi Exotic Serpents]

Check the care sheet. You're husbandry needs some adjusting to get that little one eating and growing. Higher temps, higher humidity, tight fitting hide boxes (2).

After you fix that. Leave him alone until he eats. Try a live rat pinky or fuzzy. At his weight, you need to start him out small.

[Inknsteel]

The humidity is fine, but you definitely want to bump the temps up about 5 degrees for a bp.

Welcome to bp.net!

[Simple Man]

Good advice so far! I try to keep them 89-91 hot side, your humidity is fine unless he's about to shed. At that point you should move your water dish on top of your undertank belly heat to raise the humidity more. I would try to avoid being hands on with the snake until it is settled and eating. Stressed animals need time to adjust. You want to make sure you give him time to settle in and then try feeding small live mice. Young snakes and new acquisitions should usually be fed live until they are eating regularly. At that point you can try to switch to F/T.

Regards,

B

[annacobb]

Ok thank you! I have 3 hides in my tub, he seems to fit well in all 3, and I've raised my temps up to 91 on the warm. I always quarantine for 3 months in my bedroom so they can settle and I can check for mites and infections, then into the snake room with the little kids lol I also don't handle at all for 2 weeks...but again this is for my corns, should longer periods be followed? I was planning on rat pinks to get some weight on him, in 2 weeks.
As substrate I use aspen, but when my corns show shedding signs I put some coconut in to hold humidity, but the max corn humidity is apparently min ball humidity so would this be ok to use all the time? I hate that I am missing the basics and I NEVER get an animal until I'm completely prepared, but he was a gift and unexpected....I feel quite bad about the situation but you must make lemonade when given lemons right?

[Simple Man]

You can try rat pinks but he might only eat mice. It can be hard sometimes to get ball pythons to convert over to rats. A hatchling ball python can eat a medium/large mouse so if the rat pinks don't work, you might try reverting to mice until he is eating steadily.

Regards,

B

[Cendalla]

You've got great advice here. I won't add anything. I'll just say good luck and congrats on the wee one. I got ball python related gifts too. Happy mothers day

[blushingball419]

As substrate I use aspen, but when my corns show shedding signs I put some coconut in to hold humidity, but the max corn humidity is apparently min ball humidity so would this be ok to use all the time?

You could just use coco fiber, but I've found that in a tub aspen mixed with a tiny bit of coco works really well. Your humidity of 55% is perfect right now actually, and you'll probably be good with just a little misting around the time he goes into shed.

Also, yes, rat pinks will work fine, and I think 2 weeks sounds like a good amount of time. Usually the minimum is a week, but it never hurts to give them more time to settle in That's horrible about the store he came from though... definitely good thinking keeping him quarantined if the conditions were that bad.

Welcome by the way, and congrats on your new little guy!! I'm sure he appreciates having a good home now

[annacobb]

He seems to be adjusting well...he's really active in his tub, much more so than my other snakes are when I bring them home. I'm kind of a hard core kinda owner. I just can't help but believe prevention and effort now can save a lot of worry and stress later lol. Hopefully he makes it and doesn't have any issues
I am lucky enough to have access to all kinds of small rodents from a small hobby breeder friend of mine who is typically more than happy to let me have her surplus for my snakes. So if he likes mice that's fine...gerbials or hampsters maybe? Lol try and try again, I have a rat snake who would only eat freshly killed teddy bear hampster babys for a whie. That was a pain...but we got through it. I'm very excited though...I'm really lovin a python head....cute little nose.

[Evenstar]

Yeah, don't go to gerbils or hamsters unless there's no other choice. If he gets set on those, there may be no going back. Be persistent with the mice or rat pinks and he should come around. I'm glad you got this little guy - he'll be much better off with you!