Eating better

[Deepsouth]

I got my female about two months ago and was very much under fed at three years old they were still giving her pinkies about every seven days I started her on small hoppers and she ate three the first day, then went off feed for about three weeks. Now she is doing great. I took her from hoppers to a mouse and yesterday she went to a small rat with no problem. She has shed twice since I have had her and eating great. In fact she hit the rat within secs of it being put there.

My male was a bit better but still small. I started him on mice and he hit great. Last week gave him small rat and I dropped it into the feeding tank and he hit it in mid air. LOL Yesterday gave him a slightly larger rat which he hit qucikly. He is also looking much better.

He has shed only once though.
Cage is a constant 80-85 degrees with hot side in the low 90's humidity is between 70 % and as high as 90%. I have a small fan that is blowing through the screen to keep the tempture in the 80s. He loves to lay in front of the fan for some reason stretched out, then he will move back to a area behind the plants were it is dark. He will not go into the hide he prefers the back instead.

Plenty of water do not need a heater or anything to maintain the right temp. All done through nature. Check temps four times a day and adjust fan to maintain the correct temp. Heat wave here so if it gets to warm bring them into the house and put them into two tubs that I have set up.

Doing good

[ballpythonluvr]

Everything sounds really good. I'm sure your male will shed again soon since he is eating more often.

[Deepsouth]

A lot of what I have done is through information that I have learned here. I keep them seperated unless I am cleaning the cages and then put them together for a short period of time. I do notice that the female does get restless when she is with him, so I clean quickly. I will be building another cage for her so she will have plenty of room also.

I do have one more question for anybody. Since I am a photographer and my models like to take photos with snakes can I handle them daily to insure they get used to be handled? They both seem to enjoy being picked up and "petted", the female has even posed a couple of times for the camera with a model. I just want to make sure I am not handling them excessively.
Thanks

[AliCat37]

I handle my snakes almost daily, you've had lots of time to settle your guys in, so you should be fine to handle them now. Start it out for short periods and lengthen it. I used to have my corn out for over 5 hours a day, my ball is a little shier, so I don't handle him quite as much. About an hour a week total for him, or if I take him outside to explore I'll have him out for an hour or so. Just watch the snakes behavior and you'll know about how long they can handle being out