New member "new'ish" to BP's.

[Skiball]

Hi everyone, as the title suggests I'm new to keeping ball pythons (kinda) I had a baby I bought back I high school but living with mom, after she found out (after about 8months) I had to go. Haha

Now as a grown man, I'm slowly finding myself drawn away from my fish hobby as maintaining upwards of 500g a week and 10 tanks was getting to be to much work.

So, like a lot of people do I put a add on CL, to get rid of some fish tanks/equipment. And needless to say I was looking into snakes.

I came across a chick who had a 3 year old male who she no longer had time to care for, however was looking to get into fish tanks(oddly enough). So we talked and worked out a trade, Score!!! Traded away things I don't even use, because they were for 55g tanks and under.

So we met up did the trade which I also got roughly 60 frozen small mice. I got home set him up in his own large tube (about 10x larger then what he was being kept in). And let him chill out for about 4 days.

Today would be the 4th day, I went to pick him up hoping he wouldn't be cage nippy/hungry. As she told me she dead him "a couple days ago". Suuuuure haha.



Yup went great! Haha!

[MsMissy]

Omg, ok... Trying not to laugh but that is a great pic. You either smelled REALLY nummy or your little guy needs a snack. I commend your camera skills if you were able to hold it and get that pic.

ok, serious time... Do you have a scale and have weighed him? Your 3 year old looks about the same size as my 1 year old. If she was feeding him small mice, I hope it was about 3 at a time. He's easily big enough for a small rat. This is where it will get fun....you probably need to leave him completely alone for a few days to let him settle and then try to feed him. A switch to rats might be tough if he's used to the mice. If you do the mice, good lord... 3? Getting him eating might be fun given stress etc but judging by the pic? He's got an appetite.

[Skiball]

Yeah, he's a little over 2' and could easily take down rats. As soon as these mice are gone ill put him on to them. I'm not gonna let these mice go to waste. Or if I happen to get a young female ill switch him over.

I'm sure he'll start packing on size again now that I have him and he will be properly taken care of.

Haha as far as my awesome camera skills, I had my phone out and ready before I even opened his tub. I knew if he was hungry he was gonna be nippy. Slowly reached in picked him up, he coiled around my arm. Sat there for a sec and started moving and I was ready. Reading his neck I knew he was gonna tag me LOL. You know how they do, slither up some, "S" the neck and BAM! Haha

It was honestly the first time I been bit by any snake. I also had a ribbon for over 5 years before I have it to a friends kid who still has it. Anyways I laughed Un coiled him and put him back.

I have 5 of these mice thawing as we speak. So we'll see how hungry he is.

[MsMissy]

When you get a chance, pick up a cheap digital scale that weighs in grams. Walmart carries them. You want him taking in about 15% of his weight at each feeding and it's always good to monitor his growth. <I just learned just how important this is... Was under feeding my bigger male.>

Happy feeding, sounds like a fun day. I've yet to be tagged. My male is pretty pissy right now <see comment above> but managed to get in his tank last night to do a thorough temp check. He's getting his first rat Monday, I'll be biting my nails the whole time since he won't touch f/t.

[Skiball]

Thanks for the into. I'll defiantly look into getting a scale, I took him back out and measured him 31". Good luck with the feedings.

[Skiball]

Just to update a little. Since the morning after I posted this and feeding him, I have given him another 4 days to cool down after he housed 4 small mice.

I'm so thrilled with how he responded to being handled. Was a bit shy at first, but after about 5-10 mins he very active. Enough so that I couldn't play call of duty why he was in my lap haha. So we read some forums and watched some YouTube for about a hour.

Still no scale, however I did get a better measurement of him. 35". I'd venture to say he is every bit of 2+ lbs. I know y'all do grams but I'm not to sure what 800-1,200 grams feels like haha.

So that's a brief update. I went and got two small frozen rats to try and feed him this next feeding.

So, yeah. That's basically it.

[MsMissy]

Glad things are going better. My boy took his rat like a champ, no bites... quick and he's all happy now. Need to get him out tonight, will be the first time in about 1.5 weeks, but his tank needs a thorough temp check and spot cleaning etc.

Oh and ...get that boy a scale!! You really are going to need to know his weight by grams so you can adequately gauge prey size.

[galequin]

Good stuff OP! Sounds like you made out like a bandit on that trade

[Poseidon]

That is the best sequence of photos I have ever seen in my entire life.

[Skiball]

That is the best sequence of photos I have ever seen in my entire life.

Haha thanks. You can tell I knew going in I was gonna get bit.