Another newbie with questions..

[chickiegirl]

First off I just want to say that this site has been a wealth of information, and I'm grateful for it!

Long story short, I purchased a ball for my sons 10th birthday at a local pet shop. We prepared a 20 gallon terrarium kit with what was included, bought some extra foliage, and used cypress mulch instead of the aspen. We have 2 reptitherm UTH's, a thermometer with a probe, a 100w IR heat lamp, an additional 60w heat lamp. His ambient temps are at 90 on the hot & 86 on the cool side (taken at floor level) w/ 55% humidity right now. It's cool in my house, so I wrapped 3 sides of the tank with foam core board and covered the screen with a heavy vinyl cover and cut a hole for the heat lamp. My hydro farm thermostat came today and I'll be hooking it up to the heat mats tonight.

My question is about feeding.. We purchased him on the 18th and were told he had last eaten on 1/15. He has only been fed live fuzzy/hopper mice. On Friday 1/23 he happily ate a little hopper. I weighed him on 1/28 and he's at 60g. I'm concerned now after reading some other posts here that he needs to eat more frequently. I don't know when he hatched, the pet shop owner said he's 2 or 3 months old. The pet shop owner is a snake & rodent breeder and sells the feeder mice as well. He says I shouldn't feed him f/t until he's older to establish good eating habits. I don't know who or what to believe.. After reading so much here, I'm really disappointed in the pet shops husbandry entirely! Even the employees at my local Petsmart told me I "rescued" our ball from that shop.

So, my question boils down to a) Can I offer f/t now, and b) since he's so young and small should I be offering more often.

We're doing everything we can to make this little guy happy to be an addition to our family, please don't beat me up for not researching balls prior to our commitment.

[dr del]

Hi,

I generally feed hatchlings every 5-7 days. Some move over to F/T fairly easily while some can be really reluctant.

I'd say try it but remember to get the prey up to a good temp to stimulate them - I heat the head with a hair dryer.

The one thing you didn't mention though was a thermostat - those regulate the heat pads and prevent them reaching dangerous temperatures. They are probably the most important pieces of equipment you need to keep reptiles well.

This is a good place to start.

http://ball-pythons.net/forums/showt...s%29-Caresheet

[200xth]

since he's so young and small should I be offering more often.

Everyone does it a little differently. When they're under 90 or 100 grams I feed mine twice a week. At 90 to 100g I switch mine to 7 days.

You can do anything from every 3 or 4 days to every 7 days when they're small like your's is.

[chickiegirl]

Hi,

I generally feed hatchlings every 5-7 days. Some move over to F/T fairly easily while some can be really reluctant.

I'd say try it but remember to get the prey up to a good temp to stimulate them - I heat the head with a hair dryer.

The one thing you didn't mention though was a thermostat - those regulate the heat pads and prevent them reaching dangerous temperatures. They are probably the most important pieces of equipment you need to keep reptiles well.

This is a good place to start.

http://ball-pythons.net/forums/showt...s%29-Caresheet

Thanks for the quick response.. So technically speaking our Lewiss is still a hatchling? And yes, my Hydrofarm thermostat came today, I'll be hooking it up here in a little while 😊

[Mykuhl]

Yes, at that size and possible age it is still considered a hatchling.

I noticed you have your cool side at 86....you will want to have it lower than that...76 to 82 is the recommended range.

[LivingwithBalls]

Just thought I'd mention that your snake will let you know when he's hungry. I know mine did. He will probably start pacing at the door and watching you.


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