Getting settled in?

[roelani]

Hi!

We've had our female BP for a little while now, and she's eaten for us several times. She's about a year old according to the (I know, I know...) petstore we got her at. She was captive bred but returned by her previous owner who had to move. Anyways, it's been so far a pretty simple road to her settling in. We started her on smallish mice since it's what the reptile guy at the petstore told us she was eating... And she took her meals pretty regularly from the start, but without much interest at first.

Now these last couple meals she's really been hitting and striking and constricting the thing as if it wasn't long dead (F/T), and I realised I might have underestimated her appetite somewhat. She's pretty big, and one mouse seemed a little small to me. We gave her two mice last week, and she downed them like she was starving but ever since then she's been snappy as hell. She struck at us twice from her hide these past few days and the last time we took her out (yesterday, on monday... she gets fed every wednesdays) she seemed a bit edgy and seemed to be on the hunt again. We put her back in without incident but I'm wondering what's going on... My temps are spot-on, so I'm stumped... Now it's almost feeding day and she's sitting in her hide with her head sticking out, staring at us, S-shaped and looking hungry as heck... Bigger mice or what?

Sorry for the novel!

[tigerlily]

Do you know how much she weighs or the weight of the mice you're feeding? It's possible that she's just hungry. I'd see how she does on the multiple mice after a couple weeks, and see if she calms down.

[roelani]

Tigerlily, my significant other weighed himself with and without her (my puny kitchen scale maxes out way too low to weigh her...) and we've estimated her weight at about 1100 grams. Her last double-mouse meal was 60grams.

[roelani]

Seems like things are settling down with her. She was probably just hungry as heck. We've had her on the double-mouse menu for near to three weeks and she's doing a lot better. She sometimes stays coiled up with her neck is the S position, but we've managed to dig up some courage and pick her up out of her enclosure anyway and she doesn't react badly at all. She's really just hanging out, being curious, sticking her head out of her hide and watching God knows what.

Once we take her out now, she settles down pretty quick and goes exploring, so all is well.

As soon as we think she might go for three mice instead of two, we're switching to small rats (better for the wallet).

[Holbeird]

Glad to hear everything is working out for ya

[frankykeno]

Sounds like things are going along very well. You might want to develop specific handling habits with her that differ from her feeding day routine. Easiest if I explain it how we do it (not the only way of course, just an example). Anytime we are going to handle one of the snakes we reach in and stroke the snake down it's lower back a few times to let it know we are there and it's about to get lifted out. This seems to help the snakes know this is going to occur and they don't need to be defensive. It takes a lot of repititions but ball pythons can learn simple routine. On feeding day or just regular cage maintenance we simply go about our business in the enclosure and don't touch the snake at all. If we are just changing water they barely know we are there. If we are changing out their substrate, then they get stroked then lifted out.

Feeding day we open the tubs quickly in the morning to check for water and feces/urates but don't bother the snakes (most are keyed up and watching for food anyways). The next time the tub opens that evening they know it means it's dinnertime.

As far as switching over to rats, some bp's will go for it, some will not. They can be very prey specific. Remember to go with a rat pup or something small like that so you don't overwhelm the snake with a different and much larger prey. Better to start small and work up to something like a weanling or small rat down the road when the snake is ready for it. Our females of that weight range generally take a large pup or small weanling once per week (small pup rat = large adult mouse - give or take).