Quick Questions...

[Kaaa]

Quick questions are,....

Lighting Floresent, Bulbs, or even the High tech bulbs that use like 13w or whatever it is to equal the wattage og the 75w bulbs?

Feeding My baby ball python i just got a few days ago is looking really skinny, and hasn't eatin yet, i have attempted a couple of times since we got home, but he just won't take..... any tips?

Frozen, or Alive? I have fed my snakes in the past living food, but i take them out of there tank, and feed them, which do you find best for your snakes?

Thanks for your answers i'm sure they will be useful in some sort of way.

[hardball]

You need to let him settle in first. You should leave him alone for a week, no handling or trying to feed. Since he is new I would feed live mice. Also it would probably be better to feed in the tank so that he can use his hides to hunt from. My BP has never left his hide to eat, he does all of his hunting from there.

[dr del]

OK trying to guess the actual questions I come up with the following.

Lighting - assuming you want it purely to see the snake and provide a day/night cycle then any of those would work but make sure you put a good guard round it to prevent contact with the snake.

If you are thinking of it as part of the heating for the tank ask again.


frozen/live - personal choice - mainly the snakes. I feed all of mine on frozen/thawed but many members on here feed live. All I can really say is that both are fine if done responsibly and correctly and feed the snake what it will eat until it has an established feeding routine with you. Ask the place you got it from to describe their feeding routine if possible and try and mimic it as closely as you can.


Tips for feeding;

This is a complicated issue and everyone has their favorite tips but a few basic things are;

1) Let him settle into his new tank for a week or so without trying to offer him food or handling him any more than you need to to clean etc.

2) find out what he was eating at the place he was before. offer once every 5-7 days - there is no real need to feed outside his normal home in many instances but following the established routine for a few meals is the best idea.

3) check and double check all the husbandry like temps and humidity but especially security.


If you tell us a little bit about your set up we can suggest any improvements and more specific hints.

Check out the caresheet and glasstank setup sticky for general information in the mean time.

Oh and pictures are always appreciated.

And last but by no means least...



dr del