she ate!

[cinderbird]

my ball python, aspen, had her first meal with me. she absolutely slammed a F/T crawler mouse. she didnt need to be told twice. ..took it at the neck instead of at the head, but she's happily on the warm side of her tank in her hide acting like a normal BP. tuesdays will be her regular feeding nights from now on. im SO HAPPY SHE ATE!

she's not a hatchling, but she's 6 months old and was purchased friday. the store owner said her normal feeding was monday afternoons but i thought it would be better to wait a day. shes been exhibiting hunting behaviors all yesterday like tracking. she seems very happy and content now!

i do have one random question. are there some balls that just dont use hides? maybe they feel secure enough in their cages that they dont need to? since ive brought her home she's been sleeping on top of her hides sometimes, sometimes just on the substrate. she seems to like having her head at a 45 degree angle when she sleeps, like leaned up against her grape log or her water bowl. silly snake. her temps are 96-92 on the warm side and a pretty constant 82.3 on the cool. humidity is at 53%. ( ill mist when shes done digesting, i dont want to bother her right now ).

also, she close mouth struck when i was picking up her feeding container ( i feed her in a seperate container ) to put her back into her cage, thats normal right? i assume she still smelled the mouse when she was in there. ( to clarify, i picked the container up, put it in her cage and then took the lid off and let her go back into her cage on her own instead of physically picking her up. ) i then took the container out and she looked at my hand, but didnt strike or anything, just curled up in her hide.

wow, novel. sorry guys. pictures coming soon!
- Samantha

[JoshJP7]

Yes it is abnormal for your snake to not use its hide... Usually a good sign that either husbandry requirements arnt being met (your temps/hum. seem to be fine), your hide is too big or not secure enough, or your snake is stressed. I thought the same thing when I got my first BP and it turned out the set up wasnt right (was using crappy thermometer/hygrometer) and my readings were wack! Fixed the problem and now I have 7 that I dont see until 8-9 oclock at night. Do you use an acurite to read your temps/hum? or do you use dial stick ones? ... just a quick guess off the info you gave...

As far as feeding its OK to pick them up after feeding... I feed all mine in a separate enclouser and pick em up after they feed... Just use your head and pay attention... keep you hands away from the face and give em a couple mins after the rats down to get it settled and what not... Also you might wanna think about bumpin her up on the size of food she can handle more than a cralwer mouse if its 4 months old.

Ill let some others chime in... they all know much much more!

[frankykeno]

Congrats on the feeding. You're likely going to want to offer a bit bigger prey item soon though, a crawler mouse is a very small meal for most BP's the age of yours. How does the crawler mouse's girth compare to your snake's empty girth?

As far as not using the hides, what type of hides do you have? Are they identical? How much bigger than the snake, in a coiled position, are they? What are you using to measure your cool and warm side temps? What type of enclosure is she in? Most do use their hides though it can take a few days after you bring them home for them to clue in about the hides. Sometimes I just gently direct their head into a hide and they get the idea after that.

[cinderbird]

yeah i have an accurite. the one with the probe that shows the high temp and the "regular" temp. my temps were crazy and not consistent when i was using the little analog one and even a second digital. so i bought an accurite at the suggestion of you guys and she is MUCH happier now.

she's using one now. which is good. the sides of her tank are covered with black paper and the door to the room shes in is closed for most of the day. one hide is bigger than the other, but they seem appropriately sized. one is the same hide she was using in the store where i bought her, and the second is the slightly smaller one. ill take some pictures tomorrow or Thursday if i find she still isnt using them and see what you guys think.