General opinion about my bp...size,feeding, etc.

[TanyaL]

Ok, here is what I have…

Approx. 8mo normal female BP – Awesome girl!
326 grams and about 30” long
20gal long
Average 92 for the warm side, 83 for the cool side.
Humidity is kicking my butt but averages about 55% between sheds
UTH on the warm side, 60w night blub on the cool side
2 identical snug hides, water dish in the center
Substrate depends on what is available, either repti-bark or aspen
She just left a huge poop!
She HAD mites but thanks to PAM, she has been mite free for about a month, or more. She spends the majority of the time in her warm hide and I hardly see her out at all!
When I take her out, she moves about, does not strike, hiss or any other negative behavior, IMO. Overall she looks and acts healthy and happy. But, what do you think?
(I hope I didn't forget anything)

Here are my questions…
1. Does she sound thin? I’ve been feeding her large adult mice (25 – 30g) every 7 days. She won’t take them before 7 days and won’t take two at once. She is a 7-day, one serving feeder. Her feeding response is great!
2. Just yesterday, I offered her a small rat because the mice just didn’t seem like they were bit enough as far as her girth goes. The rat was 52 grams (YIKES) but was the same as her girth. Based on the suggested 10 – 15% of her body weight, is a small rat too much, maybe a tad smaller? She didn’t take it and that’s my problem! Could it have been because she is used to white mice and not black and white rats? Was it too big? What do you think? And, what can/should I do? It’s been 8 days since her last feeding if I’m not mistaken. I know shame on me! I should keep better track but I’ve got so much going on lately!
3. If a snake does not take the prey when offered, why should you wait until the next scheduled feeding before offering again? Just curious. Occasionally I will offered prey after 5 days and when she doesn’t take it, I offered again about two days later and she usually takes it. Am I wrong in doing this?
4. I’ve seen many pictures of younger BPs that have the ridge on their backs. Foster has it too. At what age/size would you expect them to round out? Or, should you not see a ridge at all? She is filled out on her sides, it’s just the ridge on her back that you can see.
5. As far as her pattern/markingsgoes…she does not have the alien eyes like most normal bps do. She has a few spots but none of them are side by side. I think in one area one black spot is above the other but even then she does not have a lot of ‘eyes’. The majority of her brown spots are clear. Does this make her a reduced, somewhat reduced or as normal as they come? Also, most of her brown spots connect from one side to the other. Does that mean anything?

I had other questions but they have escaped me, as usual. I’m sure I’ll think of them as I read your replies and comments. Please give me your honest opinion and advice. I don’t think I’m doing bad but I want to make sure that I’m doing everything right!


Here are pictures when we first got her. I'll get some new ones up ASAP. I thought I had them on my laptop but they are on my desktop computer.



http://www.ball-pythons.net/gallery/...4/img_1612.jpg

[Thor26]

she is of great weight and size and is soon going to be needed to switched to either small rats or multiple mice rats can be a pain because they are different then mice smeel etc. hope this helped a lil

[TanyaL]

she is of great weight and size and is soon going to be needed to switched to either small rats or multiple mice rats can be a pain because they are different then mice smeel etc. hope this helped a lil

REALLY?? I thought she was thin and weighed less than others her size. About a month ago, I took her back to the store that I bought her from and the other BP that was in the same tank as her when I bought her was much bigger than she is, too. When I got her, they were feeding a fuzzy (or pinkie even) every two weeks! Maybe they are powerfeeding the other then.

The small rats look huge and are more than 10% of her body weight...almost 20%, but are the right size as far as girth goes. So, what is more important to go by, weight or girth size? I can't get weanlings since they are not available in my area and she won't take more than one prey per feeding and even then she wont eat sooner than 7 days apart.

Here are her recent pictures:

Right Side:

Left Side:

I love her spot head

Belly Shot! It looks much, much brighter and clearer in person!

[SapphireTigress]

I agree with Thor. She's got a wonderful pattern to her and her face is just so sweet. She looks great!

[Bruce Whitehead]

I would go with a 40-45 g prey myself for a snake that size. She does look like she could put on a few grams. Most of my snakes at that weight were a bit more sausagey looking.

Bps are all about routine. And if they do not take the prey, waiting a week, helps to keep them on a routine, and it gives time to build up hunger. They get more food in captivity than their wild family members, so skipping the odd week is not a bad thing for them.

I always wait the week and skip the odd week just to keep them feeding strongly.

As far as not taking the rat... BPs are imprint feeders, some will switch over and some do not. Some take more time than others and some simply never do.

I have had a few prima donnas in my collection... and eventually they caves as mice are simply not on the menu in my house.

If you want to move up in size, you can try two smaller mice that equal a 40-50g prey item AKA 2x20-25g... chances are if she is used to bigger meal, you may be able to entice her to take two. Or you may simply have a one prey item per meal snake on your hands.

I would decide what you are going to feed and then stick with it, if you are switching to rats then you can try scenting the rat with a mouse, or keeping the rat on mouse bedding... a few tricks like that. Or you may have to just go tough love on her... as in "until you eat that rat you do not get any pudding!"

My experience is mostly with feeding live, so not sure what you are feeding... live or FT? FT, then you can defrost your rats on mouse bedding... I have put mouse bedding on them in the freezer as well.

Sounds like your husbandry is spot on *Congrats*.

Hope that helps a bit,
Bruce

[Bruce Whitehead]

and yes... she is a beauty.

[TanyaL]

I would go with a 40-45 g prey myself for a snake that size. She does look like she could put on a few grams. Most of my snakes at that weight were a bit more sausagey looking.

Bps are all about routine. And if they do not take the prey, waiting a week, helps to keep them on a routine, and it gives time to build up hunger. They get more food in captivity than their wild family members, so skipping the odd week is not a bad thing for them.

I always wait the week and skip the odd week just to keep them feeding strongly.

As far as not taking the rat... BPs are imprint feeders, some will switch over and some do not. Some take more time than others and some simply never do.

I have had a few prima donnas in my collection... and eventually they caves as mice are simply not on the menu in my house.

If you want to move up in size, you can try two smaller mice that equal a 40-50g prey item AKA 2x20-25g... chances are if she is used to bigger meal, you may be able to entice her to take two. Or you may simply have a one prey item per meal snake on your hands.

I would decide what you are going to feed and then stick with it, if you are switching to rats then you can try scenting the rat with a mouse, or keeping the rat on mouse bedding... a few tricks like that. Or you may have to just go tough love on her... as in "until you eat that rat you do not get any pudding!"

My experience is mostly with feeding live, so not sure what you are feeding... live or FT? FT, then you can defrost your rats on mouse bedding... I have put mouse bedding on them in the freezer as well.

Sounds like your husbandry is spot on *Congrats*.

Hope that helps a bit,
Bruce

Thanks for the reply!

I agree, I think she could use a few extra groceries. Do you think she is way off or in the neighborhood of where she should be?

Like I said...I've not had any success getting her to take two mice. What is the suggested way of offering two? How long should I wait to offer the second? Maybe I wasn't waiting long enough before offering the second, or waiting too long.

so would you consider her just a normal normal? Really doesn't matter to me, I"m just asking out of curiosity and because of what others have said about other bp photos. In fact, the guy I got her from who was suppose to be a bp breeder in the past said that he would without a doubt breed her because of her 'unusual' pattern. I don't think it's all that unusual. I perfer her pattern over most I've seen in different shops but still not that unusual.

[Bruce Whitehead]

Thanks for the reply!

I agree, I think she could use a few extra groceries. Do you think she is way off or in the neighborhood of where she should be?

Like I said...I've not had any success getting her to take two mice. What is the suggested way of offering two? How long should I wait to offer the second? Maybe I wasn't waiting long enough before offering the second, or waiting too long.

so would you consider her just a normal normal? Really doesn't matter to me, I"m just asking out of curiosity and because of what others have said about other bp photos. In fact, the guy I got her from who was suppose to be a bp breeder in the past said that he would without a doubt breed her because of her 'unusual' pattern. I don't think it's all that unusual. I perfer her pattern over most I've seen in different shops but still not that unusual.

I offer the second one after they down the first one. You want to catch her while she is still in hunt mode. If she heads into her hide immediately following and parks her butt in the doorway in the classic "do not disturb", then chances are she will not take the second.

But once she takes the first... if she is still flicking and hovering around then it is worth offering the second one.

I have some that go out of hunt mode really fast, others that can stay in it indefinitely (cochons!).

She does have a reduced pattern, but not enough that I would say she is a reduced pattern - as that tends to imply that is is genetic. She has enough dots that it is likely purely random and abherrant. But I do love the broken head stripe... often the head and neck pattern are places where you will see genetic markers.

But that being said... any het recessive snake looks like a normal... only way to know for sure is to breed it out and see. But if you are going to breed her... you may invest alot of time and energy to find out that her traits are not genetic. When you could simply pick up a nice dom or codom male and produce morphs right away.

I would suggest... if you want to enhance her reduced pattern in her offspring... pick up a male normal that is similar and selectively breed. You may find out that you do hatch out a lovely clutch of reduced patterns.

And if you do not... there is nothing normal about normals. They are stunning and have amazing variance.

Bruce

[Bruce Whitehead]

Addendum: all snakes are normals until proven otherwise.

But some of the best morphs happened when someone... thought "hmmm... these two snakes kinda look alike"... or "momma snake threw a son that looks alot like her, perhaps we can breed it back and see, just in case."

Bruce

[Bruce Whitehead]

I agree, I think she could use a few extra groceries. Do you think she is way off or in the neighborhood of where she should be?

Sorry... I miss things... cause I am like broken in the brain and stuff.

She is definitely in range, but I would say in the low end of the range.

You have a nice healthy looking snake, you seem to be doing a good job with her....

Bruce