New blood.....Got a question

[Repfanaticlady28]

Hi. We just got a baby blood python last night. "He" hasn't eaten for about a month. His husbandry was WAY off. They had him in a glass display case with UV and heat lights and eco earth as the substrate. I don't disagree with eco earth as a proper substrate, but it's pointless when it's all dried out and hasn't been treated for mites. We're hoping that with proper husbandry he will start eating again. He has a mild case of mites, so he has paper towels as his substrate right now. He's in a 12 qt tub with a small plastic container with moss in it as a humid hide. He's around 8-12" and weighs 189 grams. My question is how long should I wait to feed him and what should I feed him? I'm thinking he'd be good on a small adult mouse, but this is my first blood python, so I'd like some opinions. I don't like his girth right now, so when we can get him to eat I was thinking about feeding him every 5 days. Would that be okay? Anyway, here's some pictures. They're not the best since they were taken with a camera phone, but it gives you an idea on his girth. Thanks.

[Lucas339]

i had mine eating on adult mice or rat crawlers. i would look to see what he is doing. do you have a hide? these snakes love hides when young. when he settles in he will sit in the hide with his head out at night. when this behavior starts is when i would start feeding b/c its been so long. as for feeding, every 5 days is probably fine.

[Repfanaticlady28]

The container he is in for the pic is his hide. I just took the lid off for pictures. It's a 40 oz tupperware container with moss in it. Is the 12qt tub fine for now, or should I upgrade? When we put him in the tub last night he crawled in his hide and had his head sticking out for a good 2 or 3 hours, but I don't want to feed him this soon. He looks really stressed and I don't want to add to that.

[m00kfu]

I wouldn't really bother with feeding him every 5 days. These snakes have a slower metabolism so it takes them longer to digest. Most keepers only feed their adults every two weeks or so. Give him something just a little bit bigger than his girth every week, he'll start packing on weight pretty quick.

[2kdime]

Id wait till you have the mite problem under control with a product such as Provent-A-Mite. Give him a week at least to settle in. And offer a rat pup.

If he hasnt eaten you definetley dont want to stuff his tummy. But once hes eaten a few pups for you, you can bump him up. Aot of people like to feed bloods a meal large enough to leave a small bump in the belly up until a year old. Increasing food size accordingly.

Subadults get fed once a week to every 10 days. Adults can get fed ever 10 to 14 days. Some will even feed once a month.

If this helps I'm feeding all my bloods 1 medium rat a week. And I have a 12 pound male, a 7 pound female, and 5 pound male.
Hope this helps.

[Repfanaticlady28]

The mites aren't bad and I already treated his tub with PAM before I put him in it last night, so he should be completely healthy (minus the not eating) in about a week. I just hope he eats when I do offer cuz he's too skinny for my liking. I'll get pictures of his set-up and post them later. His temps and humidity are good, but I'm not sure about the size of the tub. I can only fit the humid hide and water in the tub he's in now. I'd like to be able to add a cool side hide, but that means I'd have to get a bigger tub and I don't want him all stressed out because the tub is too big.

[littleindiangirl]

Baby bloods will look like that when young, in the pics he doesn't look emaciated or even thin, but just right. It's VERY easy to overfeed a blood python, with their voracious feeding response and slow metabolism, if you indulge them they will get fat.

Ditch the humid hide for now. They only need them when they are about to shed, and even then is not a must have. Leave it in for long periods of time and it acts like the superb breeding ground for bacteria, mold, mildew and fungi.

Keep him on just paper towel for now for a few months, one hide and one water dish (that he has the option of soaking in) in the 12 qt tub. Put an Accurite thermometer/hygrometer in his tub. You can mist down the paper towels daily to reach 65% humidity very easily.

Make sure his temps are never over 90, and never below 75.

This is a picture of my blood when he was just a baby, only a month or so old. We used a blue plastic dog dish for a long time and cut out the hole, but as he grew we opted for the top of these rock hides. He preferred it for a long time because they are very short and snug fitting.

[Repfanaticlady28]

You can mist down the paper towels daily to reach 65% humidity very easily.

Wouldn't this cause scale rot?

[littleindiangirl]

Wouldn't this cause scale rot?

No. Leaving them to sit in a humid hide as their only hide would be far more detrimental.

Your not soaking the paper towels, just misting them. They dry out in one day.

[Repfanaticlady28]

No. Leaving them to soak in a humid hide as their only hide would be far more detrimental.

Good point. I didn't think of that. I changed out the humid hide for a cave. I just misted the sides of the tub and so far the humidity is staying at 68%. Now I'm just going to let him be for about a week and hope he eats when the time comes. Thanks everybody.