Another stranger from Europe :)
Hi. I'm Martin. Pretty new here and just for few weeks BP owner... It's just common female of BP (so probably with boring design for most of you here ;)). Seller told me it's 6months old but I do not believe that much now (It's too small for 6month... so my guess is 3-4. I wish I had chance to find out!). I call her Yukiko (Japanese name... I like Japan :)). I have read a lot about how to keep and care of BP before but... nothing compares to real experience :). Like my current issue with feeding :(. It's 12 days now after last "successful lunch". Why she stopped eating? I hope it's just start of shed and not any disease :(. I hate this... I hope everything is fine with her... Every day taking care of my little girl is giving me tons of new information and I hope this site will help me understand what is going on a lot :).
So... I just hope people around are not scared of people from Europe (;)), stupid questions of noobs :P and bad English grammar sometimes :D.
Re: Another stranger from Europe :)
Hi and :welcome:
Quote:
So... I just hope people around are not scared of people from Europe
Nah I am the only european they are scared of :rofl:
Can't wait to see some pictures!
Re: Another stranger from Europe :)
Re: Another stranger from Europe :)
thank you for welcome :). I have uploaded few pictures to Member's Galleries section... here is fresh one from today :)
http://i48.photobucket.com/albums/f2...pBoard-10t.jpg
Re: Another stranger from Europe :)
Welcome to the site! Your going to learn a ton!
Re: Another stranger from Europe :)
Welcome to BPNet! We are becoming a very international site and it's wonderful to have you join our site. :)
One of the handiest tools when you are raising a snake is a digital scale so you can monitor weight gain. That's really one of the best indicators of how things are going. Over here in the States we generally either purchase small postal or kitchen scales (digital is best) and they aren't usually very expensive at all.
Remember your little snake is quite young and has made a major adjustment into your home recently. For these shy snakes this can cause some major stress and it's not uncommon for that to be expressed as a refusal to eat. I'd suggest you check out our BP Caresheet here to check that your housing for her is correct and I wouldn't handle her at all right now (other than for cleaning her home) until she's eaten at least 3 or 4 times for you. You should be offering her an appropriate prey item every 5 to 7 days at this point. If her home is in a busy area of your house, you might consider moving her to a quiet room where she isn't exposed to a lot of people moving around.
She's eaten for you and she will again. Just be calm, do your reading here, ask questions and take it step by step. These snakes are very hardy and if given the right care generally do just fine. Remember it's not like someone runs around in the wild dropping them prey every "x" number of days. As ambush predators nature did design to go awhile between meals. It's best if you can get her on a regular feeding schedule though so just work the problem and in no time you'll likely have a happy, eating well snake. :)
Re: Another stranger from Europe :)
Quote:
Originally Posted by
frankykeno
Welcome to BPNet! We are becoming a very international site and it's wonderful to have you join our site. :)
Thank you... :) Let's see haw soon you regret that :D ;)
Quote:
Originally Posted by
frankykeno
One of the handiest tools when you are raising a snake is a digital scale so you can monitor weight gain. That's really one of the best indicators of how things are going. Over here in the States we generally either purchase small postal or kitchen scales (digital is best) and they aren't usually very expensive at all.
I'm so glad it is not waste of money...I have bought one last weekend so I can say my BP has 16grams/0.035 pounds... So she is pure baby yet.
Quote:
Originally Posted by
frankykeno
Remember your little snake is quite young and has made a major adjustment into your home recently. For these shy snakes this can cause some major stress and it's not uncommon for that to be expressed as a refusal to eat. I'd suggest you check out our BP Caresheet here to check that your housing for her is correct and I wouldn't handle her at all right now (other than for cleaning her home) until she's eaten at least 3 or 4 times for you. You should be offering her an appropriate prey item every 5 to 7 days at this point. If her home is in a busy area of your house, you might consider moving her to a quiet room where she isn't exposed to a lot of people moving around.
I believe I have found out why that food refusal... She is preparing for shed and as I know they refuse food during that cycle.
http://i48.photobucket.com/albums/f2...q/P2184043.jpg
http://i48.photobucket.com/albums/f2...q/P2184079.jpg
Quote:
Originally Posted by
frankykeno
She's eaten for you and she will again. Just be calm, do your reading here, ask questions and take it step by step. These snakes are very hardy and if given the right care generally do just fine. Remember it's not like someone runs around in the wild dropping them prey every "x" number of days. As ambush predators nature did design to go awhile between meals. It's best if you can get her on a regular feeding schedule though so just work the problem and in no time you'll likely have a happy, eating well snake. :)
Agree with that... I know... Since she is small I'm just afraid to not let her starve... and of course keep her healthy... so far i have found two scratches like this on her
http://i48.photobucket.com/albums/f2...q/P2184056.jpg
I hope it's just form last live rodent feeding not from bad housing :(
Re: Another stranger from Europe :)
Welcome, as noted, the only European we fear is Deborah!
I answered a few of your questions regarding husbandry/housing in your thread in "general pythons" and forget to say...
"Welcome to the site" :)
She is a beautiful little snake, skinny, but not starving.
It may be worth starting another thread specifically regarding having a non-feeding snake if you want answers for that, as the thread will get overlooked in this section by members that may have some excellent pointers for you.
Bruce
Re: Another stranger from Europe :)
Hi and welcome! :)
It's good that she's going into shed, you'll be able to see if the injuries are healing. For now, you can clean it with a diluted betadine scrub, and put some polysporin on it..... unless there is something else? Guys? I'd probably do that right after the shed too, and monitor it from there. It's always a good idea to know where your local herp vet is... just in case that doesn't clear right up!
Also, I'd keep her on plain white paper towels, so nothing will get into the spots. Best of luck! She's a DOLL! :D
The care sheet here is always a great reference to check back to for temps, etc... :)
Re: Another stranger from Europe :)
Hello and :welcome:
16 grams is extremely small for a ball python. Most of my six month old balls are around 300 grams, and some are 500 grams. You should read the care sheets on this site, and make sure that you have her in proper housing. Heat and humidity are also very important. Once you are sure that your husbandry is right, I am sure that she will do great in your care. I suggest putting her on an every four to five day diet until she gets up to around 150 - 200 grams, then putting her on an every seven day diet. You should be feeding her either fuzzy mice or rat pups. Also, the scar is most likely not from live feeding, because the size of her prey should be very small. This small of prey could not hurt a snake, because they have not developed their teeth yet.
Hope this helped and good luck with her!
