Now That Hes Eaten....

Now That Hes Eaten, Plissken is relaxing like hes at a resort in the bahamas (loves stretching out in that PVC pipe). So after I give him 2 or 3 days of digestion time should I give him a handling session for 5 minutes or should I wait till after the next feeding/digestion period is over?

i usually wait until it has eaten two or more times before i do any serious handling. wait about 2 days to handle it. a little less is ok too but no less then 24 hours.

Yeah, for new pets it's best to give two weeks for acclimating. It can be tough, real tough, but it's worth it.

Thanks Mr President :D Yep your right its very tough to exersise patience but Ill try and keep my self busy enough to resist temptation. :? I I guess its easier for you guys with other herps. to,leave the new additions alone .
Just curious though are all snakes virtualy the same when it comes to an acclimation period?

I agree with everything that has been said. I usually wait about 3 days after Zeus or Junior has eatten before handling again. And yes, all snakes are the same when it comes to the acclimation period. Usually 2 - 3 weeks will acclimate a snake to it's new home. Good job man on getting him to eat.

I feel so guilty, I commited a cardinal sin! I picked plissken up for about 60 seconds when I went in to change his water (its alex hues fault he said I could) anyway I lifted him up but didnt even take him out of the enclosure I stood perfectly still and he started sniffing my hand and arm with his tounge.Than he started crawling up my arm and thats when I gently placed him back on the newspaper.After I closed the top of the enclosure he looked for a way to get out for a couple minutes,gave up and went back in his hide.

Im not gonna touch him I promise for the next 7 days, I dont know what came over me but I just couldnt resist, but my gut tells me I should have :cry: I hope I didnt screw up too bad.

I'm sure he'll be just fine. Not handling them for x-amount of time is a guideline, not a hard and fast rule. Some snakes acclimate faster than others...some are just less stressed out about things than others. Even if he was overly stressed by the encounter (it doesn't sound like he was!), then just give him a few more days to get over it. I'm quite sure you didn't "screw up" anything! :)

Well with my BP's they are both different my newest one i dont handle for at least 4 days after she has eaten. But Jojo lets me pick him up even the same day. I have had him for a long time and has never regurgitated a meal. Its a good idea to leave them be for about 3 days or so. I guess what i am saying is that all Ball Pythons have different personalities lets face it BP's have personality galore and it depends on the snake. If he wants to go up your arm let him for a little bit maybe 5 minutes or so maybe wont hurt. But if your BP has a history of regurgitating its meal its a good idea to leave him alone.

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Originally Posted by gozetec02

But if your BP has a history of regurgitating its meal its a good idea to leave him alone.

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Not to mention that snakes just don't have fast metabolisms and simply need time to digest. Think of it this way: when you have eaten a huge meal (say, Thanksgiving dinner, or the feast at the end of Ramadan, or whenever you are most likely to gorge yourself), you are able to get up and walk around if you need to, but you're most likely going to be most comfortable being still in your favorite seat for at least 2 or 3 hours before you feel up to moving much, and if you were forced to do calisthenics then you might well regurgitate your dinner.

Your snake needs a day or so for each hour you need, and the amount of time depends on the size of the meal. If you fed an adult bp a pinky mouse, you could probably handle him as much as normal without any ill effects, but he's not getting the nutrients he needs. If you fed that same bp an adult mouse, he'd going to need a couple of days to break it down, and a medium to large rat will definitely require two to four days depending on the snake.

If you doubt this or feel the need to run an experiment, go on down to your favorite all-you-can-eat place (no Chinese! that's cheating) and eat a meal of only meat until you think you're going to rupture. Then go to the gym and attend an aerobics class, a tae-bo class, and a karate class, and do at least ten laps around the track. See how long it takes before you end up with recycled meat on your shoes.

For the second part of the experiment, wait a week then stuff yourself silly once again with an all-meat meal, but do it in your own home and only move yourself from the table where you ate to your favorite seat. Nap, watch tv, read, chat, do crosswords, whatever it is you like to do in your downtime that doesn't require much movement. Stay in the same place for a few hours, moving only if absolutely necessary. See how long it takes before you end up with recycled meat on your shoes.

My prediction is that in the second part of the experiment, without any fudging of the results, you won't end up vomiting at all unless you are one of those people (like my exhusband) who always vomits when you overeat. I also predict that the first part of the experiment would result in vomit from 90%+/- of us, because of normal digestive needs.

Now Im sure the info on digestion is good, but I gave my BP 3 full days to digest his meal, actualy the "cardinal sin" I spoke of was in relation to acclimation and not digestion. Youll notice that the original post was on the 9th and today is the 12th so at least I didnt screw up in that department.