Is it Shedding time.

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Originally Posted by bigrich0086

i did i made the tank down to 28 gallons according to the formula. and the humidity is 66% steady. inside his cave its around 90-94 depending on temp outside. so i got all the fixed. now it seems i gotta feed him more cuz when i got him he was the smaller one of hte batch.

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Rich, this is my last post to you, because I am truly exhausted by you, and I'm tired of banging my head into a brick wall, quite frankly.

This is a perfect example of you (with no prior experience keeping ball pythons), dismissing what people are trying to tell you. That baby needs to be in a 15 QUART tub, not a 28 GALLON enclosure. And I'm really quite concerned what your definition of feeding him "more" is. More often? Larger size? How much larger?

Here's what a healthy baby looks like in a 15 quart tub a year ago. Never had a single bad shed, ate appropriately sized food once a week:

http://i37.photobucket.com/albums/e9...b/BabyRack.jpg

http://i37.photobucket.com/albums/e9...ub/BabyTub.jpg

http://i37.photobucket.com/albums/e9...b/BabyTub2.jpg

http://i37.photobucket.com/albums/e9...b/PretzelA.jpg

And here's the same girl a month later:
http://i37.photobucket.com/albums/e9...l/2Pretzel.jpg

And six months later:
http://i37.photobucket.com/albums/e9...PretzelMar.jpg

and a year later:
http://i37.photobucket.com/albums/e9.../PretJune4.jpg

http://i37.photobucket.com/albums/e9...PretJune16.jpg

We're not suggesting things to make Rich's life miserable. We're suggesting things to make your snake's life LESS miserable.

Robin, she's beautiful! Plumpy, and sexy pattern.

May I ask what the green hide is? Is that one of those shedding things? or is it just another hide? It looks like one of those baby wipe boxes, I should go see if I have one around the house =P

If you can truly look at that tiny, thin snake with it's backbone so visible I see ripples then you are either blind, stupid or too stubborn to see what's in front of everyone's eyes. Your snake is not eating and it's in trouble! You need to take the advice given and do it fast. It's not a healthy, plump baby BP. Robin showed you pics and I can show you more of what healthy looks like if that will finally get the point across to you!

Robin, GA and I have struggled to help you through two forums and nothing much is changing for the good it appears. It's heartbreaking that your stubborn behaviour is endangering that hatchling. It's maddening that you have the nervev to give husbandry advice in threads elsewhere. Open your eyes and attend to this snake's wellbeing before it's too late!

Appropriately sized prey (we've told you over and over what that is), fed every FIVE or SEVEN days (not four!), the right housing, the right temps, the right humidity, removal of the stuck shed. You've had all this explained over and over to you!

Quote:

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Originally Posted by dotc0m

Robin, she's beautiful! Plumpy, and sexy pattern.

May I ask what the green hide is? Is that one of those shedding things? or is it just another hide? It looks like one of those baby wipe boxes, I should go see if I have one around the house =P

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It was a box that was sold in a set of three at Dollar General. I'm always thinking "outside the box" for things that would make good hides. In this case, it was much too large for this baby, and shortly after the picture was taken, it was replaced with an identical flower pot saucer hide.

Just for reference. These are all snakes very close in age to your 07 hatchling. None of them came into our collection being outstanding feeders. In fact Darra wasn't feeding at all at first. Do you see though that they aren't like yours? These are not bigger babies that were captive bred, these are all small babies that were captive hatched but are being fed and housed properly!

http://i41.photobucket.com/albums/e2...e0757grams.jpg

http://i41.photobucket.com/albums/e2...e0767grams.jpg

http://i41.photobucket.com/albums/e2...e0766grams.jpg

Your 15 qt tubs look spacier than mine. Although the hides I use were from 99 cent store, they were 88 cent plastic bowls lol. I just cut them. In this pic they were a little bigger than they are now, because I cut them even more.

http://i60.photobucket.com/albums/h3...i/DSCN0749.jpg

I'm currently working on this other sterlite "Shelf" thing that is stackable. I bought a few of them, and I worked on it a bit. Tools: Scissors, and hole driller. I will post a pic when it's finished. They each cost $7.99 so if I were to buy like 10 of them, it'd be a hell of a lot cheaper than buying those premade ones lol.

This btw folks is his "healthy" snake trying to get a pinky mouse down and not managing to. Not in full constriction as he's saying, and it's thinness is horribly apparent to most of us. He posted on another forum when we suggested that a pinky mouse wasn't much of a meal that he didn't want to change prey "because he had 6 pinky mice left" or some such crap.

http://i41.photobucket.com/albums/e2...9/100_1947.jpg

I'm not much of an f/t mouse feeder but it was pointed out to him by other members, that it appears that the f/t mouse has freezer burn on it.

I've been following this post since the start, and I didn't want to say anything cause I'm not the expert the others are.

HOWEVER... I do have enough knowledge and experience to know that what these people are trying to tell you, Rich, is EXACTLY what you should be doing.
28 gallons is still too big for a baby. If you insist on keeping your snake in a glass tank, make it 20 gallons at MOST. NO tape anywhere inside the enclosure for any reason, put a proper size UTH UNDER the tank on one side controlled by a t-stat, and add a THIN layer (1 inch or so) of cypress or coconut bark substrate for humidity problems. PERIOD.

If you follow the advice of these wonderful and knowledgeable people, then you and your snake will be quite happy. We are not trying to insult you or make you feel stupid, we're just trying to help. If you still choose not to take our advice and change your enclosure and care routine...then we all wash our hands of you and feel VERY sorry for that poor skinny snake.

i went to the reptile store and i got bigger mice. it was their next size up large hopper/mouse. its bout the same thickness maybe a lil more as the snake. measures 6 inches from head to tip of tail. body is 3-3.5 inches. heres a picture. also i have no tape in the viv at all anymore. humidity is up to 70% now cuz its 91% outside but normally 65% steady and the warm sidei n his cave is 90-93 depending on ambient air temp in room.
http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y14...6/100_1956.jpg

last post for me on this thread the mouse is a large hopper/weanling some are 15 grams up to 19 grams ones i been feeding were way too small according to the size charts the were lare pinkie with lil fur.