A question or two about healthy eating

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Originally Posted by Riv

Wow! I cant believe I didnt think to use a blow dryer before XDD

And im INCREDIBLY happy that he isnt horribly underfed I felt horribly all last night. Im definitely switching to rat pups from now on though. And Im getting a scale asap so I can track his growth. Do you guys have any particular brands in mind? Ps that rescue snake is so fricken cute. youre right, he's a little meatyer than pakul is. But I think he"ll catch up before too long = P

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you can pick up a cheap one at walmart. I bought mine for $15.00 bucks at walmart and it works fine. You'll just have to pick up a melamine bowl to weigh him in - it makes it easier, and you can get them at the dollar store. Just make sure the scale goes to 5kg or 11lbs. most of the walmart ones go to 11lbs, just check the box to make sure.

Cheers.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Riv

Wow! I cant believe I didnt think to use a blow dryer before XDD

And im INCREDIBLY happy that he isnt horribly underfed I felt horribly all last night. Im definitely switching to rat pups from now on though. And Im getting a scale asap so I can track his growth. Do you guys have any particular brands in mind? Ps that rescue snake is so fricken cute. youre right, he's a little meatyer than pakul is. But I think he"ll catch up before too long = P

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Thanks! He is adorable right!? He actually belongs to the wife but he's not the rescue - we actually bought him off of a reptile store. He's about 8 or 9 months now. He's an Orange Ghost (or hypo if you prefer) and is spoiled LOL.

Here's a picture of the rescued guy. He's a 2 year old het. axanthic. It was sad, he was a beautiful dinker normal and was really sweet. He was a great eater, he just never got fed properly by his old owners. In the picture you can see how small he was and he was triple the age of my orange ghost.

I got him up to 400 grams and ended up selling him with another het. axanthic female to a breeder I know, so I know he'll be getting fed and brought up to a healthier weight.

http://ball-pythons.net/gallery/file.../9/8/tiny2.jpg

http://ball-pythons.net/gallery/file...1/9/8/tiny.jpg

Daw. Theyre all so cute! Im such a sucker for bal pythons though XD I see those little heads and I just melt. Then when I see them yawn its game over. I need to own them. I just found out pakul is a girl last night XD So apparently im going to need to REALLY start feeding hard core if Im going to get her to a breed-able size in time.

lol Your not gonna get her to breeding size this season - females need to be 3 years old OR at least 1200grams - but the safest way to go is 500 grams per foot of snake, in excess of 1200grams (For females). You don't want to rush breeding because you can lose Pakul in the process.

Cheers/

Very true. I wrote up a feeding chart for her the other night with a goal weight of 1400g by next august. Being my first snake im not sure how realistic that is, But I have a loose schedule and im going to be weighing her before every feeding(I also have on the chart what size meal she should theoretically be eating by that point) No telling at this point whether she"ll be an appropriate weight but its going to be a little while before I get that spider anyhow, and I need to get him to an appropriate age and weight as well. (I heard 10 months and 700g but I need to do some more looking around for info) So more than likely I will wind up going for the season after next. No reason to take unnecessary risks = P

Just food for thought. I personally think trying to speed raise up our girls is not necessarily in their best interest. I prefer to slow grow my females, keep them muscular and lean, rather than to grow them up fat and sluggish.

I mentioned the other day in another thread, that I know someone who lost a snake unexpectedly, got a necropsy, and found it had died of fatty liver disease from being over fed.

If you compare our captive animals to wild ball pythons, ours are much fatter than their wild counterparts. I don't know if that's such a good thing.

With that said, I do agree that your kiddo needs more than pinkies for meals, I don't even START my hatchlings on pinkies.

Ive got some bad news = ( I finally got a scale and some new mice for little pakul. She currently weighs 151 grams. Shes pretty severly underweight. Im going to start offering her small mice every three days until she gets some more meat on her.(Shes still too small for medium mice) But I have increased the size of her meals and she"s taking them as they come so hopefull she"ll be back up to a good weight in no time. I feel so bad for not feeding her correctly..

Wait! Mice Pinkies are too small even for hatchlings!

My pinstripe was born in july and she is on rat pups. And I have no plans of powerfeeding






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Yeah, I found out I shouldnt have been using pinkies because of this thread actually. But she's eating bigger mice now more frequently. I actually just gave her another meal about ten minutes ago. Shes on the road to a proper weight :)