NEW OWNER!! help.. BP weak grip / Soft body... something wrong?

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Originally Posted by lilith14

Thank you for the kind reassurances <3 I feel a bit of a basket case myself.. When I made the mistake of reading up on and watching videos about IBD and I was just in tears. That vet trip can't come faster!!

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This is in no way a diagnosis, but people who are new to something and self diagnose on the internet, almost always end up worrying about some catastrophic illness that they don't have.

Pick your snake up 8 inches from the end of his tail and hold him up. He should hang there for a few seconds, then try to lift his head and body back up to your hand to get a more stable platform. If he can do that without issue, his muscles and his grip are probably fine.

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Originally Posted by 200xth

Pick your snake up 8 inches from the end of his tail and hold him up. He should hang there for a few seconds, then try to lift his head and body back up to your hand to get a more stable platform. If he can do that without issue, his muscles and his grip are probably fine.

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Try this. Update?

I know when we first got our baby my daughters wore him out letting him climb all over his new home and their rooms. They are usually pretty lazy so pulling that belly full of heavy rat prob just over exerted and needed rest. The hard scales most likely is stuck shed and most rescue snake I've gotten have had at least mirror stuck sheds or scale pieces that come for lack of humidity or dehydration. Easy to fix (1000's of posts on how to remidy) and it makes your snake much happier to be clean soft and hydrated. It should feel like he's wrapped in silk after a shed

"Set up wide: her high temp side is at 85 air temp and 95 basking temp and her cool side is between 70 and 75. The humidity is at a steady 60%"
70 is a pretty cold winter where they are from so you may want to keep that side at 75 to 80. I also wouldn't go over 92 if you are referring to the uth as "basking" area.

Pink skin, loose skin, cloudy eyes are all signs of shed. She most likely wants to be left alone during this period.
on a side note....we handle ours from day one and have absolutely zero issues from it.

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Originally Posted by anicatgirl

Try this. Update?

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Yes I just did! and well it seems to take her about 15 seconds of self reflection... but she would eventually come back up to my hand. That was a relief, thank you for the tip :D

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Originally Posted by Viol8r

70 is a pretty cold winter where they are from so you may want to keep that side at 75 to 80. I also wouldn't go over 92 if you are referring to the uth as "basking" area.

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I wasn't sure how to regulate the UTH actually one of my first concerns.. but I kind of moved it 3/4 on the heater and 1/4 off for now and the ground temp went down to 90-91 :) thanks for pointing that out

general update: I managed to get her appointment at the vet for today! ****Spoiler alert**** I was being a hyperparanoid first time bp parent

He turned her around a bunch and felt down her belly. He said that she definitely didn't have any neurological diseases (because I was also worried her head bobs a bit and like I said she just crashes into things sometimes like she's a bit blind) but he said that's just because she's so young and not really that coordinated. She had no issues at all righting herself.

He said he was surprised at how incredibly calm and comfortable she seemed. And she was climbing everywhere, but I kinda pressed about how soft and weak she felt several times and he said well that's just her temperament and her age. so basically I thought the babe had a life threatening disease when really she's just mega laid back? ...:sheepish:

The only thing, he said she wasn't going to shed but I was absolutely certain she's about to shed because her skin is getting looser and looser, her eyes were a bit cloudy and today they're crystal clear. I guess we'll see. Also her weight is 196g and she's at least 6 months old - is that ok?

BUT all in all I am v relieved.. thank you guys all for your help & patience :grouphug:

You will notice the general temperament with ball pythons is just that, laid back or chill to the point of plain lazy like a cat. And hide much more than choose to bite
the head bob is something they do when sticking their heavy head up to parascope and look around it will probably go away as he bulks up his muscles but there is also a gene that causes the head wobble in a morph of ball python called spider. Did you perhaps buy a spider ball python? Then the wobbles are part of the snake but if it doesn't effect his eating its generally excepted as just fine and some go as far as thinking it's cute.

She's probably just getting over her shed and about to start taking it off. Make sure to keep her enclosure high in humidity so that it comes off in one full piece :)


Sent from iPhone 6 using tapatalk :)

Maybe someone more experienced than I can chime in..... But that seems kinda light to me. My female is about 5 months old and just hit 318 grams. It depends on how much/often you feed them, but still. She could use some muscle an some chubby... It makes them so cute! :snake:

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Originally Posted by lilith14

Also her weight is 196g and she's at least 6 months old - is that ok?

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It's on the small side for 6 months, but it's not a big deal. As long as you feed her right she'll put on weight and catch up easily.

It coulda been a runt or just smaller in general Bps do very in growth a crazy amount when cluch mate were fed one on rats and one on mice. Rat eater getting bigger much faster, try to feed by weight% some times this is harder if the rat guy only has 3 sizes but try. Over feeding is very common and some people power feeding without knowing its at a risk of liver damage fatty liver