My BP died suddenly?

I wouldn't consider getting another snake until you are able to do some serious research on how to take care of them. All this information is readily available from multiple sources, this forum being one of them. I'm sorry this happened, it's so hard to lose a pet! But unfortunately this sounds like a result of completely inappropriate care - starvation, dehydration and unregulated heating.

Edit to add: I don't want to sound super harsh here. I know you were told these things were fine by a vet and you were trying to do right. Unfortunately when it comes to exotic and less common pets, it's really important to do your own research, because there's so much misinformation and a lot of vets, if they're not specialized reptile vets, don't really know the first thing about care or are relying on really old, outdated information. And pet stores are the absolute worst for this kind of thing. Reptile forums and groups are a great place to go for helpful, informed answers to your questions. Good luck.

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Originally Posted by Snake Judy

I wouldn't consider getting another snake until you are able to do some serious research on how to take care of them. All this information is readily available from multiple sources, this forum being one of them. I'm sorry this happened, it's so hard to lose a pet! But unfortunately this sounds like a result of completely inappropriate care - starvation, dehydration and unregulated heating.

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I hope that all of you guys know that I didn't do this on purpose. I honestly thought everything I was doing was right. I wish I would have found this site earlier. The "vet" that I went to made it sound like everything was okay and that I just needed to up my humidity. I would have never hurt my snake on purpose.

I'm sorry for your loss, but I think he died of starvation. I fed my baby girl 1 pinky every 3 days for a month from hatchling. Then I fed her small mice. She was eating medium mice at 7 months old. How often were you feeding her?

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Originally Posted by JTA

I'm sorry for your loss, but I think he died of starvation. I fed my baby girl 1 pinky every 3 days for a month from hatchling. Then I fed her small mice. She was eating medium mice at 7 months old. How often were you feeding her?

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Once a week, that's what the lady at the pet store and vet told me to do. Which I now know, was very wrong on my part.

I'm sorry for your loss. I don't think anyone here is blaming you. You were told wrong things and from here you'll have to do your own research. Luckily, you've found a very good spot to do that!

I would consider switching to a tub for your next snake. I started out with a tank and couldn't get the humidity right so I switched to a tub and it's now perfect. I don't have to mist or do anything special. The water bowl keeps the humidity in a good range. Tubs aren't the best looking but I'm just using them until I can upgrade to PVC.

You can just jump right to a pvc cage for your next snake. From everything I hear they are awesome and it's much easier to keep husbandry up in them.

Take a look around. Keep posting. Everyone has to start somewhere :)

I'm sorry about your loss. As far as information on doing things wrong I'm not a expert on it. But I can tell you that cool side is fine. But hot spot to my knowledge I have mine in the low 90's

I have hatchlings that came out of the egg at 50 grams and I don't feed smaller then a hopper. So it's safe to say that you could feed a ball python at least that big. Not so big for a 30-40gram as said above. But I don't believe a 7 month old should be eating pinkies mice.

I hope this does get you down. I feel like you absolutely love snakes and all. So don't beat yourself up. Just keep asking questions and learning. We are heat to help.


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Let's put this behind us, we all make mistakes. Some bigger than others, but we aren't perfect.

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Originally Posted by JTA

I'm sorry for your loss, but I think he died of starvation. I fed my baby girl 1 pinky every 3 days for a month from hatchling. Then I fed her small mice. She was eating medium mice at 7 months old. How often were you feeding her?

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That's not quite right either. A hatchling can start off on rat fuzzies or mouse hoppers right away and move up to rat pups or large mice in a couple of months. Mouse pinkies are too small at any age. It's also not a great idea to feed more often than every 5-7 days. They digest very slowly, so it's beneficial for their systems to have some time to rest between meals.

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Originally Posted by Solarsoldier001

I'm sorry about your loss. As far as information on doing things wrong I'm not a expert on it. But I can tell you that cool side is fine. But hot spot to my knowledge I have mine in the low 90's

I have hatchlings that came out of the egg at 50 grams and I don't feed smaller then a hopper. So it's safe to say that you could feed a ball python at least that big. Not so big for a 30-40gram as said above. But I don't believe a 7 month old should be eating pinkies mice.

I hope this does get you down. I feel like you absolutely love snakes and all. So don't beat yourself up. Just keep asking questions and learning. We are heat to help.


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Thanks. But I bought him from the pet store so I don't know how old he was, I had only had him for 7 months. He weighted 70 grams. Not sure how terrible that is. But thanks. I'll defiantly do more research.

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Originally Posted by JadeSisson

Thanks. But I bought him from the pet store so I don't know how old he was, I had only had him for 7 months. He weighted 70 grams. Not sure how terrible that is. But thanks. I'll defiantly do more research.

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At seven months a ball python should be somewhere between 300-500 grams.