First BP, Looking for help on an ID...Calico Dad / Pastel Mom

I agree with SmoothScales. The biggest mistake I see of novice keepers is overhandling. Ball pythons stress easily, even if they don't express it by lashing out like other snake species do (e.g. they are more inclined to freeze or ball up than bite). When I purchase a snake, I generally block off the front of its tub with something opaque (a blanket, piece of cardboard, whatever is handy) and don't mess with it for a full week. After the week is up, I offer a small meal once nighttime falls.

I think the threat of a snake "throwing up" on her would keep your gf from handling him too soon after a feed. That's not something you want to see (or smell!) again!

http://i22.photobucket.com/albums/b3...pshizinyqu.jpg

Here he is Sunday night catching some heat. Quite active at night, prefers his hot side hide. Although when I woke up this morning he was in the cool side hide. I'm glad to see him moving between the two as we have been fine tuning the temperature to make sure he is happy.

Managed to get in almost 48 hours before the gf couldn't wait any longer to play with him. I wasn't too confident in his posture, so it took me 2-3 min to get him out of the cage. I don't want to take any chances, I'm prepared for a bite...but if I'm smart about it, it shouldn't happen.

I did manage to weight him when he came out, he came in at 550 grams :)

All is still going well. We had a decent play today.

He wants to slide around when my gf plays with him, but he seems content to sit in a ball in my hands. I haven't had to dominate him at all, very well behaved.

Moved in Wednesday.

Very active Thursday night after spending Wed night in his hide.

He fed Friday night on a small frozen rat. Spent a while killing it before eating it.

Short play Sunday

Decent play on Tuesday. Found a peanut shell sized white poop in his hot side hide. Oddly enough he had been in his cool side hide all day/night.

I'm expecting him to be active and hunting tonight just based from what I have observed. I had predicted he would be active Tues night and be ready to feed Wed night.

We will see how active he is tonight.

I plan on thawing the next rat in water, then putting it under his heat lamp for 15-20 min before offering it.

This is all going so well.

Also...I'm beginning the process of shutting down most of my fish tanks. You guys have won me over. I have had a Gargoyle Crested Gecko for about 2 years, just never dabbled into the dark side yet.

He wasn't overly active last night, so we will continue to observe.

He was in his hot side hide with his head sticking out when I went to bed, when I woke up he was in the cooler side hide.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Hammertime1977

I haven't had to dominate him at all

---

He's not a dog and he won't fit in a leather gimp suit, so what exactly do you think you'd be doing to 'dominate'him? They don't have a herd/alpha mentality so really...what were you thinking you could do to 'dominate' a snake?

In the event you had a nippy snake, I would suggest short handling sessions spaced out so he gets used to the idea of being held. It's not exactly something you can force - they eventually decide that their handler isn't going to eat them.

As for the urate you found, he was likely avoiding it. I've noticed mine will get as far away from their waste as possible. Instinct tells them that a rodent will smell that and avoid their location.



Sent from my SCH-I605 using Tapatalk

Haha no, I'm a retired heavyweight fighter...I don't need to dominate a 550 gram snake for kicks. I saw in a few handling videos that if they get testy you just cover their head and they curl up in a ball. That's all...the guy called it Dominating the snake.

Not wanting to be by his poop made perfect sense to us.

As for handling I have her chilled out to 3 weekly sessions, this will allow him to have a full 48 hours after his feed.

I have to say that very few of the online personalities that speak about Ball Pythons actually know their stuff, you can see holes in a lot of what they say. The only guy I really trust online is HLH Reptiles, that guy cares about his pets and isn't just out to make a profit before the bubble bursts.

Will be interesting to see who still has their Ball Pythons 2-3 years ago, now that the bubble has burst.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by SmoothScales

He's not a dog and he won't fit in a leather gimp suit, so what exactly do you think you'd be doing to 'dominate'him? They don't have a herd/alpha mentality so really...what were you thinking you could do to 'dominate' a snake?

---

Really people? The guy's choice of words wasn't that great but come on. Its better that people want to be here. Stuff like this accomplishes nothing. Technically if you physically keep the animal from doing exactly what it wants you are dominating it. We keep them in cages and we restrain them when they try to go somewhere we don't want them to so everyone here is dominating their animals. No leather required. The leather bit was actually funny.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by JodanOrNoDan

Really people?

---

Yes, really. I was quite curious. And based off the description given, it is a technique I myself have used with nippy, aggressive, or frightened snakes. Though I've never considered it dominating them, and can't recall it being referred to as such - though I've far from watched every YouTube video on keeping/breeding Ball Pythons. I think of it as putting them into a defensive posture.

On the subject of YouTube videos - I have watched some of the HLH videos, but I can't say I'm much of a fan. I'll watch a JKR or Brian Gundy vid over HLH any day.

Haha glad to see a few of you have a sense of humor, I understand the kind of people that tend to populate forums are a bit more introverted.

But I honestly just came here because I really like my Ball Python and I'm trying to soak in as much information as I can, so that I can take the best possible care of my pet. Some people aim for the minimum to keep the pet alive, in my time fish keeping...I learned to dial things in to a much higher level to help with the health of the animals and also to cut down on the amount of work I had to do.

We all like/love Ball Pythons, let's focus on that and not how different our lives and backgrounds may be.

....

To move on, he spent the morning and afternoon in his cool side hide. I expect him to begin being active tonight which would have us feed him tomorrow night. I'm trying to read my animal as opposed to using a set schedule. The set schedule is still there, but as a back up.

But I have 1 Snake, I have it in a tank to display it. Not keeping him in a rack allows for the extra observation. (Absolutely nothing against rack set ups, they just are impractical unless you're keeping 5-6+ snakes and I only have 1...not knocking it at all)

^^
I'm blunt and sometimes people get butt hurt and take things the wrong way, partially because they are online looking for conflict. So I explained myself there so I don't have to deal with butt hurt. Not my game, I do my fighting in the ring and in the cage.

:)

Now I will really know who the cool people are here :)