Is it Shedding time.

dont feel sorry hes complety healthy i had him checked out by a breeder and hes doing ok except the bad shed which is now 70% off

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Originally Posted by bigrich0086

dont feel sorry hes complety healthy i had him checked out by a breeder and hes doing ok except the bad shed which is now 70% off

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You call that healthy :rolleyes: he might not hat any health problem, for now (No RI no parasite), but this snake is not thriving, he is in bad shape, and you dismiss all the advice given to you here and somewhere else as well. (Yeah I know small world :cool: )

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I feel sorry for this snake in two bloody forums *sigh*

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Ditto

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Originally Posted by bigrich0086

dont feel sorry hes complety healthy i had him checked out by a breeder and hes doing ok except the bad shed which is now 70% off

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I'm sorry Rich, but the pictures that you've posted of him, are not of a healthy ball python. JMHO

hesn ot healthy cuz of a picture u seend when he had a retained shed. wow you msut be a picture expert.and he always eats on his feeding day no problem. and his shed is coming off. so yea i dont see any reason to say heas not healthy. this is from yesturday hes fine and dandy
http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y14...6/100_1946.jpg

That picture doesn't look much better. There's still retained shed, and he's incredibly thin, you can see his back bone. Sorry.

u can only see his bone when hes constricing any other time you can't. since hes young would feeding him every 4 days bee good in stead of 6 and go up in size of the mice. im useing fuzzies and when he swallows them u cant tell he ate

He's not constricting here, and you can see his spine as well:

http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y14...6/100_1943.jpg

I feed all of mine on a 7 day schedule. I think a hopper is more appropriately sized for him (BEFORE you use up your pinkies, which from pictures you posted on another forum appear to be freezer burned), once a week.

hes only bout maybe 2 months old and im tkain my 6 fuzzies to my reptile sotre their gonan trade me them for bigger ones. and not sure but by the picture wut weight hsould he be at im gettin a scale too.

In the picture from above, I'd be surprised if he was much more than 50-70 grams, but it's hard to tell.


That's the same size as many hatchlings right out of the egg, which suggests that he's not gaining any weight.

Please make the changes to your enclosure that have been suggested to you before. You've got to get him into a much smaller enclosure, you've got to get his humidity fixed, and you've got to feed him properly. I'm quite amazed that he's eaten at all for you after all he's been through.

People may seem to be harsh with you, but we also are rather weary of helping you, when you dismiss everything that we suggest for you to provide the best care possible. All of our comments are for the well-being of your snake, and I really hope for you (and more especially for your snake) that you'll start listening to and making the changes that have been offered to you, instead of arguing with them.

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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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!

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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.

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its bout the same thickness maybe a lil more as the snake.

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The rule is to feed a prey slightly smaller then the girth size, by feeding a prey bigger you will end up with another problem on your hand: regurgitation which with a snake so unhealthy could be fatal.

Yes, that's bigger than a hopper mice, that thing is HUGE ! lol. 3 inch hoppers? That's something new to me.

Even if it was a weanling, 2.5 to 3 and you can tell like half of his head isn't measured.

For those who may learn something from reading this large thread.

http://www.rodentpro.com/images/size_m_large_adults.jpg

That's a large adult. 3 inches Via roden pro.

Weanling or hopper is:

http://www.rodentpro.com/images/size_m_weanlings.jpg
via your's truly, rodent pro.

Oh man.. I thought my setup was bad... Listen rich, people here are telling you, some maybe even demanding to switch to a tub, I know I am.

Omg...it almost makes me want to cry seeing that snake in that condition. -_-
I agree with what everyone has told you Rich.

Change the setup of your cage, fix it so it fits your snakes size for the time being, and get a heating lamp if you can't get the mat to work. Because unless I missed it..I didn't read you saying you got a bigger cage or a smaller heating mat. MAKE SURE IT'S FOR THE SIZE OF THE TANK..I mean, you are roasting that poor snake if it's a 30 gal tank with a 50 gal heating mat. x_x

I keep my snake in a 30 gal tank with a 20 gal mat AND a heat lamp. It keeps it warm enough to where she is happy. And I have accessories too of course.

Also the mice you seem to be feeding her are waaay to large, as said before.
The mouse can't be bigger then the largest part on her body ><

If you truely DID get an expert opinion on how healthy your snake is and they said it was healthy..they either lied, or you didn't take him/her to a good vet, OR you didn't really take him/her anywhere and are just saying that.

Either way..this snake is gonna die if it doesn't get the correct treatment and fast!