New purchase. Heating Questions. With BP Pics!

What a mess - I decided to do a CIP (clean in place) with the snakes still in the enclosure. They never come out their hides during the daytime so I figured I could just sanitize the empty hide outdoors, scoop up half the substrate with a dustpan, wipe the plastic/rubber liner off with sanitizer, and replace with clean substrate. Place snake on clean side, then repeat.

Two problems arose - First off the snakes were all over the place as soon as I started messing around in their enclosure. This evening is feeding night so they were out and about looking for food. Secondly one of the enclosures had gotten urine under the rubber/plastic liner. I realized this after I had already cleaned one half of the terrarium. So I really wanted to remove the liner and trash it but I already had the snake resting in a sanitized hide with new substrate, on the side I had already finished.

In short it worked out but was a bad idea all around. The snakes probably would have been happier in a temporary enclosure while I cleaned their big homes thoroughly. Granted I enjoyed having the snakes company while I was cleaning. I think it may have actually been a good thing for the Banana. I was really surprised to see him just wandering around with me looming at the terrarium opening.

Also CIP doesn't work well with surprises like urine under the mat..

The albino, I think, got his name today. I believe he is going to be "Junior" since he acts about as ADHD as I am. His switch is either ON or OFF. Wide open and won't be still or completely immobile.

I wonder if he thinks it is a new piece of furniture since it smells completely foreign..
https://ball-pythons.net/forums/cach...%2FPk7W2on.jpg

I really appreciate the input you guys have offered thus far. I changed my scale and reweighed both snakes -
Albino - 458g
Banana - 349g
Mouse 1: 26g
Mouse 2: 25g

Junior (albino) took both mice without issue (after i weighed him). Planning on getting 100 weaned rats at the columbia SC repticon this weekend unless someone suggests otherwise.

Well I thought this thread was over, but..

Albino had two mice 24hrs ago. Banana wouldnt take his mouse and missed yesterdays meal.

Wife wanted to see one of the snakes so I went to get the banana out for a few minutes. He was mostly out his hide. I was lifting him out the cage when he started.. convulsing? There were a lot of poop sounds accompanying his spasms. Reminded me of him doing "the worm". After 4 or 5 cycles he opened his mouth like he was going to regurgitate but I'm guessing he didnt have anything in him to vomit up.

I cleaned up his projectile poop off the wall of his hide and replaced the substrate in that area.. Is this normal?

No, i don't think anything that has to do with "convulsing" is considered. Normal. :/ maybe he was just trying to worm out of your hands?... but now that he pooped, I would definitely try feeding him again. That's usually when mine are in super hunting mode.


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Aim for rats that weigh 10-15% of the snake's body weight, it's more accurate than going by girth of snake=size of prey. Also my understanding of how snakes digest means that I feed every 6-7 days, no closer together than that. It unnecessarily taxes their digestive systems to eat too-small prey items too frequently. I switched my rescue bp from mice to rats by asking for dirty mouse litter at the pet store and using it to scent the f/t rats until she had it figured out. Once the rat was thawed I would pour some mouse litter in a dish, lay the rat on it and then warm it under a goose-neck lamp until it had a surface temp of 95-100 on each side (flip it once).

Quote:

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Originally Posted by kali_is_my_copilot

Aim for rats that weigh 10-15% of the snake's body weight, it's more accurate than going by girth of snake=size of prey. Also my understanding of how snakes digest means that I feed every 6-7 days, no closer together than that. It unnecessarily taxes their digestive systems to eat too-small prey items too frequently. I switched my rescue bp from mice to rats by asking for dirty mouse litter at the pet store and using it to scent the f/t rats until she had it figured out. Once the rat was thawed I would pour some mouse litter in a dish, lay the rat on it and then warm it under a goose-neck lamp until it had a surface temp of 95-100 on each side (flip it once).

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I aim for 20-22 percent of my snakes' body weights.. different strokes and I guess it depends on your overall plans.


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I was thinking about it last night and it may just be the way snakes poop. It is like he was flexing his muscles from head to tail, but it was very rapid - A complete head-to-tail cycle including pooping sounds every second.

It made me think that he was actually taking air in and out of his rectum. Like wheezing but through his butt. I dunno. Hopefully this was an isolated incident. I'm out of mice the previous owner gave me. Going to pick some larger ones up today to see how the snakes fare with larger food items.

The albino hasn't really budged since he had his two mice the other day. I believe he is happy and content.

I picked up two small rats (one frozen, one live) and the banana wouldn't take his meal live or fresh killed. He was super curious when the rat was alive but wouldn't strike. I left the rat, dead, at the opening of his hide for 30 minutes and he didn't touch it. It was dripping blood out its nose. I stuck the rat in the freezer to try again later.

BTW, I know the dangers of feeding live. I just wanted to try it, supervised. In retrospect I'm glad I tried it but wouldn't do it again. Frozen is the way to go. I hated killing that rat.. :(