Wiggles, the Children's Python

Yeah, he loves it. :gj: Is it my imagination or is he going cloudy? That would explain him staying in there for a while, besides just feeling safe.

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Originally Posted by Bogertophis

Yeah, he loves it. :gj: Is it my imagination or is he going cloudy? That would explain him staying in there for a while, besides just feeling safe.

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I've never been good at discerning the signs of an approaching shed, but it would be pretty early for him. It's only been 8 weeks since he last shed. He averages about 12. Long periods of inactivity are usually a sign, but I think it's more likely that he just likes it in there. He's due to feed in a couple days. That should bring him out, if only briefly.

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Originally Posted by Homebody

I've never been good at discerning the signs of an approaching shed, but it would be pretty early for him. It's only been 8 weeks since he last shed. He averages about 12. Long periods of inactivity are usually a sign, but I think it's more likely that he just likes it in there. He's due to feed in a couple days. That should bring him out, if only briefly.

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The photos were too vague & distant for me to tell, it just crossed my mind, that's all. Mostly if not all it's about is him liking it. :cool: He's such a cool little snake.

108 hours. He finally came out of his new hide after 108 hours. I guess he likes it. Good thing too because I had to remove his favorite hide, his sky hide, to fit it in there.

Wiggles's weight rebounded nicely this quarter. He's back up to 307 g. I wasn't really worried about the dip last quarter, but I didn't want it repeated either.
https://ball-pythons.net/gallery/fil...t_12-01-25.jpg
I also have a new theory about Wiggles's feeding issues. I think I've been overfeeding him. I knew Reptilinks have more calories that a comparably sized rodent, but I recently learned that they may have double the calories. That's a big difference.

That said, I know that's not the whole issue. I use rodents to lure Wiggles out for his quarterly weighings because he responds to them better. I don't think Wiggles would leave the comfort of his enclosure for a Reptilink.

:rofl: Neither would I... (yikes, "double the calories" could really mess up the anticipated feeding schedule)

I confess. I made a mistake. I was playing with Wiggles the other day when I decided the check his basking temp. I hadn't checked in a while because it's always between 88-95F. It was 77F. It was the middle of the day, so the RHP should have been on. It wasn't. I feared it had up and died on me. I checked the connections. They were fine. The problem turned out to be the timer.

When daylight savings time ended, I adjusted the time. Unfortunately, I reset it to turn off at 6:30 AM rather than PM. Poor Wiggles has been without basking temps for six weeks. He still had his heat mat which I keep on all the time, but at only 80F.

Curiously, Wiggles didn't miss a meal. I've read that Children's pythons can digest a meal perfectly well at 75F though it takes them longer. So, he seems no worse for it. Lesson learned: check your temps frequently even if you think you know what they are.

I'm really glad he's okay. Nature sure doesn't provide perfect conditions, & tbh, we probably do a disservice to our animals' immune function to keep their conditions so steady.

Like his weight, Wiggles's length also rebounded this quarter from 35.3 to 36.9 inches.
https://ball-pythons.net/forums/cach...m/sci6oBS.jpeg
https://ball-pythons.net/forums/cach...m/lUoGuuP.jpeg
I'm still getting to know the new measuring tool, so I'm not sure how much faith to put into those numbers. Over time, I feel I'm get a better sense of how accurate it is.

Wiggles weighed in at 296g this quarter; down from last quarter's 307g.

https://i.imgur.com/vb1fOM9.jpeg

The 307g was up from 293g. This small weight loss doesn't concern me. It would take a trend of weight loss or gain to move me to action. For the past couple years, he's been alternating between loses and gains, but staying around 300g. I take that as I sign I'm feeding him right.