Shayna - Our Albino Spider Ball

Well she's got some very bright yellow on her. And that's great she can take credit for getting you back into reptiles too. :gj: There's no escape now, hahahaha!

She is just beautiful.


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Shayna is doing awesome and is still eating (rare this late into the winter). Having said that, she ate somewhat sporadically the past few months because of construction in the basement/reptile area. So that might play a part.

In any event, she's looking great and still a sweetie to handle. I think she "likes" being handled the least of all the snakes, but she tolerates me pretty well.

https://ball-pythons.net/forums/cach...om/Y8rsNMK.jpghttps://ball-pythons.net/forums/cach...om/NgQcj1p.jpg

Oh, I don't know...she looks pretty relaxed to me. One of my young (2.5 years old) rat snakes still puts up a huge fuss when I pick her up- she'll often thrash wildly- & then wrap really tight on my arm like we're locked in battle! She & her opposite (overly-mellow) 2 siblings are each about 4' long now, so she has enough length to really be a "tourniquet" when she does that, lol. And only after she goes thru some drama, then she calms down & truly seems to like being handled- it's been a long time since I've had any nips from her (not many, in total, either) and she's really making great progress now- I enjoy holding her because once she "remembers" she's safe with me, she just has so much personality- but she's an odd snake, for sure. I have to keep a light touch- she's hyper-sensitive, & the challenge she presents keeps it interesting. I wouldn't want all snakes to be the same & puppy-dog mellow- some of them need to keep us on our toes. ;)

Shayna gobbled down another small rat today. I am wondering if she will fast at all this winter. She seems to know what she needs and when she eats regularly throughout spring, summer, and fall, fasts like clockwork. This year, with the flood and then construction in the basement/reptile area and not getting her regular meal every 2 weeks, I am wondering if she "knows" that it's better to eat if food is offered/available since she didn't pack on the weight this year.

Could be she senses that she has some weight to catch up on- not that we'll ever know for sure- but a couple of mine that go off eating for a while every winter don't seem to care whether they start off lighter than usual, they just fast anyway because they sense the seasonal changes. My elderly TX longnose snake is one of "those"- every year he eats a little less & is a little thinner than I like him to be going into his winter fast. I "should" cool him down to further slow his metabolism, except that has risks too, so I don't. But I think Shayna is probably just fine.

Wow! She looks great, congrats. How much does she weigh now?

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Originally Posted by Albert Clark

Wow! She looks great, congrats. How much does she weigh now?

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Thank you! She's a beautiful lady.

I haven't weighed her in a few months. My best guess is about 1.9kg. Her low for the year (after winter fast) was 1.8kg and she's put on some weight since.

Shayna is still going strong. She left me some waste today and while I had her out, decided to grab some pics. I take more pics of the other snakes because they are more unusual on this site (not BP's) and also because they are all still growing.

Shayna will be 10 this September! How exciting! She's still beautiful and calm as she has always been.

https://ball-pythons.net/forums/cach...MG_3060_2.HEIC
https://ball-pythons.net/forums/cach.../IMG_3061.HEIC
https://ball-pythons.net/forums/cach.../IMG_3063.HEIC

My sister Ally with Shayna. Shed fed her too.

https://ball-pythons.net/forums/cach.../IMG_5549.HEIChttps://ball-pythons.net/forums/cach.../IMG_5552.HEIC

It's cute how you can see each snake's personality by their different poses :D

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Originally Posted by plateOfFlan

It's cute how you can see each snake's personality by their different poses :D

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I agree. It's cool to have different species and different personalities within species.

Shayna was acting pretty adventurous with Ally. She was exploring and having a good old time. She usually gets there after a couple of minutes after going through her, "why are you bothering me, I like being in the dark in my hide," phase.

The boas, corns, and Yafe (CP), are you usually pretty happy to explore as soon as they are out.

Shayna shed yesterday. She's looking great for ten years old (earlier this month was her birthday). Heck, she looks good for any age!

https://ball-pythons.net/forums/cach.../IMG_7533.HEIChttps://ball-pythons.net/forums/cach.../IMG_7538.HEIChttps://ball-pythons.net/forums/cach.../IMG_7534.HEIChttps://ball-pythons.net/forums/cach.../IMG_7536.HEIC

She's looking great, Dave. Funny how snakes always head for the cracks between the cushions though- how do they even "know"?

Some pics of Shayna. She's doing great.

https://ball-pythons.net/forums/cach.../IMG_9243.HEIChttps://ball-pythons.net/forums/cach.../IMG_9240.HEIChttps://ball-pythons.net/forums/cach.../IMG_9241.HEIC

She is beautiful as always....

zi iz sheyn! :D aun ikh hob zeyer lib ir nomen!

Last night, Shayna refused her first meal this winter.

It's her first refusal in 9 months. She's doing great and I have zero concerns. I am surprised she hadn't refused sooner.

The data does point to smaller meals generally lead to fewer refusals and less fasting in the winter. Granted, one BP is hardly a large data point, but with her, the change from medium rats every 2-3 weeks to small rats every 2 weeks has been dramatic. She grew, she now maintains her weight well, and she only misses a few meals a year.

Curious what others think about the smaller meals for adults idea. Either way, works for Shayna.

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Originally Posted by dakski

...Curious what others think about the smaller meals for adults idea. Either way, works for Shayna.

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I totally agree. Better for them, health-wise, to avoid over-feeding (& many pet snakes are over-fed). Not just for BPs either- when I had a large female BCI, I only fed her small or medium p/k rats except once, when I gave her a large rat & immediately regretted doing so. She was 7.5' at the time- but she was clearly uncomfortable digesting it, despite having plenty of size to do so. I don't doubt that feeding on the slim side also results in fewer meals being refused, so why waste time & money feeding larger than necessary prey? Snakes don't eat this regularly in the wild, that's for sure.

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Originally Posted by Bogertophis

I totally agree. Better for them, health-wise, to avoid over-feeding (& many pet snakes are over-fed). Not just for BPs either- when I had a large female BCI, I only fed her small or medium p/k rats except once, when I gave her a large rat & immediately regretted doing so. She was 7.5' at the time- but she was clearly uncomfortable digesting it, despite having plenty of size to do so. I don't doubt that feeding on the slim side also results in fewer meals being refused, so why waste time & money feeding larger than necessary prey? Snakes don't eat this regularly in the wild, that's for sure.

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I think some of that is species related and when bigger is prey is introduced.

BP's are very efficient with food and spend a lot of time curled in hides (in captivity) and burrows (in the wild). Additionally, look at what BP's eat in the wild; African soft fur rats. They are much smaller than the rats we can get in pet stores (normally) and from rat breeders (also Frozen). A medium rat from most online frozen rat retailers is 90-150G, while a large ASF rat is barely 80-90F (the size of a larger small rat from most retailers/breeders). A large rat from most frozen retailers/breeders is about 200-220G. That would be huge for a BP considering many BP's have trouble or skip meals with medium rats. Point here is look at what they eat in the wild as a good indication for captivity, where they are even more sedentary.

Bottom line here, small rats are probably good for most BP's.

Regarding boas, I slow grow them, probably more than necessary, but it doesn't hurt them at all.

Take Behira (BI). She's 6 1/2 years old now and about 3.1kg. She has great body definition. Yes, I feed her larger rats, but she does fine with them and I waited until she hit a plateau at about 2.5kg at about 6 years old. Of course, I feed every 3 weeks and will feed large rats (likely) for the rest of her life. As she slows her growth, I will probably move feedings to every 3-4 weeks or less. My male BI (Jeff) and Dwarf BC (Feliz) will likely never get more than medium rats.

Even efficiently fed boas can get larger (substantially) than BP's and although they don't need larger meals, can benefit from them. I speak to Jeff Ronne (the Boaphile) regularly. He said he has "smaller" boas that he's never fed more than medium rats and they live long and healthy lives. Then there are people and breeders who want rush things and feed large meals and more frequently. Jeff recommends against this. When we spoke about Behira, he felt it was time to move her up to large rats because she had been at 2.5kg for months eating medium rats every two weeks. I do not mind her getting to a reasonable size, as long as it's not hurting her.

Then there are other pythons who can eat large meals, especially when growing. Carpet Python's can eat 15-20% of their body weight while growing. Yafe did eat about 15% for a while, but now eats about 7-10% every 2 weeks. He's on medium rats and weighs about 1.8kg. He's much more active then Shayna and still growing a little. He's all over his enclosure climbing and in general, being active, once his meal(s) is/are digested.

Anyway, I digressed and don't want to steal Shayna's thread, but food for thought.

The takeaway here. Know your species, know your snake(s), and understand it's much easier to overfeed in captivity because of a) a more sedentary lifestyle, and b) readily available food (and at all different sizes).

I've put links below to the snakes I mentioned in this post.

https://ball-pythons.net/forums/show...host-First-BCI

https://ball-pythons.net/forums/show...ngle-het-Anery

https://ball-pythons.net/forums/show...Dwarf-quot-BCC

https://ball-pythons.net/forums/show...ression-Thread

Shayna is officially in her winter fast. She refused her 2nd rat in 2 feedings and hasn't eaten in 6 weeks.

I will offer 1X a month now until she starts eating again.

She looks great and is acting normal. She does this every year, so I have zero concerns. It's a BP thing. Again, posting partially so others with a fasting adult BP don't worry too much.

Shayna broke her winter fast tonight.

She shed and wasted last week, so I cannot say I am surprised.

She last ate 1/6/2023.

Hoping she gets on a regular schedule of a small rat every 2 weeks. She's had false starts before, and sometimes skips another meal or two before getting going for the summer and fall.

Either way, she looks great and is healthy and happy.

I do not handle her much at all when she's fasting/brumating. She spends most of her time burrowed and hidden.

She went 4 months (about) without shedding or wasting. She really shuts her body down.

I know a lot of people worry when their BP's fast. It's often not a big deal and just what they do. She turns 11 this September and has fasted every winter, at least for a couple of months, since she was 2 and about 1kg.

Either way, always good to see a snake eating.

Shayna turns 12 next month. She's held her color well as evidenced below and after a recent shed.

https://ball-pythons.net/forums/cach.../IMG_3955.jpeg

Shayna shed and looks incredible for a 12 year old BP, IMO.

https://ball-pythons.net/forums/cach.../IMG_6197.jpeghttps://ball-pythons.net/forums/cach.../IMG_6195.jpeg

Shayna turns 13 this year and still looks awesome. She just shed.

https://ball-pythons.net/forums/cach...71ca0340d.jpeg