Wiggles, the Children's Python

First time I've seen him out of a hide since he got squished. So far, so good.

https://i.imgur.com/n1pymwn.jpeg

Still haven't seen him moving around though. So, stay tuned.

Hopefully just digesting and being chill. Not uncommon a few days after eating, I imagine.

I am hopeful that by tomorrow he will be moving around.

Keep us posted, but I am guessing he's going to be just fine.

He came out for a stroll this evening.

https://ball-pythons.net/forums/cach...m/8LDJwL2.jpeg

It was the first time since the squishing. He looked good and moved well. I didn't see any signs of an injury. So, it looks like this was just another close call.

I'm so glad he seems to be just fine.

Wiggles lookin' down right athletic, like nothin' ever happened.

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

I'm just so relieved.

Me too! :gj:

The sides of my plywood enclosure started to warp.

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

I've been putting off making the repairs because I was concerned that I would only make it worse. I like planning projects, but I'm not great at executing them. Today, I decided that I couldn't put it off any longer. It would only get worse.

https://i.imgur.com/FrxH10p.jpeg

Surprise of all surprises, it went off without a hitch.

That's probably from Wiggles doing push-ups against the sides. :D

Wiggles did a funny thing last night. When I opened his enclosure, he was sitting on his ledge. While I was remounting his sky hide, he extended himself to investigate; equally cute and annoying. As I was bolting the hide in place, I dropped the bolt into Wiggle's water bowl. Quick as a flash, Wiggles struck. At the bolt, the splash, I'm not sure, but he looked up at me afterward, water dripping from his face, with what I could only imagine to be embarrassment. He looked so funny. I'm sorry I couldn't capture that image on camera to share with you, but, I captured it in my mind's eye and I know it'll keep me chuckling to myself all day.

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Originally Posted by Homebody

Wiggles did a funny thing last night. When I opened his enclosure, he was sitting on his ledge. While I was remounting his sky hide, he extended himself to investigate; equally cute and annoying. As I was bolting the hide in place, I dropped the bolt into Wiggle's water bowl. Quick as a flash, Wiggles struck. At the bolt, the splash, I'm not sure, but he looked up at me afterward, water dripping from his face, with what I could only imagine to be embarrassment. He looked so funny. I'm sorry I couldn't capture that image on camera to share with you, but, I captured it in my mind's eye and I know it'll keep me chuckling to myself all day.

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Great description! I can totally picture your embarrassed Wiggles. :D I'm also glad he didn't catch it- eek!

Wiggles weighed 308g last night. That's a slight decrease from October, but no cause for concern. As an adult, his weight is supposed to plateau. To lure him out onto the scale, I've started using feeder mice. Reptilinks just aren't enticing enough. My last weigh-in in December failed because I accidently dropped the mouse as I was trying to lure him onto the scale. He quickly snatched it up and retreated to his hide. No harm done. I don't really need to weigh him. I, mostly, just do it out of curiosity.

https://ball-pythons.net/forums/cach...m/UHnsOad.jpeg

I don't have a new length measurement to share. I need to find a new snake measuring tool. My beloved Serpwidgets bit the dust.

For my latest trick, I subdivided Wiggles's tub with a cardboard sheet.

https://i.imgur.com/DBrR6CF.jpeg

Under the cardboard, he has a hide and some cardboard tubes with newspaper for substrate. Above the cardboard, he has a large water tray, another hide and a temp/humidity gauge with repticarpet for substrate.

https://i.imgur.com/W2Zmck3.jpeg

Besides just giving Wiggles another level to explore, I theorize that the cardboard will help trap the heat from the heat mat raising the ambient heat on the lowest level and the water vapor from the tub raising the humidity on the higher level. I, also, think it looks nicer than when it was just full of junk. Time will tell if Wiggles is as pleased with it as I am.

I think snakes LOVE multi-level dwellings, at least in my experience -when I've done similar effects. That's quite a change for Wiggles though...all that open space? And they still appreciate things to grab onto, though the carpet helps a lot for traction.

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Originally Posted by Bogertophis

I think snakes LOVE multi-level dwellings, at least in my experience -when I've done similar effects. That's quite a change for Wiggles though...all that open space? And they still appreciate things to grab onto, though the carpet helps a lot for traction.

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Good point. I'll throw some insulated paper under the cardboard for added traction.

For my latest project, I decided to make a cover for Wiggles's enclosure. The room that Wiggles's enclosure sits in is lit for up to 18 hours a day. Children's pythons are from northern Australia where the day/night split is around 12/12 year round. So, I decided to create a cover for Wiggles's cage in order to get his day/night cycle closer to that 12/12 split. I haven't noticed any ill effects from the excessive "daylight", but snakes hide their weaknesses well and long term effects can be hard to see.

The front of Wiggles's enclosure is a simple piece of 1/8" plate glass. For the night cover, I had another piece cut that I will cover with blackout film. I plan to complete the project this weekend. I'll post a follow up once it's complete.

The shipment arrived early. Cover turned out as well as I hoped. Go figure.

https://i.imgur.com/pta6F3m.jpeg
https://i.imgur.com/54ujxf2.jpeg

From Wiggles's perspective with the flash:

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

With the flash off:

https://i.imgur.com/brHq7UV.jpeg

I've been pondering this project for a long while. I'm pleased with the way it turned out. Hopefully, Wiggles will appreciate it too. Maybe, it'll, even, add years to Wiggles's life.

I wonder what he can see with the cover in place. Are children’s pythons crepuscular?


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Quote:

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Originally Posted by ROSIEonFIRE

I wonder what he can see with the cover in place. Are children’s pythons crepuscular?

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Children's pythons are nocturnal, so he can see a lot better than you are I could. Also, as you can see from the last pic (without the flash), a small amount of light leaks in around the edges of the cover. So, he has enough light for him to navigate his enclosure.

Wiggles basking after a meal:

https://ball-pythons.net/forums/cach...m/ilOVSBT.jpeg

Wiggles prefers to partially bask from inside his warm side hide. It's rare to see him basking on the slate that I provided for that purpose. Curiously, he does not regularly bask after meals, at least not immediately after meals. The reason that he is today may be that he had a larger meal than normal last night (17g vs. 10g). Perhaps, he's able to digest a regular sized meal at ambient temps, but needs his basking spot to digest larger meals. Hopefully, time and continued observation will tell.

Wiggles proving me wrong, again.

https://ball-pythons.net/forums/cach...m/HwBTJum.jpeg

I've learned the secret of getting your snake to do what you want. All you have to do is publicly state that he never does it.

When I checked on Wiggles this morning, I saw feces in his terrarium and I was, curiously, pleased. Wiggles has been hiding in his tub for a week or more. Preparing to shed I guessed. The feces in his terrarium indicated to me that he’s done shedding and he's active again. This was confirmed when I found his shed while cleaning up the feces. I’m so glad he’s back in action. I miss him when he’s in shed.

I had another reason to be pleased. I found the shed draped over his water bowl. The water bowl sits in the middle of his enclosure in full view of my video camera. So, without further ado, Wiggles Shedding (1:42):

https://youtu.be/kkCxEblh4J8.

I'd never seen him shed before, so I thought it was cool.

He sure knows what to do with his water bowl. :D I can't believe this is the first time you've seen him shed. As you can imagine, I've seen a great many snakes shedding over the years- even though many like to shed at night when I wasn't looking. It's interesting to see their various techniques- like the way some leave them tightly rolled up into what looks like a ski hat, while others leave them like a decorative streamer, & others leave them in pieces. And some are very tidy- they defecate in the shed, so it stays wrapped up. Others rely on our room service & leave it right in their water bowl...yuck.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Bogertophis

He sure knows what to do with his water bowl. :D I can't believe this is the first time you've seen him shed. As you can imagine, I've seen a great many snakes shedding over the years- even though many like to shed at night when I wasn't looking. It's interesting to see their various techniques- like the way some leave them tightly rolled up into what looks like a ski hat, while others leave them like a decorative streamer, & others leave them in pieces. And some are very tidy- they defecate in the shed, so it stays wrapped up. Others rely on our room service & leave it right in their water bowl...yuck.

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I've also never seen him soak. I've seen him take a dip, but I've never seen him soak. I also liked seeing that he used the rough stone in the center of the water bowl exactly as I intended. It's uplifting when I correctly anticipate and provide for his needs.

I look forward to learning more about Wiggle's shedding technique. At about 4:15 AM, he deposits a small piece of skin on the part of his ledge that hangs down next to his water bowl. Since snakes start shedding at the head I guess that is what that is. He, then, frantically moves about his cool side hides. I think he's searching for something to rub up against. He finds what he's looking for in his water bowl. After a brief soak, he's able to remove the rest of his skin by rubbing up against the rough stone. His shed complete, he eliminates his solid waste and heads up to his sky hide to rest. The whole process takes him about a hour. Since this is the first time I found the shed in the water bowl, I suppose this was him trying out a new technique. Hopefully, I'll be able to catch future sheds on video to compare and contrast with.

Question: how long should I wait to feed him after a shed? I would normally have fed him six days ago, but didn't because I was anticipating the shed. I don't think I've given it a thought in the past, but I imagine shedding must be taxing to him. I planned to feed him last night. That would have been 15 hours after he shed, but I reconsidered and decided wait a day to let him recover a bit. Is a day enough? Too long?

I'll often feed snakes basically immediately after they shed, especially (a) if they happened to shed between when I checked to see if they're ready for food and when I get around to offering the food, or (b) if I've been holding off on food for those species that spend a long time in blue and I have real reason to get food into them (growing hatchlings, trying to get digestion underway in time to ship a snake or take it to an expo, female in pre-breeding conditioning, etc). If there's a higher rate of refusal immediately after shedding I haven't noticed enough that it is obvious, and I've never seen any apparent side effects of offering food right after shed.

That all said, if in doubt about feeding a snake, best to just wait of course. A little fasting would do most of us some good, and the nice thing about snakes is that doesn't seem to bother them a bit. :)

I wouldn't worry about your snake needing to rest after a shed (maybe when he's a senior citizen?). Most snakes are ready to eat pretty quick afterwards- I usually take a cue from the snake's behavior, & most of the time, they'll be chasing your wiggling fingers (thru the glass) so take the hint. :rofl:

I fed him a hopper (8g). Weighed him, as well. 315g. A 7g increase from March 21st.

https://i.imgur.com/4gELIQr.jpeg

His next scheduled weigh in is at the end of August.

I tried frog juice last night. I was hoping Wiggles would like his Reptilinks a little more with some seasoning. He ate it, but still wasn't too enthusiastic about it. Maybe, I'll try the gecko juice next.

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Originally Posted by Homebody

I tried frog juice last night. I was hoping Wiggles would like his Reptilinks a little more with some seasoning. He ate it, but still wasn't too enthusiastic about it. Maybe, I'll try the gecko juice next.

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Silly me. I just realized that I warmed the link. Maybe, that confused him. Whoever heard of a warm blooded frog?

I think the frogs in Australia are pretty warm. Probably venomous, too, and have curse words that American frogs have never heard of. :P