My newest little acquisition!

Yesterday I was in a Petco to pick up some frozen mice/rats. Was dismayed when I looked in their BP display. Had 5 or 6 babies in there, including one very unhappy, restless one looking for a way out.

I asked to see that one after watching it several minutes and he immediately wrapped around my wrist. And stayed there. And I'm like awwww, I have to save you from this awful place. Retained shed on his head and bad retained eyecaps.

They were really helpful about the entire sale. Gave me 20% off cause of the eyecaps, and a woman employee _gave_ me a 29gallon tank she had in the back of her SUV. This one guy said he thought it was the one that wasn't eating and he had to force feed it, and I'm lord if this thing isn't already stressed enough. I asked the cashier to weigh him, he's 34g.

Texted my daughter, who impulse bought her BP from a Petco (which I'm currently taking care of), told her about my buy, she told me I needed to stop buying snakes! (this is my fifth, and the second BP).

Staying with my naming scheme, named him/her Charade. Settled him into his tank, and he's a lot more chilled out. Well before that I soaked him and rubbed off the eyecaps, there is absolutely no excuse for leaving a snake in that condition.

Had him out this morning and he nipped me! My fault, I waggled my finger at him. I'm like, did he nip cause he thought I was prey and he wasn't eating cause he couldn't see? Wasn't planning on feeding for a couple days but I went ahead and thawed out a fuzzy. Offered it to him at the entrance of the hidebox he finally found and it took him all of about 5 seconds to come out and strike it.

Was about to take some pictures before I switched tack and fed, so I'm gonna wait a day or 2 for that now. He is the friendliest little thing, take him out he doesn't ball up but crawls all around. Gonna take him to the vet next week for a checkup, been meaning to take my boa, so I'll report back on that too.

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BP - Paradox
BP - Charade
Nicaraguan Boa - Enigma
corn - Ember (1.0)
corn - Phoenix (0.1)

Wow, isn't that strange. The last time I went to one of those places they told me they don't sell feeders (yea, I know you got frozen) but my query then was...gosh, what exactly do you feed your snakes which got me a very ugly look.
I'm so glad you save this little one.

Nice job, i hate it when too many snakes are in the same enclosure, its just not healthy for the snakes and too many bad things can happen over time. He will probably end up being one of the best snakes you have now that he is going to get fed all the time and hes going to get all the love and attention he could ask for!

Checked on him, he has his head out of his hidebox. He wants more! I'm happy his appetite is good, but it would be a bad idea to feed him too much, huh?

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Originally Posted by singingtothewheat

Wow, isn't that strange. The last time I went to one of those places they told me they don't sell feeders (yea, I know you got frozen) but my query then was...gosh, what exactly do you feed your snakes which got me a very ugly look.
I'm so glad you save this little one.

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Well i can tell you that i Work at Petsmart and we ONLY feed frozen. Honestly some of the Milksnakes we have would destroy a live mouse, but we only can feed frozen. But the public doesn't want to know what you feed snakes and don't want to even think about it, but in reality everyone knows snakes eat mice and rats.

good going and I hope you listen to the person tellngiyou to stop buying snakes. I have been banned ( by family) from going to the petshops that have snakes lol. I will haveto make s ure I am broke in feb cause I hopnig to go to the reptile show that on this side of the bay ( first one on the eastern shore I ever seen)

Good save.

The Petsmart and Petco I go to never have more than one snake per enclosure so I suppose that's good, but the humidity is always really low which is funny because the label on the tank says 40-60% humidity and the gauge inside the enclosure is at ~20%.

I realize you are trying to help but honestly, buying an animal from a big box pet store just encourages them to continue buying and mistreating animals. I am glad that you took the time to take care of an obviously sick animal. That was very kind of you :) Next time if you are thinking about doing rescues, check if there is a local reptile rescue where you can adopt an animal in need of help.

All that aside, I think there are still a few things husbandry wise that you can do to make this snake even more comfortable. A 29g tank for a 35g ball python is not going to work. It is just way to large. Even if he is eating now, he could stop eating later and I bet you the big tank will have something to do with it. Ideally you should put him in a 6qt rubbermaid tub, but if you want to stick with tanks, a 10g would be better.

I don't know what you are using to heat, regulate temperature, or measure temperature but these are pretty important to know. Belly heat (with an under tank heater) is best for ball pythons. The catch with these is that they must be used with some kind of controlling device. A reptile thermostat would be best but a light dimmer or rheostat will also work in a pinch. Digital thermometers with probes or a temp gun are the best ways to get an accurate temperature reading. The accurite weather station from the home depot is a great little device for single setups.

Hides are also very very important. You should have two identical tight fitting hides for you little one. Half log hides will not cut it. They need the "rock cave" kind of hides that are low to the ground with a small opening.

You might have all this right already. I am just throwing this information out there because sometimes it can be very helpful to people who are new to ball pythons.

Good luck with that very tiny one!

Quote:

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Originally Posted by zantedeschia

I asked the cashier to weigh him, he's 34g.

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34g, are you sure he didn't wrap aroung your little finger instead of your wrist. My girlfriens doesn't like it when I got into a petstore because she's afraid I'm going to do the same thing. I gues she doesn't realize that there's this thing called the internet and I can have snakes shipped directly to me. lol

Thank you so much for your helpful advice. Wanted to let you know I've owned a ball python since last February. Paradox is my daughter's BP but I took her when the apts she was in had a fit when they saw it and told her she had to get rid of it. Paradox is now a healthy 400g yearling, doing very well.

I understand about not buying snakes from Petco and I do plan on sending negative feedback to their corporate division about the overcrowding and partial sheds in that particular store. I've previously found that they do take immediate action when they get negative feedback so it's worth a shot.

Here's a pic of Paradox:

http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pi...d&id=785733059

Rest of them sans Charade (pix soon, promise!) here too:

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?ai...9&l=f01fa215b0

Like kaorte said, the 29 gal tank for a hatchling could cause stress. If you already have the 29 setup for the snake, go to walmart and buy a 6 qt tub, in my area they are 97 cents. put air holes in it and get the paper towels that are half sheets. they fit the tubs nice without having to fold. give him a bowl of water and place the tub inside the 29 gal tank partly on the heat. in a few months when he out grows the tub, cut a hole in it and use it for the hide. this makes the moving to a larger size enclosure less stressful on the snake since he been in the now hide for months already.

Why take the snake to the vets? He is on the small side even for a hatchling and moving him to the vets and the handling of an exam that he most likely don't need could throw him off feed again. at his size, he's eating, keep him eating, don't pound him with food right away. let his body adjust to eating and slowly increase his intake. after a few meals 5 or so, look him over yourself and check him for mites since he came from a pet store. if you're not sure about anything, the members on this site will let you know if vet care is needed. good luck you will do fine, don

in your thread you said that he struck at the f/t mouse, did the snake eat? If the snake ate don't put him in the 6 qt tub, leave everything the same, he's eating don'tr mess it up. if the snake only struck at the food I would put him in the 6qt tub as posted in my last post. if he's strucking he should eat soon. good luck don

Yes, he ate the f/t fuzzy. Wanted more, but I didn't give him another. Now I'm letting him digest.

I want to take him to the vet cause he's so small, cause I'm not sure he's perfectly healthy, cause the guy said he was force-fed, cause I'm worried I was too rough when I rubbed off the eyecaps (tho I know I wasn't, I fret a lot). Also because when I took Paradox to the vet, it turned out she had internal parasites and I think my daughter got her from the same Petco. The vet I took her to is very good with herps, there's not problem there. Plus I still want to get Enigma checked out.

Speaking of Paradox, when I put my battery back in my camera I found some recent shots of her. Here's one.

https://ball-pythons.net/gallery/fil.../7/3/para3.jpg

I was just at one of these Big Pet stores..and check'd out the reptile sec.(just to see what lil guys they may have) and noticed a ball w/ humidity at 20% and temp around 77...also the price was way too high...it was a normal baby ball running for $79.99.....:weirdface

Hm, this Petco had the temp 85ish and the humidity 50%ish. Plus the overcrowding and half log hide. Tho there's a Petco closer to me that must have someone who knows snakes, cause their BP enclosure actually has a warm side and a cooler side.

Snapped some shots of Charade this morning. He's still active and friendly.

https://ball-pythons.net/gallery/fil.../7/3/char1.jpg

https://ball-pythons.net/gallery/fil.../7/3/char2.jpg

To drag up a really old thread, I got a good look at Petco's cashier scales yesterday and discovered they weigh in fractional pounds. That means Charade at that time weighed .34 pounds not 34 grams. Which translates to about 155g. Which makes a lot more sense, esp since he weighed 160-something grams the following week at the vet.

He's currently 328g so it's all moot.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Kaorte

I realize you are trying to help but honestly, buying an animal from a big box pet store just encourages them to continue buying and mistreating animals. I am glad that you took the time to take care of an obviously sick animal. That was very kind of you :) Next time if you are thinking about doing rescues, check if there is a local reptile rescue where you can adopt an animal in need of help.

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I recently just saved my first snake (normal BP) from an evil and dirty pet shop. Although I absolutely love my new friend, I wish I didnt because like you said, it just promotes bad caretaking.

Its just so hard to do when your holding one of these little guys. They look at you with the snake version of a "puppy dog look", then you see the disgraceful living conditions and you are almost FORCED to buy it to save it.

Thats what happened to me. I went to that pet store JUST to buy supplies for the tank and was planning on getting a BP from an quality breeder. He was too cute tho and I had to save him/her..

:tears::snake::tears:

Quote:

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Originally Posted by BigBlue56

FORCED to buy it to save it.

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Business model?

Quote:

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Originally Posted by kaorte

i realize you are trying to help but honestly, buying an animal from a big box pet store just encourages them to continue buying and mistreating animals. I am glad that you took the time to take care of an obviously sick animal. That was very kind of you :) next time if you are thinking about doing rescues, check if there is a local reptile rescue where you can adopt an animal in need of help.

All that aside, i think there are still a few things husbandry wise that you can do to make this snake even more comfortable. A 29g tank for a 35g ball python is not going to work. It is just way to large. Even if he is eating now, he could stop eating later and i bet you the big tank will have something to do with it. Ideally you should put him in a 6qt rubbermaid tub, but if you want to stick with tanks, a 10g would be better.

I don't know what you are using to heat, regulate temperature, or measure temperature but these are pretty important to know. Belly heat (with an under tank heater) is best for ball pythons. The catch with these is that they must be used with some kind of controlling device. A reptile thermostat would be best but a light dimmer or rheostat will also work in a pinch. Digital thermometers with probes or a temp gun are the best ways to get an accurate temperature reading. The accurite weather station from the home depot is a great little device for single setups.

Hides are also very very important. You should have two identical tight fitting hides for you little one. Half log hides will not cut it. They need the "rock cave" kind of hides that are low to the ground with a small opening.

You might have all this right already. I am just throwing this information out there because sometimes it can be very helpful to people who are new to ball pythons.

Good luck with that very tiny one!

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wonderful info you shared. I agree with you 100 percent on the big box pet shops. If you really want to help and save a ball go contact a rescue. Trust me there are alot of normal males looking for a good home AND THAT ALSO GOES WITH DOGS AND CATS.