Would This Be A Good BP To Start With?

Im just about ready to get a BP and of course i checked craigs list. I found a 3 year old male normal being sold with an Aquarium and Heating. Basically the entire setup the snakes been living in for its life. All for $45. Reason for selling is the owner is moving to an apartment and cant have animals. Its fed a live mouse every thursday. Owner has informed me that it drinks alot of water during shed. The owner has refused selling to other people but has accepted me as a buyer because of my farm/animal background even though its my first snake. Owner has told me the snake is very docile and has only struck when she first got the snake. Ever since then the snake has been quite tame. Does this sound like a good snake to have and start out with? Talking to the owner, the snake seems well kept but i havnt been able to see it yet.

The price sounds ok, but you need to ask what type of heating is being used, ie.. lamps or UTH, and if a thermostat is included. If not, be prepared to get one, especially if a UTH is being used. Depending on the size of mice she has been feeding it for the last 3 years, it may or may not be on the smallish side. But that is not too important. What is important is for you to look the snake over and check it for any obvious health issues and it's temperament. And if you do decide to get it, we must see pics... :D

It comes with a UTH, ill have to ask about a thermostat. I think she also has a heat lamp as well that she said the bulb burnt out on last week. Im pretty prepared to spend some extra money to get other things needed. I figured a 3 y.o. isnt gonna be small anymore. Hopefully i can go see it this weekend and if all goes well, ill have myself a new pet.

$45! :O Man, mine was $150 but I got it with a 75 gallon tank and some extras, there is another one right now also for $150 with a nice 40 gallon breeder tank. I want the 40 gallon breeder tank because there is a Bearded Dragon for sale with a 55 gallon long, wich is the wrong size for a Beardie, its $120.

For $45 thats a great price! And at that price anything else you need for it will feel a little cheaper. It was tougher buying the things he needed after spending $150. I would jump on it for sure if its a nice healthy animal and since you are prepared to spend some money for anything extra you need.
Wish I could find a deal like that ! :gj:

Sounds great to me. Make sure it seems healthy, and whatever else that comes with it is great. Just make sure that once it's in your care you give it everything it needs.

Heres a picture she just sent. It looks like a really nice color. Im gonna try and go see it this weekend.

http://i139.photobucket.com/albums/q...40SR/Snake.jpg

Looks really skinny. See what they're feeding it. Drop a mention of this site. Maybe they'll learn something.

I was thinking the same thing. She feeds it live mice but im not sure on the size.

Frequency's important, too. -rereads first post- Wait, 3 years old, and on the corner of a comforter, next to a price tag, it looks tiny. That thing looks like it's been starved for years. One mouse a week... They definitely should have given it more mice or switched to rats at some point. Doesn't mean you shouldn't buy it, though. You can pack the meat on.

Actually, it's got a really reduced pattern. You could probably breed for that if you're into that later on.

It's definitely a nice pickup and a good deal. Nothing wrong that you can't easily fix. You won't even have to do anything special to fix it, just feed it properly. It's cheaper and quicker to feed one item than a bunch, so there may be the challenge of switching to rats.

When fed properly, they reach and maintain a certain size and girth. They look healthy and well fed. I just don't get how people don't recognize this.

I would at least try to give her a gentle heads up about this for her future reference.

Mice only get so big. Petco adults here weigh 30g.

If the snake has a good apetite, is it ok to feed it more than once a week? How longs it take to digest a meal?

Hi,

If it is as underfed as those pics make it look you should start gently with the feeding regime. :(

For the first couple of feedings I would offer smaller prey than normal and definately leave it a week between them for the first couple to see how she handles it.

After that, if all is well, you could move her onto a more usual feeding regime but possibly feed her every 5 days if she will take it for a while.


dr del

I'll do that. From what she told me the snake eats weekly but the mice are probably just petco size. Would it be ok to feed the snake two of them at a time?

you can definitely feed your snake more than one rodent at a time. Some of my more aggresive eaters will take another right after the tail is going down the mouth.

Hope this helps

Thanks!

Heres another picture of the snake in its aquarium. Ill be going to see it sunday. Im pretty excited to get it even if i do have to do some extra work getting it up to a bigger size.

http://i139.photobucket.com/albums/q...240SR/Tank.jpg

It has a nice color and pattern but since there is no date/time stamp on the photos, there is no telling when those photos were taken, so they could be 3 days old or 3 years old. You won't know until you see the snake in person.

I wouldn't feed more than once per week. At 3 years old, it is not a juvenile. The best you can do is feed it appropriately sized meals, and let it grow at it's own rate. I would feed it about 60-80 grams of prey each week, whether it is one rat or multiple mice. You shouldn't need to feed much more than that...

She told me the pics were taken about 2-3 days ago but ill find out for sure how it looks tomorrow. Ill probably buy 2 mice from petco each week to feed him. Its been fed live food since a baby so ill stick with that for a bit.

I got the snake today. Its just like the pictures and how she described everything. As soon as i got there she gave it to me to hold and it was like a little ball in my hand. Lol. Theres a few things ill probably change on the aquarium. She has a Heat Mat/Tape on the bottom of the tank which is working great but no thermostat for it. The basking area is around 92-93* right now. Theres alot of Aspen bedding in the aquarium so i hope the snake will be alright till i get a thermostat for it. Its already out and about the aquarium even after the 30 minute drive home. Im still a little weary about handling it right now cause its my first snake and she told me it hasnt eaten for over a week because it was shedding. Ill get 2 mice tomorrow and try to feed it. I asked her if she fed it 2 once before and she said it regurgitated the 2nd one when she tried. Im unsure if i should try feeding it 2 tomorrow or just do 1 tomorrow and maybe another on Friday. Id really like to get its weight up alot. Its really thin right now.

Congratulations on bringing your new pal home. You said it has alot of aspen in the tank and the temp was around 91F. Is that on top of the aspen or under it on the glass? If that is on top of the substrate then the temps under it will be way higher. I would suggest at least getting a cheap lamp dimmer from Lowes or Home Depot so that you will at least have some control over the UTH until you get a thermostat. As for feeding, I know it has been a week since the snake was last fed, and it is up to you whether you try and feed tomorrow or not, but personally I would wait until Friday or so to feed. This will give it a week with no handling to settle in and get comfortable. I know it is still in the same tank, but it is a new home with new smells, etc... so it may or may not decide to eat. Go ahead and make a list of everything you want or need to change about the tank and start rounding the stuff up and do it all at once, because each time you change something, the snake has to readjust to it. So if you are going to do anything like change hides, cover the sides, add foliage, etc... do it all at once, so the snake only has to re-adjust once...

Thanks. Its been close to 2 weeks since hes eaten. Ill get one mouse today and see what happens. He seems to be doing really good in his new home. The room i have him in is a dedicated snake room. He seems to be doing very good in there. He was out of his hide about an hour or so after i brought him home and hes been out all night long. Ill give feeding a shot. Worst it can happen is he wont eat it and ill have to care for the mouse till he decides to.

It is 92* within the substrate. But I'm sure the glass is hotter. I'm putting a dimmer switch on it today.

Fed him a Large Mouse today. As soon as the mouse box entered the room his head came out of his hide area. Sat the mouse in the cage and he snatched it right up. I think hes very comfortable in his new surroundings being pretty much secluded in a temp controlled room specifically for him. Im gonna feed him again on friday or saturday. He really needs to put on some weight. I also got the dimmer for the heat tape. Ill work on setting the temp to where it needs to be tonight.