Triangle shaped spine? :(

I'm worried a bit about my BP, since we got him his spine has looked, not round like I think they should be, but more triangular shaped. You can feel it all down his back, it's raised up starting around 3-4 inches down his neck and ending all the way down his tail.
Should I be concerned? I have some pictures of it:
http://i1028.photobucket.com/albums/...bear17/1-2.jpg
http://i1028.photobucket.com/albums/...bear17/2-1.jpg
http://i1028.photobucket.com/albums/...bear17/3-1.jpg
More pictures next post.

More pics:
http://i1028.photobucket.com/albums/...bear17/4-1.jpg
http://i1028.photobucket.com/albums/...bear17/5-1.jpg
http://i1028.photobucket.com/albums/...iebear17/6.jpg
http://i1028.photobucket.com/albums/...bear17/7-1.jpg

Thats a sign of under feeding and or internal problems.

Looks right to me.. Ball pythons aren't supposed to be round like a colubrid or other pythons..they do have some what of a triangle shape..now a really sharp angle means its not eating or healthy..

you can see the semi-triangle shape good in the pic
http://i254.photobucket.com/albums/h...s/DSC_0695.jpg

:( :(! What kind of internal problems?
Also, I'm not sure he's a boy. Petco did not sex him that I know of. :( Could he be a female? Is that still abnormal in females?
What should I do? Increase his food size? Petco also told me he was eating fuzzy mice once a week. I've been doing that, but he's in blue so I haven't wanted to try feeding him yet this week. Should I try and see if he'll take it?

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Originally Posted by Freakie_frog

Looks right to me.. Ball pythons aren't supposed to be round like a colubrid or other pythons..they do have some what of a triangle shape..now a really sharp angle means its not eating or healthy..

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Yes, if the snake is overly round then theres a problem of over feeding. What are the feedings like

He always takes his food, one fuzzy mouse. Is that too little? :( I feel so horrible! I'm a bad snake owner!
I feed him one fuzzy once a week.

Like I said, though, he's had that spine thing since we bought him. :(

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Originally Posted by shelliebear

He always takes his food, one fuzzy mouse. Is that too little? :( I feel so horrible! I'm a bad snake owner!
I feed him one fuzzy once a week.

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Fuzzy mouse is too small, He looks able to take sm adults no problems. So i would offer one every 3-4 days.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by shelliebear

:( :(! What kind of internal problems?
Also, I'm not sure he's a boy. Petco did not sex him that I know of. :( Could he be a female? Is that still abnormal in females?
What should I do? Increase his food size? Petco also told me he was eating fuzzy mice once a week. I've been doing that, but he's in blue so I haven't wanted to try feeding him yet this week. Should I try and see if he'll take it?

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He's being under fed.. I have 2 month old baby balls that will eat full grown adult mice..you need to but him up to small rats or weaned rats.. For sure once a week

Ok. :(
Thanks so much. Should I see if he'll take one today, despite him being opaque in his eyes?
If I didn't have you guys, I might've starved my snakey to death!! Oh no!!! Thank God for this forum. :)

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Originally Posted by shelliebear

Ok. :(
Thanks so much. Should I see if he'll take one today, despite him being opaque in his eyes?
If I didn't have you guys, I might've starved my snakey to death!! Oh no!!! Thank God for this forum. :)

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No harm in trying.. I've got snakes that eat in shed no problems.. Just watch in case he doesn't eat you can pull the feeder out..

Alright. Off to the pet store for a gourmet mouse, then :]

sorry, one more question: Could the fact that he always feels so cold when I pick him up be directly/indirectly related to him being mistakenly underfed?

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Originally Posted by shelliebear

sorry, one more question: Could the fact that he always feels so cold when I pick him up be directly/indirectly related to him being mistakenly underfed?

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No, But being cold to the touch is not a good thing. They should feel semi cool to your warm hands but never cold.

What are your temps and how are you measuring them.

Triangle back is find, triangle body is baaaaaad. Round body is baaaaad. They should be in-between and be eating for you, that's about all you can hope for.

Temps are never less than 75 degrees, they average 85. His humidity right now is %71, I think that's ok for shedding, but I'm not sure how to ever lower it--it's like that almost every day because it's summer time here. Should I move him to a cooler room? There's only one, and it would take quite a while to clean it enough to fit him down there. :( It's the basement, which is stacked with boxes from our flood a few years ago. Ugh.
He always feels cold--even my mom noticed it, and she always feels cold, herself. :(
Could he be sick? What the heck do I do? He doesn't use his heating lamp, which we put on the other side of his tank--he's always in his rock, where the cool side is. If we put the hot side over by his rock, he leaves the rock.

Also, I measure them with a probe I bought at Northwest Seed and Pet. It measures humidity and temp, and we stick the probe under his rock, since he's there most of the day.

I have a 3 Month Old BP that takes 1 Adult Mouse every 5 days.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by shelliebear

Also, I measure them with a probe I bought at Northwest Seed and Pet. It measures humidity and temp, and we stick the probe under his rock, since he's there most of the day.

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You want to aim for a 78-80 cool side and 88-92 warm side. Get those temps and your snake should not feel cold

Quote:

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Originally Posted by shelliebear

Also, I measure them with a probe I bought at Northwest Seed and Pet. It measures humidity and temp, and we stick the probe under his rock, since he's there most of the day.

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You don't mean heat rock, do you?

No, his hide. :P

Bought him a small rat, do you think he'll be able to eat it?

Depending on how small the pet shop small rat is.

One week my pet shop small rat is not a lot bigger than a mouse, the next week they are 5 times the size of a mouse. :P

If the heat lamp causes him to abandon the hide, your best bet is to switch to under tank heat. Get a UTH pad and thermostat, and put it under his tank on the side with his hide, and use the temperature probe to set the thermostat to keep the temps on the glass at around 92 - 94. This will also help him digest his new bigger meals better.


Gale

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Originally Posted by shelliebear

Bought him a small rat, do you think he'll be able to eat it?

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He shouldn't have any problems eating a small rat, but sometimes it can be hard switching from one prey type to another. Rats will pack on the weight much faster than a mouse will, so just keep offering rats until he takes them. If you can't seem to make the switch do a search on here and there are MANY threads with awesome suggestions on how to do it.

He may not eat at all since he's blue, but that would be awesome if he did. My male doesn't, but my female does.

I know everyone posted saying he looks under fed. I agree. My girl looked the same way. I was a new owner and had no idea what she should look like until I asked my vet and he said I should put her on a five day feeding schedule, which I did. She's been on it for about a month possible two months, and now she looks a little over weight. XDD I have to get her out and have her exercise now. lol. But don't worry. Jut get him on like a five day feeding schedule and he'll be fine. About the small rat, it really depends. When I gave my girl her first small rat I thought it would be to big, but that proved me wrong. She ate the thing like it was no big deal. Try feeding him in blue, worse comes to worse he won't eat it. My girl is a eating machine and will eat no matter what. She eat's in blue, she eats live, she eats f/t, she'll eat rats, and she'll eat mice. Yeah, I do not have a picky eater on my hands, she sure does love her food despite what it is. Anyways, enough about my girl. Don't worry about the guy, I'm sure he'll be fine. And if he's hungry enough he'll eat the rat, most likely. If it appears to be about the size of the thickest part of his body then you should be fine, if it looks a tad bit bigger, I'd say no worries there either.
Sorry if this is rather long. ^^

Thanks so much for the help everyone. I offered him the rat, and he didn't eat it. It wasn't too much bigger than he was, so I don't think it's the size, I think he just doesn't want to eat it because he's in blue OR because he's used to mice. :(
I hope he'll eat it eventually. I refroze it.

Feed what hes used to right now

Dont need to be switching prey on him just yet. Get him fattened up and offer rats when needed.