My Ball Doesnt Like To Soak...

I have had my Ball for a couple of months and I noticed that hes not really a soaker.. And wont really soak him self unless I put him in there and he will stay in for maybe a couple of seconds for a drink and come out.. Is this normal? .. I spray him occasianly ..

if he feels humid enough he wont soak. what are your humidity levels? sounds to me like they are right. mine only soak around shed-time.

Never catch mine soaking ..... far as I know he doesn't. Sheds come out fine so I don't worry about it.
I wouldn't be concerned, your bp knows what it needs 8)

Neither of mine will soak willingly. Even when I was a n00b, and didn't know about keeping the humidity up, Atreyu never soaked.

But it sounds like you have the humidity right, with misting him and all. :)

If the humidity is low, they will soak if they feel comfortable in their surroundings. If not they will choose to sit inside their hide holes! mines not a soaker so I put her inside a rubbermaid with about an inch of water.

Jojo has never soaked in his life. He will drink water and thats it. Sometimes when i notice he is going to shed i will put him in his water bowl and he will stay there for like 10 seconds and go to one of his hides. I think soaking is a personal preferance for the snake. If they dont want to soak they wont its as simple as that. Amazing how these creatures have their own personalities.

Hey maniac, from your avatar it looks like you feed live? I'm just guessing cuz all the dead rats I feed don't stress their legs and toes like that. Sorry if I'm mistaken.

Quote:

---

Hey maniac, from your avatar it looks like you feed live? I'm just guessing cuz all the dead rats I feed don't stress their legs and toes like that. Sorry if I'm mistaken.

---

Well , The avatar was a choice I picked that the forum gave me, but now that you mentioned it I like to feed my snakes live food. My ball has been brought up that way since it was born and I dont plan on changing it. I also think its alot cooler to watch it perform something it does in nature. As my snake gets bigger, I will have to start moving to rats, which I will put in a money bag and slam against the wall to cripple or daze the rat before i throw it in. I also take it into consideration that I my self never really liked frozen food or TV dinners :lol: Even though comparing my likes and dislikes to a snake is probably poor judgement it still plays a role in how i feed my animals. I dont really think about fuzzy mice hurting my snake until I get into rats. I read one of your earlier posts and seen a picture of your red tail.. Beautiful :) .. I ordered mine today (5/12/04) from LLLReptile.com.. I should be getting it in a couple of days.. And if your wondering I most likely will be feeding it live food as well. :mrgreen:

Quote:

---

If the humidity is low, they will soak if they feel comfortable in their surroundings.

---

I actualy keep a humidfier in the room and the humidity ranges from 50% - 70%.. I guess thats probably why. I still like to spray him though to keep him on the safe side. I delt with a sick snake
before and im trying to keep my ball as healthy as possible, especialy after paying a 125$ medical bill.
I could have bought 2 more brand new balls for that price but chose to save my poor snake instead. I'm such a good guy, dont you think? :wink:

Quote:

---

Neither of mine will soak willingly. Even when I was a n00b, and didn't know about keeping the humidity up, Atreyu never soaked

---

Hey just wondering, Did you name your snake after that movie " The Never Ending Story "... I loved that movie when i was a little kid. That dragon dog was my favorite :mrgreen:

Falcor is THE MAN. I wish I had a Luck Dragon!!!

It might be cool to see your snake stike and kill a live animal but when he ends up with a cut on his eye or on his head or even in his mouth you will quickly change your mind. You dont have to feed frozen i feed both my snakes fresh killed. I just put them in a ziploc bag and bang it against the counter and that does the trick. I strongly recomend you feed fresh killed. A mouse can still do lots of damage to a snake. And if it so happens that your snake gets injured by a mouse it could go off feed because they associate the mouse with the injury. There was a picture on the web some where that showed a ball python that was severly injured by a mouse it had almost all of his skin bitten off.

Yeah I agree on the whole idea of it being better to feed p/k. I mean, you take a risk each time you feed live, small of a risk as it may be. But its one of those things, that if it does happen 1 out of 1000 feedings, its a HUGE deal and can have lasting consequences.

It is also important to understand that your bp, when fully grown, will need to be eating adult rats. Rats are MUCH more hostile when threatened, and therefore totally unacceptable to offer live to your snake. Point being, get your snake used to eating prekilled items now, and the transition to p/k rats will be much easier further down the road.

I think it's time for Mikey to see what happens when the prey turns on the predator: http://www.proexotics.com/graphics/b...ive_prey_1.jpg

Thank you i have been looking for that picture. Post the one that shows the whole body. And remember that snake is STILL ALIVE in that picture but i am sure it didnt live long after that. The point is that if you feed live you run the risk of you snake getting a nasty injury then a scar. Remember that the mouse is a prey item and its life depends on how hard its going to fight back and it will fight for its life. Your job as a keeper is to reduce the level of stress to the animal and to eliminate the possibility of injury. There are rare instances that a live feeding is advisable and this is when the snake refuses to eat. If you feel queezy about killing a mouse or a rat and if you live close to the pet store they will kill the mouse or rat for you.

That was obviously done by a rat.. The mice i use are harmless and before feeding my snake live prey I always somehow imobolize it so it doesnt get the chance to hurt my snake. I usualy bang it on the wall pretty hard to a point were it can barley move but has some life to it. That picture looks like whoever that was left there feeder in there with the snake for some time. If i see a threat to my ball I will immidieatly take the mouse out. A mouse with a cuncussion and broken limbs can do little harm to a hungry ball.. =] .. And if any of you say a crippled mouse can do any harm to my ball are skeptics. If worse comes to worse I will give it to my cat and let him kill the mouse for me before feeding it to my ball..

Not "obviously" done by a rat, that could be done a by a mouse, rat, gerbil, hamster, or any other toothy live rodent with a strong sense of self-preservation. Feeding "stunned" prey is generally a good bit safer, especially if you supervise the entire process sober, but stunned prey have been known to recover to the point where they could inflict significant damage and distractions are always a possibility (phone, doorbell, videogame, 12 pack, whatever).

It is every snake keeper's choice to make what and how to feed their snake(s), but I just feel like it should be a fully informed decision. If you are aware of all the dangers and possibilities involved and still make that choice, then that is your choice to make, but too many keepers feed live because they don't know the dangers (not just of wounds but also of parasites and/or poor nutrition), because "it's what they do in the wild", or because of poor advice from pet stores.

I think broken bones take a while to heal.. I make sure my rodent is completely stunned.

That picture gets me every time I see it.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by maniac

Hey just wondering, Did you name your snake after that movie " The Never Ending Story "... I loved that movie when i was a little kid. That dragon dog was my favorite :mrgreen:

---

I did. And my other bp is Bastian. When I get a female, I'm going to name her Moon Child, which was Bastians mothers name, and the name he gave to the Childlike princess to save Fantasia. :)

Quote:

---

I did. And my other bp is Bastian. When I get a female, I'm going to name her Moon Child, which was Bastians mothers name, and the name he gave to the Childlike princess to save Fantasia.

---

I use to watch that so much when I was growing up. Soon after I realized I would never be able to own my own falco I stopped watching in dissapointment. Naming snakes is a nerdy way to have fun with your pets.. I named mine " OLah " .. After this african that works with my mom who goes every now and then to africa and brings back snake meat which he likes to eat and finds it a delicacy..My redtail is " Escabar " .. since hes a colombian boa I figured "Escabar" was the most infamous and creative name I could think of that had something to with Colombia. Anywayz even though our beloved snakes will probably never know the meaning of a name , its a good way to distinguish your animal instead of just called it "ball python" or " redtail " or "cornsnake..