Wanda's Progression Thread (Picture heavy)

Seeing all these progression threads made me want to start one up for our little Normal girl, Wanda (a.k.a Booper). Even though we've had her for about six months now, better late than never, huh?

We bought Wanda on the 24th of September from my local pet store, somewhat sporadically; We had been planning to get a snake for a long time, and we went into the pet store to look for stuff for my fish tank. Well, we came out with a snake viv :D Wanda came home with us on the 26th of September. We had been looking for a Corn Snake, and my boyfriend bought Wanda believing her to be a cornsnake (She's out first snake, so cut us some slack on our stupidity :D) a few temp tweaks here and there, and she settled in very well! We weighed her for the first time on the 10th of October, and she weighed 87g. I'm not too sure what she was when we got her.
A few photos from her first night:

https://ball-pythons.net/forums/cach...2FDSC_1457.jpg

(We removed that tape the very next day)
https://ball-pythons.net/forums/cach...2FDSC_1485.jpg
https://ball-pythons.net/forums/cach...2FDSC_1507.jpg

Here's her just before she had her first shed, on the 4th of October. Also a hand comparison on Dom:

https://ball-pythons.net/forums/cach...70060048_o.jpg

Here's her eating early October (I'm pretty sure this was actually her first meal. It was either that or her second one. She takes F/T like a pro from the first time we offered):

https://ball-pythons.net/forums/cach...ts%2Fsnake.png

Here's her in late November with a fresh-shed head (but not body):

https://ball-pythons.net/forums/cach...2FDSC_1722.jpg

Same day, showing off that shed just ready to come off!

https://ball-pythons.net/forums/cach...2FDSC_1727.jpg

Here's an adorable photo of Wanda doing her best ball:

https://ball-pythons.net/forums/cach...2FDSC_0313.jpg

Here's a photo from the other day (my hands):

https://ball-pythons.net/forums/cach...2FDSC_0371.jpg

Here's the latest photos taken today (217g full). She turned 38 weeks old on Monday (Dom's hands):

https://ball-pythons.net/forums/cach...t%3D1493146262
https://ball-pythons.net/forums/cach..._13_27_Pro.jpg

Thanks for reading!

Unusual looking cornsnake

That's what my sister said when she saw her the first time :D I think what happened is that the stack of Ball Pythons was next to the Cornsnakes under the Cornsnake label (If that makes sense) and so that's where the confusion was made :D

Haha that's so adorable. I love the ball.

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Originally Posted by FNG

Haha that's so adorable. I love the ball.

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Thank you :D

Just a little update for today:
https://ball-pythons.net/forums/cach...45785383_n.jpg

https://ball-pythons.net/forums/cach...967109_n_2.jpg

https://ball-pythons.net/forums/cach...76263894_n.jpg

She looks really big in that last photo :D She's not actually lol.

Also she was fed today! And I have a funny story about it. I wanted to go to the pet food shop to get some mice, plus one of the next size up because I was pretty sure she was getting big enough to take it. My boyfriend's mother and brother were going out and offered to get them, and so I took a photo of the mouse in my hand (A hopper, I think. Not really 100% on names of mice, but they were about 12g if that helps!) that we've been feeding recently, and I guess my hands are small because the guy at the shop thought that it was a large mouse... There was a bit of mix up (I wanted 5 hoppers, and one of the next size up) and I somehow ended up with five large mice, and 5 pinkie mice :D:D They're tiny! I'm not quite sure what to do with them, would Wanda take food that small?

Also, we got her a new feeding box! I've been meaning to do it for a while. I really like this one cus I can plop her in, and then use the hatch to dangle a mouse. We also did end up feeding her the large mouse, I was a little unsure about it but I measured both her and the mouse and it was a thick as her thickest bit so I went for it. We also showed my boyfriend's mum her eating for the first time, and she loved it lol. She's not too sure about snakes due to samonella risk, but she can definitely appreciate them lol.

https://ball-pythons.net/forums/cach...99651656_n.jpg

I want to update this every week, so here's a lil update! Wanda went into shed a few days ago, and her eyes are so blue! Poor little boop. She's such a good girl when she's in shed, she dosen't get grumpy like I've heard other beeps do. Also yeah, she has a few scuffs on her head (Not sure where they came from!) but I'm hoping she'll shed them off.

https://ball-pythons.net/forums/cach...56399779_n.jpg

https://ball-pythons.net/forums/cach..._9342618_n.jpg

Also bonus:
"Online, no-one can tell you're a snake ;)"
https://ball-pythons.net/forums/cach...14236038_n.jpg

Just out of curiosity, why do you feed in a separate enclosure?


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Originally Posted by SaltLife422

Just out of curiosity, why do you feed in a separate enclosure?


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I was told to actually! When we used to feed in her viv bits of substrate used to get stuck to the prey and I was told that if she ingested too much it would give her problems.

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Originally Posted by Booper

I was told to actually! When we used to feed in her viv bits of substrate used to get stuck to the prey and I was told that if she ingested too much it would give her problems.

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You're not alone I was told the same many years ago ..
Truth is , I believe it to be completely incorrect advice , in hindsight .

It's not even possible to feed my 7' Snow Boa , or the Burm or even the Retic in a separate viv THEN move them afterwards ... Also I defy anyone to come and feed my collection of King snakes in separate rubs then try and get them in their own vivs :)

I feed all mine in-viv now and simply place two of three little pieces of card (or cardboard if it's easier ) on the floor of each viv .
Never , ever , had any issues .

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Originally Posted by Zincubus

You're not alone I was told the same many years ago ..
Truth is , I believe it to be completely incorrect advice , in hindsight .

It's not even possible to feed my 7' Snow Boa , or the Burm or even the Retic in a separate viv THEN move them afterwards ... Also I defy anyone to come and feed my collection of King snakes in separate rubs then try and get them in their own vivs :)

I feed all mine in-viv now and simply place two of three little pieces of card (or cardboard if it's easier ) on the floor of each viv .
Never , ever , had any issues .

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I agree. I only have one snake, but I've fed in the enclosure since day 1 and never had any issues. I also noticed that some substrate would get eaten as well and sometimes it would be chore for her to get a piece unstuck in her mouth.

I have since switched to paper towels as a "substrate" and I like it way better. Easier clean up and very cheap. Newspaper works just as well


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Thanks for the replies :) I can't imagine trying to do it with a big snake lol, but whilst she's smaller it's not so difficult.

I don't feed mine in his "home" either, he knows his feed tank now and he gets on feed mode when I put him in it.....I like it better that way, but I only have one BP and he won't be some 15ft snake that I have to worry about finding a place to feed so it works for me.....I worry about substrate too. And it makes me feel better that he doesn't think of his home as his feeding place


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Originally Posted by Finn0208

I don't feed mine in his "home" either, he knows his feed tank now and he gets on feed mode when I put him in it.....I like it better that way, but I only have one BP and he won't be some 15ft snake that I have to worry about finding a place to feed so it works for me.....I worry about substrate too. And it makes me feel better that he doesn't think of his home as his feeding place


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That's a good point as well! I don't worry about opening up the door on feeding day and having her strike at me because she knows she won't get fed in there. Another reason is that nearly all of my mice at the moment get nose bleeds, and Wanda is a very... aggressive eater lets say. It's a lot cheaper and easier to clean up kitchen roll and plastic rather than substrate and the viv!

On a seperate note... Wanda shed last night! I woke up this morning and on the way to the bathroom I saw a little bit of shed poking out of her hot hide... I've been really crossing my fingers hoping for a full shed (She's not yet had one with us) and I've been spritzing the viv like crazy since I noticed she was in the blue trying to keep the humidity at 70%. So when I picked it up and noticed it was a full shed (And one with no poop in it!) I was over the moon!

It's not a very good photo, but measuring this shed she is about 62cm!

https://ball-pythons.net/forums/cach...51563891_n.jpg

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Originally Posted by Booper

That's a good point as well! I don't worry about opening up the door on feeding day and having her strike at me because she knows she won't get fed in there. Another reason is that nearly all of my mice at the moment get nose bleeds, and Wanda is a very... aggressive eater lets say. It's a lot cheaper and easier to clean up kitchen roll and plastic rather than substrate and the viv!

On a seperate note... Wanda shed last night! I woke up this morning and on the way to the bathroom I saw a little bit of shed poking out of her hot hide... I've been really crossing my fingers hoping for a full shed (She's not yet had one with us) and I've been spritzing the viv like crazy since I noticed she was in the blue trying to keep the humidity at 70%. So when I picked it up and noticed it was a full shed (And one with no poop in it!) I was over the moon!

It's not a very good photo, but measuring this shed she is about 62cm!

https://ball-pythons.net/forums/cach...51563891_n.jpg

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That's cool, no matter the humidity mine very seldom sheds in one solid piece.....he and I work through it though and there is never any skin leftover on him....mine isn't aggressive at feeding, I just don't want him to think his home is where he eats, and contrary to what some say or believe, I can tell a difference in his demeanor when I put him in his feed tank [emoji846]


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I'm so shook, I had an experience last night that could have turned out much worse :( Since I finished my exams on Tuesday, I had some friends round for drinks. Suitably drunk, I decided to go to bed only to find Wanda had escaped! This is the second time she's done so the little mare, she somehow manages to push the glass door open and escape! Luckily my boyfriend found her wrapped around the handles of the viv, she hadn't gotten far, but I'm just wondering what would have happened if she had been on the floor and I'd have stepped on her! So nervous. I'm glad it ended the way it did!
More on topic with her updates, she finally hit 300g! She's a very small snake for her age... It worries me but her spine doesn't stick out and her stomach doesn't sink in, and we feed her a large mouse every week. I guess she is just destined to be small.

Nice that you found her .... best find something to jam in between the glass doors ;)


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Originally Posted by Zincubus

Nice that you found her .... best find something to jam in between the glass doors ;)


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We've got a lock on it now :D No more escape antics!

So, I haven't been updating this for a while as nothing has been happening lol :D But today, Wanda ate her first only rat meal since she was little! Last week I train-fed her a mice hopper and a rat pup to get one in her, and then this week I fed her what I believe to be two rat pups (Asked for fluffs which apparently are smaller than weaned rats but bigger than pups, but the ones I got were about 14g each so not too sure. Still a bit of a small meal for her...) and she ate both of them! It was a bit of a kerfuffle because usually with Wanda she strikes immediately on mice no matter if it's light or dark, but she wasn't going for the rats. So Dom had the idea to put a towel over her feeding box to stimulate night time, and I put one rat in and left her to it, five mins later it was gone! So I put the other one in and left her and she ate that one too! I knew beeps are fussy eaters, but that's just crazy :D I think I'm going to try her on a small weaner next week, but I'm not sure because it's so long! It's about twice and long as the large mice I was feeding before, but the girth is right. Will the length matter?

Last night Wanda ate a weaner rat, struck and downed it in one!! I'm so proud of my little beep, I was honestly expecting the road to getting her on rats to be so difficult, but three weeks of work and here we are :) I bought some more weaned rats today and to be honest they look tiny! I like my little local pet food shop though, the guy is very helpful and has no qualms about bringing out his stock of frozen to show to me so I can pick the ones I want. It might be a little expensive, but I bought 4 small weaned rats from 30-40g range for £5 ($6.40) which will last us the next 3-4 weeks depending if I feed every five or seven days.

Here's a little phone photo of my little Booper eating:
https://ball-pythons.net/forums/cach...904205_n_1.jpg

So I've got a bunch of photos to share today since I haven't been posting in a while!

Look at my big blue baby :)
https://ball-pythons.net/forums/cach...m%2F9zoadv.jpg

We also got Wanda's new viv in! I was going to take photos of us putting it up and document it... but I didn't lol. So here's a few of the photos I took:

First off we have the flat pack viv. I've never built a viv before! The first one I got was already set up and sealed. Now, this viv (Vivexotic large) was so simple to put up, but sealing it was DIFFICULT. It took me and the boyf FOUR HOURS to do it in the end, and we both had bruised hands the next day. There's got to be an easier way!

https://ball-pythons.net/forums/cach...%2F2lkd1mv.jpg

Eitherway, Wanda seems to like it!

https://ball-pythons.net/forums/cach...%2F262tnup.jpg

https://ball-pythons.net/forums/cach...m%2Fm75poj.jpg

And here's the new set up!

https://ball-pythons.net/forums/cach...%2F2sbn5mg.jpg

And here's a bonus of her being a shiny girl:

https://ball-pythons.net/forums/cach...m%2Fml1lyp.jpg

Where did you get the set up? I love that!!!


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Originally Posted by Finn0208

Where did you get the set up? I love that!!!


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It's a vivexotic repti-home large with a small Clearseal viv on top :) The vivexotic vivs are made to be stack-able, and you can get the feet like I have to keep them off the floor. Much better than the cabinet I had the Clearseal viv on before, because I can use the space where the cabinet was for another viv :D