Just got a Ball Python

I was recently given a very young baby ball python that a friend of mine found (I'll explain that story later on) and I was wondering what I should do now. This is my first snake by the way.

First off, my friend gave him to me on the 10th of October. As he gave it to me, I quickly went with him to my local reptile shop and bought the things he needed (substrate and an under tank heater. I already had the tank, bowl, and hides) as I took it over there, I was hoping the person there would be able to sex it and see if its healthy. She was not able to sex it (She said she needed a probe but she didn't have one at the shop) but she did say it looked healthy.

Before I took it to the shop, I checked the snake if it had any mites, if he was strong enough to be able to climb up my hand while hanging by his tail, and I checked if he had mouth rot. No mites, seems to plenty strong, and no mouth rot. Surprisingly the snake is also pretty tame and not head shy at all once its out of the cage. In the cage he's pretty shy and will slowly hide his head.

Now, back to the shop. I told the lady at the shop if she could try to feed it for me. She tried giving it an almost unconscious hopper mouse but it refused to strike. I went home and set up his tank in my room. By Thursday I went out of town and came back Monday (The lady told me the snake can easily go for a few weeks without eating, so I was confident nothing should happen). Now that I came back on Monday, I went out again to the shop and bought the smallest hopper they had (I didn't bring the snake to the shop that time) and tried feeding it. Once I took it home, I realize the mouse looks a tad too big, but I didn't think it would be that much of a problem because it wasn't that much bigger than his girth. Almost forgot to mention it pooped when I came back.

He didn't want to strike it, I then killed the mouse and tried feeding it to the snake dead. Still didn't want to strike. After that, I left it right next to him because I had to run some errands. About 2 hours later, I come back and it hasn't eaten it. So I tried doing a quick assisted feeding, I got the mouse by its neck, rubbed the nose of the mouse on the front of the snake's snout until he opened his mouth. Once he opened his mouth, I inserted the mouse's head in his throat far enough to the point he couldn't spit it out. He eventually swallowed it. (Mind you I did this because I felt the snake looked pretty skinny, as his spine was showing a little, and some parts of his body had loose skin)

So now the next day, today, he was still digesting it and appeared to still be the same exact size in his stomach. I went out to go to my grandpa's house and by the time I come back, I noticed my room smelled horrible. I looked in his cage and he regurgitated the mouse. It didn't even look digested at all, just wet.

Now I'm wondering what should I do? Should I attempt to feed him the next day, next couple of days, or next week or so? He seems to be pretty weak right now, as I removed the log and put him in a single entrance cave with half his body sticking out, he hasn't moved for about an hour now.

His tank is a 10 gallon glass tank, he has 2 hides, mulch (I don't know what kind, definitely not cypress though) substrate with some sphagnum moss pieces, and a large water bowl half filled with water. His ambient temps are about 76. His hot spot is about 94-96.

I'm not entirely sure what's his weight (I haven't thought about weighing him but I will soon after it recovers from the regurgitation), its not very big, maybe around a foot long or so, I have not measured it. The lady told me its most likely only a few days old.

So when should I feed it and what should I feed it? Is it healthy? Too skinny?

Now then, if you'd like to know how I got the snake, I'll tell you now; My friend's dad went to his neighbor's house to borrow a tool. As he's back there with him trying to find it, he hears the neighbor's daughter scream and quickly went to check out what it was. My friend's dad saw that what she was screaming at was the small python as her dad was ready to kill it (Her dad had no idea what kind of snake it was and I'm pretty sure he wouldn't have cared). My friend's dad caught it (He knew it wasn't a normal, wild snake) and my friend told me about it that same night. I picked it up the next morning.

The picture's below are of the snake's enclosure (Front and top view, as of now) and of the snake when I first received it, being fed, fed, and now after regurgitation.

Currently he has started to move around a bit and drank some water.

For some reason its not letting me post pictures here. Luckily I posted on this arachnid forums with pictures before coming here. I'm not sure however if people can view them if they're not logged in to that forum. http://arachnoboards.com/threads/just-got-a-ball-python.300036/
https://ball-pythons.net/forums/cach...99-jpg.255071/

http://arachnoboards.com/data/attach...5de4a2e18a.jpghttp://arachnoboards.com/data/attach...5b33702ccc.jpghttp://arachnoboards.com/data/attach...2928cef118.jpghttp://arachnoboards.com/data/attach...696f705996.jpghttp://arachnoboards.com/data/attach...81acc6f7dc.jpghttp://arachnoboards.com/data/attach...d17c47f251.jpg, For some reason I can't make the photos any bigger than this and I also can't edit my posts.

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Originally Posted by DerekG4

http://arachnoboards.com/data/attach...5de4a2e18a.jpghttp://arachnoboards.com/data/attach...5b33702ccc.jpghttp://arachnoboards.com/data/attach...2928cef118.jpghttp://arachnoboards.com/data/attach...696f705996.jpghttp://arachnoboards.com/data/attach...81acc6f7dc.jpghttp://arachnoboards.com/data/attach...d17c47f251.jpg, For some reason I can't make the photos any bigger than this and I also can't edit my posts.

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if you have a smartphone you can use the free app Tapatalk to upload photos directly from your smartphone, or you'll have to register and upload your photos to an image hosting site like imgur.com

Others will come and offer specifics on husbandry. You need to square that aware and make sure it is perfect to reduce stress of this ball python.

Sounds like you and your friend tried to "rescue" either a wild born or escaped ball python. There is no telling the health of this snake or if it has any parasites, mites, etc.

If the snake is healthy then you are going to have to leave it alone once you get husbandry under control.

Since you assist fed it and it regurgitated, you must wait no less than 2 weeks before trying to feed it again. After that two week where all you are going to do during that time is clean any waste and refill water, you can then offer food again.

There is no guarantee you will be able to feed this wild snake nor get it to acclimate to an enclosure. You need to consider it a wild animal as in Florida there are many escaped species like this.

Honestly the best thing you could do is look up a reptile rescue and surrender this to people better experienced to handle wild caught reptiles.


If that is not something you are willing to do you will need to follow every advice about perfecting husbandry to reduce as much stress as you can and once you have that under control and if you get your snake to start feeding, you need to make a vet appointment to get test done for infestations to rule out parasite and disease.


Not trying to be hard on you but keeping any wild animal is never a good idea.

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Originally Posted by SDA

Others will come and offer specifics on husbandry. You need to square that aware and make sure it is perfect to reduce stress of this ball python.

Sounds like you and your friend tried to "rescue" either a wild born or escaped ball python. There is no telling the health of this snake or if it has any parasites, mites, etc.

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I think it was wild born (I forgot to mention nearby where he found it he said there was a clutch of large, leathery eggs that have hatched, highly assuming they're python eggs) The only thing I've noticed so far is that by its tail it has a strange bone poking out a bit. Doesn't seem to be anything bad, most likely a bone deformity. I doubt it has any mites, it has no lifted scales and no black or red spots.

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Originally Posted by SDA

If the snake is healthy then you are going to have to leave it alone once you get husbandry under control.

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Is there anything wrong with my setup?

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Originally Posted by SDA

Since you assist fed it and it regurgitated, you must wait no less than 2 weeks before trying to feed it again. After that two week where all you are going to do during that time is clean any waste and refill water, you can then offer food again.

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Can it really go that long without eating? I was originally planning on trying again this Friday because I thought any more than a week would be kinda bad for him since he looked a little skinny to me. I refill/change his water every 2 days.

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Originally Posted by SDA

There is no guarantee you will be able to feed this wild snake nor get it to acclimate to an enclosure. You need to consider it a wild animal as in Florida there are many escaped species like this.

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So far he's slithered around his enclosure and already knows where his water bowl is. I suppose it already sort of knows where everything is now. I hope I get it to eat, if not, I'll give it to someone here that would be able to take care of it better than I do.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by SDA

Honestly the best thing you could do is look up a reptile rescue and surrender this to people better experienced to handle wild caught reptiles.


If that is not something you are willing to do you will need to follow every advice about perfecting husbandry to reduce as much stress as you can and once you have that under control and if you get your snake to start feeding, you need to make a vet appointment to get test done for infestations to rule out parasite and disease.

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If I can't get it to eat, I suppose I'm gonna have to give him away. I will try my best to raise it and get him to eat. I previously wanted to get some ball pythons so I can breed them, which is why I jumped at the chance to get this little baby and get some experience out of it.

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Originally Posted by SDA

Not trying to be hard on you but keeping any wild animal is never a good idea.

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I just felt bad for the snake. If I hadn't taken it, its head would've been chopped off by my friend's neighbor. :(

Yes it can be fine that long. Regurgitation needs time for the digestive tract to heal to not develop issues. This will also force you to limit interaction with the snake which is crucial to get it to reduce stress.

It's nothing on you as a responsible adult it is however that wild animals rarely work as pets ;)

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Originally Posted by SDA

Yes it can be fine that long. Regurgitation needs time for the digestive tract to heal to not develop issues. This will also force you to limit interaction with the snake which is crucial to get it to reduce stress.

It's nothing on you as a responsible adult it is however that wild animals rarely work as pets ;)

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I suppose I'll feed him on the 31st then, which is 2 weeks from now.

But since it is a baby and likely only a few days old, wouldn't it be almost the same as CBB hatchling since its barely that old? I'm sure its never eaten before I got it.

You need to do everything to make sure this snake is healthy and as stress free as possible. They should not regurgitate food and now that it has it is your job to ensure it gets every opportunity to relax and heal from a regurgitation. Since you can't know for sure what is going on you need to take care to stop that from repeating.

Anything less than two weeks and you really are risking aggravating its stress levels. Regardless of its age you have to get it wanting to eat and when this stressed it won't.

Give it two weeks to try and see if you can get it to acclimate and to have its digestive tract recover.

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Originally Posted by SDA

Give it two weeks to try and see if you can get it to acclimate and to have its digestive tract recover.

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Once the day comes, what should I do exactly? Attempt giving him a live pinky mouse and see if he'll strike at it? If he doesn't eat it should I attempt another assisted feeding? I still don't entirely see why it regurgitated the hopper in the first place.

If it really is that young, it wouldn't have gone through its first shed cycle. Most folks will tell you they don't even offer food until after their first shed.

The most common reason why a snake regurgs is because of husbandry. What's your temperatures on both sides look like, humidity, do you have a hot spot, are your heating devices controlled by thermostats?

Just looking at the pictures of the enclosures I'd suggest getting fake plants to make the snake feel more secure, but that is secondary to making sure your husbandry is spot-on.

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Originally Posted by Starscream

If it really is that young, it wouldn't have gone through its first shed cycle. Most folks will tell you they don't even offer food until after their first shed.

The most common reason why a snake regurgs is because of husbandry. What's your temperatures on both sides look like, humidity, do you have a hot spot, are your heating devices controlled by thermostats?

Just looking at the pictures of the enclosures I'd suggest getting fake plants to make the snake feel more secure, but that is secondary to making sure your husbandry is spot-on.

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Temperature on the left side is 71-73 degrees, middle (where his heat mat is) 81-85 while inside his hide is 94-96, and the right side by the log is roughly 76-80. Humidity is about 60%. The heat mat is not controlled by a thermostat. I figured it doesn't need it as it doesn't get any hotter than 96 degrees.

i should have some fake vines lying around that I have for my geckos. I also have a lot of semi dried Spanish moss, would that work too?

The temperature on the left is far too cold, the enclosure should never drop below 75 degrees. 94-96 is a bit on the hot side, I would try to lower it to 88-92. Even if the mat only gets to 96 degrees, you always need a thermostat for any and all heating devices. The heat mat could suffer a malfunction and overheat, which could in turn burn your snake. How are you monitoring these temperatures?

Both would be fine, so long as the snake has something to brush against while wandering around the enclosure (you may notice them tracing the edges of things with their bodies. they're very tactile animals).

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Originally Posted by Starscream

The temperature on the left is far too cold, the enclosure should never drop below 75 degrees. 94-96 is a bit on the hot side, I would try to lower it to 88-92. Even if the mat only gets to 96 degrees, you always need a thermostat for any and all heating devices. The heat mat could suffer a malfunction and overheat, which could in turn burn your snake. How are you monitoring these temperatures?

Both would be fine, so long as the snake has something to brush against while wandering around the enclosure (you may notice them tracing the edges of things with their bodies. they're very tactile animals).

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Not sure what's the actual name of it but it's a little black device with blue buttons (Mode and Scan) that measures temps. All I know about it is that it's from Zoo Med and it's digital.

I'll use the Spanish moss. I have more of it anyway and it can also help with raising and maintaining humidity.

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Originally Posted by Starscream

The temperature on the left is far too cold, the enclosure should never drop below 75 degrees. 94-96 is a bit on the hot side, I would try to lower it to 88-92. Even if the mat only gets to 96 degrees, you always need a thermostat for any and all heating devices. The heat mat could suffer a malfunction and overheat, which could in turn burn your snake. How are you monitoring these temperatures?

Both would be fine, so long as the snake has something to brush against while wandering around the enclosure (you may notice them tracing the edges of things with their bodies. they're very tactile animals).

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Not sure what's the actual name of it but it's a little black device with blue buttons (Mode and Scan) that measures temps. All I know about it is that it's from Zoo Med and it's digital.

I'll use the Spanish moss. I have more of it anyway and it can also help with raising and maintaining humidity.

I'll move around the substrate to increase/decrease the temperature in certain spots. (Add some in his hide to decrease the temps) he's never around the left side anyway, only the middle and right. Currently all he's doing is hiding and sticking his head out to drink water. He's been drinking a lot lately, which I'd imagine is good, isn't it?

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Originally Posted by DerekG4

Not sure what's the actual name of it but it's a little black device with blue buttons (Mode and Scan) that measures temps. All I know about it is that it's from Zoo Med and it's digital.

I'll use the Spanish moss. I have more of it anyway and it can also help with raising and maintaining humidity.

I'll move around the substrate to increase/decrease the temperature in certain spots. (Add some in his hide to decrease the temps) he's never around the left side anyway, only the middle and right. Currently all he's doing is hiding and sticking his head out to drink water. He's been drinking a lot lately, which I'd imagine is good, isn't it?

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Please keep in mind ball pythons do burrow, so you should be measuring your hot spot BENEATH the substrate at the bottom of the cage surface itself. You need a thermostat to regulate your heat as you generally don't want the hottest surface your bp can touch to go over 92. As Starcream pointed out you risk possible burns and malfunctions/heat spikes. There's no safe way around that.

Okay, I'm just gonna run down the list of what I see that should be changed.

I'm your post you wrote that you have two hides but in the pic I could only see the one on the hot side. It could of been that I wasn't seeing it sense the pics were small and blurry but if you don't have two hides he needs two hides. One on the cold and one on the hot, they will choose security over right temps so they will stay on the side with the hide even if they are to hot. That log hide is much to large and not secure at all as well. They need hides that fit pretty snug on all sides and only have one opening. You could stuff that one with paper towels or substrate to make it feel smaller but I'm assuming the reason you don't have both hides in there is because you can't fit both in that small a tank.

Ideally you want two hides that are identical as well. After you get that you will need some vines and greenery to fill in the empty space so he feels more secure, he should be able to move from one end to the other without feeling exposed. You can also use an empty paper towel roll and paper towels to achieve this.

As for temps your ambient temps are to low and hear pad is to hot. I would unplug the heat pad, at least until you get a thermostat, and get a heat lamp for now. You'll need one to get the air temp up anyways. You can get the lamp and a nighttime bulb, not a daylight the light will stress him out, at a reptile store or petsmart or something and then get a lamp dimmer from Home Depot or something like that and use that to control the temps. There are other methods like CHEs and such but that is what will be most immediately available to you right now.

As for feeding wait, be patient they can go longer then you would think without feeding and like others have said I doubt he has had his first shed yet which they need to do before they will eat.

Ball Pythons are very picky eaters even under normal circumstances won't eat unless their husbandry correct and this is a special case that will take even more care. It's not impossible but you need to put in the extra work. Research, study the stickies on this forum and learn as much as you can and listen to the advice give to you

Sent from my LG-D690 using Tapatalk

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Originally Posted by MissterDog

Please keep in mind ball pythons do burrow, so you should be measuring your hot spot BENEATH the substrate at the bottom of the cage surface itself. You need a thermostat to regulate your heat as you generally don't want the hottest surface your bp can touch to go over 92. As Starcream pointed out you risk possible burns and malfunctions/heat spikes. There's no safe way around that.

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Didn't think they could burrow, I haven't seen it burrow yet. I suppose I'll buy it a thermostat now.

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Originally Posted by BluuWolf

I'm your post you wrote that you have two hides but in the pic I could only see the one on the hot side. It could of been that I wasn't seeing it sense the pics were small and blurry but if you don't have two hides he needs two hides. One on the cold and one on the hot, they will choose security over right temps so they will stay on the side with the hide even if they are to hot. That log hide is much to large and not secure at all as well. They need hides that fit pretty snug on all sides and only have one opening. You could stuff that one with paper towels or substrate to make it feel smaller but I'm assuming the reason you don't have both hides in there is because you can't fit both in that small a tank.

Ideally you want two hides that are identical as well. After you get that you will need some vines and greenery to fill in the empty space so he feels more secure, he should be able to move from one end to the other without feeling exposed. You can also use an empty paper towel roll and paper towels to achieve this.

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Yes, I had 2 hides, a large log and a small cave. I removed the log and added my leopard gecko's old nesting box (Its a gelato box with an entrance hole on the top with moss and soil inside) and just added loads of Spanish moss. He is exploring the box as I type this. For now I put some substrate over the hot spot so it can get a little colder, at least until I get the thermostat. I was going to add a fake cow skull I had for my blue tongue skink but I can't find it now and I don't remember where I last had it.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by BluuWolf

As for temps your ambient temps are to low and hear pad is to hot. I would unplug the heat pad, at least until you get a thermostat, and get a heat lamp for now. You'll need one to get the air temp up anyways. You can get the lamp and a nighttime bulb, not a daylight the light will stress him out, at a reptile store or petsmart or something and then get a lamp dimmer from Home Depot or something like that and use that to control the temps. There are other methods like CHEs and such but that is what will be most immediately available to you right now.

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If possible, I can simply move his whole enclosure somewhere in the house that's hotter. I only have it in my room for convenience (and is also the least noisiest place as my parents have many birds). I also checked the temperature again and the left side is around 74-75, middle is 81, now with the substrate over the heat pad its about 89, and the right is about 78. I guess it simply gets a little colder at night in my room.

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Originally Posted by BluuWolf

As for feeding wait, be patient they can go longer then you would think without feeding and like others have said I doubt he has had his first shed yet which they need to do before they will eat.

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If he can go for that long, I'll gladly wait. So should I wait for him to shed first or wait the two weeks?

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Originally Posted by BluuWolf

Ball Pythons are very picky eaters even under normal circumstances won't eat unless their husbandry correct and this is a special case that will take even more care. It's not impossible but you need to put in the extra work. Research, study the stickies on this forum and learn as much as you can and listen to the advice give to you

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I'll look into the stickies now.

Sorry for the double post by the way, not sure how that happened. By the time I noticed I couldn't edit out the second post. As soon as I'm allowed to add attachments I'll post better pictures.

Now that I given it the Spanish Moss and new hide, its just sitting on the box completely exposed instead of going inside of it or by the moss. I'd add moss but I'm pretty sure if I place the moss on him where he's sitting by he'll freak out a bit.

The room temps would need to be around 80 - 85 with a heat pad but without a thermostat you need to unplug that heat pad like now. Google burns on ball pythons it will make you sick.

Also for the hides i did see the smaller one after I posted, but you had both hides right next to each other and and the water dish on the far side. Put the bowl in the middle and one of the hides in the far side.

He should shed between now and the end of the two weeks but if not I doubt he would eat before he sheds.

The stickies will help you a lot, just make sure not to cut corners. Good luck! Keep us posted

Sent from my LG-D690 using Tapatalk

Just turned off his heat pad and I also just noticed his body has a strange girth. His neck looks thin but a few inches down his body is much thicker then eventually by the tail it gradually thins(Could it be he's just puffed up with air?). I wish I could post attachments. He's also not moving at all and still in the open :confusd:

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Originally Posted by DerekG4

Just turned off his heat pad and I also just noticed his body has a strange girth. His neck looks thin but a few inches down his body is much thicker then eventually by the tail it gradually thins(Could it be he's just puffed up with air?). I wish I could post attachments. He's also not moving at all and still in the open :confusd:

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How to Post Pictures

https://ball-pythons.net/gallery/fil...9/img_2203.jpg
Here's that picture of his girth. Is there any way to resize the photo?

Never mind, just realized it automatically resizes it when posting.

...could he have eaten something that hasn't passed yet? i really can't say what that could be. :confusd:
EDIT: nvm he's way too little.

BAMP

https://ball-pythons.net/gallery/fil...9/img_2204.jpg Here's the photo of him as of right now. His other hide is there, its just hidden in the moss.

https://ball-pythons.net/gallery/fil...zerender_3.jpg This was him a few hours after I got him.

https://ball-pythons.net/gallery/fil...9/img_2187.jpg When I fed him

https://ball-pythons.net/gallery/fil...9/img_2193.jpg a couple minutes after he finished eating (You can see the mouse bulge on the right)

https://ball-pythons.net/gallery/fil...9/img_2197.jpg this was him about an hour later when I found that he regurgitated the mouse. I handled him very quickly to take a size comparison of him with my hand. I also just noticed that bulge he has right now is not in this picture.

So to follow up on what you should do:

Take the advice given here for husbandry
The snake regurgitated so give it 2 weeks to acclimate and heal
You are responsible for its health and welfare now so try everything to get it used to captivity and after 2 weeks, attempt to feed it. I suggest live prey to start and worry later about weening to f/t. Also start small. The prey in the picture was too large to begin with.
After if feeds make an appointment with a vet. It is wild caught so you do not know if it has any parasites or other ailments. A full checkup is very recommend for a wild animal.

Don't give up or worry about the what ifs, focus on the now and how to best care for this animal and just provide it with the best care you can give.

Most important is be patient, don't panic, and give it time to settle in.

Oh and DO NOT handle him again during those two weeks no matter what you want to do. Leave him alone as much as you can.

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Originally Posted by SDA

So to follow up on what you should do:

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Quote:

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Originally Posted by SDA

Take the advice given here for husbandry
The snake regurgitated so give it 2 weeks to acclimate and heal
You are responsible for its health and welfare now so try everything to get it used to captivity and after 2 weeks, attempt to feed it. I suggest live prey to start and worry later about weening to f/t.

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Alrighty, I'll try my best.

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Originally Posted by SDA

Also start small. The prey in the picture was too large to begin with.

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Looks like that explains why he regurgitated it in the first place. I got a hopper since it looked small and at that moment they didn't have any pinkies.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by SDA

Oh and DO NOT handle him again during those two weeks no matter what you want to do. Leave him alone as much as you can.

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Will do. I'll avoid touching him.

He's starting to move around now, but strangely he's completely avoiding the Spanish moss and staying in the few spots that are in the open.

Just came back from some errands, he's finally hiding in the moss. But now I just realized its gonna be difficult to clean since now that I'm here, I smell pee in there and I can't tell exactly where in the tank, and I can't remove the moss now as it'll disturb him. There's also a piece of urate stuck on his butt.


Wasn't able to edit the previous post, Sorry.

No point in continuing this thread any more, it has sadly died. :tears:

Went to change his water really quick and I noticed he hasn't moved even a tiny bit in 4 hours. I poked him a little with some moss to see if he'd react and he didn't. Poked him with my finger, no reaction either. Picked him up and noticed he was stiff, probably dead for a while now. Couldn't have died of hypothermia, as the spot he was in was about 80 degrees. I'm pretty angry and sad about the whole situation now.

I guess I won't try again unless I get a CB/CBB Python. Won't try another wild python unless its much older and eating well, and even with that, I doubt I'd attempt to rescue another ball python.

Poor little thing. I'm sorry to hear. ☹️

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Originally Posted by DerekG4

No point in continuing this thread any more, it has sadly died. :tears:

Went to change his water really quick and I noticed he hasn't moved even a tiny bit in 4 hours. I poked him a little with some moss to see if he'd react and he didn't. Poked him with my finger, no reaction either. Picked him up and noticed he was stiff, probably dead for a while now. Couldn't have died of hypothermia, as the spot he was in was about 80 degrees. I'm pretty angry and sad about the whole situation now.

I guess I won't try again unless I get a CB/CBB Python. Won't try another wild python unless its much older and eating well, and even with that, I doubt I'd attempt to rescue another ball python.

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A wild hatchling that small was going to be a challenge to keep alive, don't be hard on yourself, the condition you got him in was very difficult, and it would have been a small miracle to keep him alive.

Mourn, do some research and then after much thought and preparation, you can adopt a new snake.

So sad. You tried your best to give him a chance.


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Are hatchlings normally this difficult to raise? If so, for that I'd just start off with a juvenile snake instead of a hatchling when I buy one some other time.

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Originally Posted by DerekG4

Are hatchlings normally this difficult to raise? If so, for that I'd just start off with a juvenile snake instead of a hatchling when I buy one some other time.

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they can be, but if you know what you're doing, and get one from a reputable breeder they're much easier.

Yellow, my first, was difficult only because of my ignorance. i have two hatchlings right now: one is almost 3 months old at 200g+ (not much of a hatchling anymore but i got her at 90g) and the other is about 7-8 weeks old and took his first meal with me the other day.

research, research, research.

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Originally Posted by DerekG4

Are hatchlings normally this difficult to raise? If so, for that I'd just start off with a juvenile snake instead of a hatchling when I buy one some other time.

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I think a juvenile snake is a great idea but a hatchling should be fine as well. When I did my research before getting my ball python I found a lot of useful tips.

1. Buy from a reputable breeder.
2. Go and take a look at the animal (make sure it looks healthy).
3. Make sure it has at least eaten five meals and has gone through at least 2 sheds.
4. Ask what the snake eats and how often.
5. Ask when it was last fed (should at least be last week on the same weekday).
6. Ask when it's last shed was.
7. Ask for the snake's age.
8. If you want to feed frozen mice, then buy an animal that is already used to frozen food.

A hatchling that has met a these conditions should be fine for a beginner. And any good breeder will answer all these questions.
It's so much fun to watch your ball python grow up and get bigger. So I'm happy I had mine since he was four months old. I was even able to convince him to eat frozen mice (he was used to eat only living ones) and I love to see him growing.
A young ball python might be a bit iffy in the beginning but that's normal. The only thing that is a real problem is switching from mice to rats :(
By the way I wouldn't recommend going for a CB.
CBB snakes tend to have a better feeding response and be more docile while CB snakes are illegal in some countries.