BP hasn't shed yet

We've had out BP for around 9 weeks now.

During that time, he seems content and unstressed. His habitat is fine based on everything I've read. He's eating pinkies once per week without problem.

He pooped once about a week after we first got him, but nothing since and he still hasn't shed.

This feels like a rather long time to me.

Should I be concerned?

I would not be concerned about his lack of shed.

I would be concerned about his diet. From my own experience and everything I have read, newly hatched ball pythons should be fed hopper mice from day one.

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Originally Posted by larryd23

I would not be concerned about his lack of shed.

I would be concerned about his diet. From my own experience and everything I have read, newly hatched ball pythons should be fed hopper mice from day one.

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OK, I'll move up and try those. If the pinkies are too small though, would that mean that he'd want to eat more often? Around once every 7 days is as often as he will eat.

BPs should never eat pinkies. Pinkies are primarily water and offer no benefit to a BP. They eat hoppers fresh out of the egg, for only 3-5 meals typically. They quickly move up to small adult mice.

Your snake should be eating a small adult mouse every 7 days. He's only pooped once because he has nothing to poop. He's using every last bit of that pinkie just to survive. There's nothing left to poop out.

He's also not shedding because he's doesn't have the food intake required to shed.

Well damn it. Looks like I got some pretty bad advice.

I'm going to take it as a good sign that he still seems otherwise healthy and rectify the diet problems right away.

Thank you all so much.

Ok, so maybe another dumb question, but I'm trying to learn.

I'd tried feeding him the pinkies previously every 4-5 days, but he hasn't seemed interested in eating any more frequent than the once a week (with the pinkies).

Will a BP only eat so frequently, regardless of if the diet is sufficient or not.

Maybe it's looking at it too simplistic to say that if he wasn't getting enough to eat, that he'd eat more often.

I really do appreciate the help gang

Feed = Growth = Shed

Underfed BP means most if not all of the prey is use for vital body functions allowing little to nothing for growth.

The average animal get started on hopper mouse or crawler rats quickly moving through sizes. Pinky mice are colubrid food.

If your BP has issue feeding lack of interest and such there are likely some husbandry issues as well not to.mention that such a small prey is more often harder for them to it and sometime not recognize as a prey at all.

He has no problems at all with the feeding at once a week when it was the pinkies. Any more frequent than that though, and he wasn't interested.

Will a snake only eat so often, regardless of the size of the meal? That is, will a snake eat three times a week of the meals are small, and once a week if it's a large meal, or the frequency is the same reagardless.

I last fed him three days ago. Do you think he'd be interested in eating again today, so soon?

The answer to that question will vary drastically species to species. But also animal to animal.

Your best bet is to offer a small adult mouse 7 days after he last ate, then offer weekly.

Update:

He ate the larger mouse without any issue whatsoever on his next scheduled feeding time, 4 days ago.

Since then though, he's been spending all of his time in his hide and not coming out as much as he did before.

I'm assuming that a more satisflying meal means he's just taking it easy and not out "hunting".

Do BP's ususally hide out more for a few days after eating?

He's likely digesting, and possibly starting a shed. That one proper meal may have been what edged him over and now he's ready to shed.
I go days without seeing my BP all the time, especially after a meal and always leading up to a shed.

Awesome! Thank you so much

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Originally Posted by sharpe

Update:

He ate the larger mouse without any issue whatsoever on his next scheduled feeding time, 4 days ago.

Since then though, he's been spending all of his time in his hide and not coming out as much as he did before.

I'm assuming that a more satisflying meal means he's just taking it easy and not out "hunting".

Do BP's ususally hide out more for a few days after eating?

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Yes, that's totally normal. They eat a meal, then lay low to digest for a few days. If, at that time, they go into a shed-cycle, they'll hide even longer, so don't
panic if (when) that happens. You can always use a small flashlight (penlight) in a darkened room to check their eyes for the tell-tale "haze" (ie. "blue") of a shed.

Also, offering food too often (even when it's not "filling") can stress them, but as already mentioned, snakes aren't all the same on this...some are gluttons, but not
usually BPs.

OK, he has stayed in his hide until this evening and we fed him again. First time since pinkies he got a fuzzy and tonight we stepped it up again and gave him a small mouse. At least those were the descriptions on the packaging.

The medium mouse still looks a little large, so I'm thinking we'll stick with the small mouse for a few feedings? However, I can step up the size again if you guys think I should.

We tried the medium sized mouse and he ate it without problem.

Should I stick with this size for a bit? How does the rat sizes compare to the medium sized mouse?

UPDATE:

He ate a large mouse. Still can't believe it fit down his neck, but I guess that's what they do.

The next size up is a small rat, and I'm pretty sure that that's too big for him right now.

He still hasn't shed or had a bowel movement since I've started increasing the size of his food.

I'll stick with the large mouse unless someone wiser than I thinks that that still isn't enough.

Hoping to get his first shed soon.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by sharpe

UPDATE:

He ate a large mouse. Still can't believe it fit down his neck, but I guess that's what they do.

The next size up is a small rat, and I'm pretty sure that that's too big for him right now.

He still hasn't shed or had a bowel movement since I've started increasing the size of his food.

I'll stick with the large mouse unless someone wiser than I thinks that that still isn't enough.

Hoping to get his first shed soon.

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You can start him on rat fuzzies or rat pups, those should be about the size of large mice! You'll want to eventually switch from mice to rats since they are more complete in nutrition for BPs. Glad he's eating larger food without trouble though, good job!

Quote:

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Originally Posted by sharpe

UPDATE:

He ate a large mouse. Still can't believe it fit down his neck, but I guess that's what they do.

The next size up is a small rat, and I'm pretty sure that that's too big for him right now.

He still hasn't shed or had a bowel movement since I've started increasing the size of his food.

I'll stick with the large mouse unless someone wiser than I thinks that that still isn't enough.

Hoping to get his first shed soon.

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I didn't see your previous post or I'd have said, yes, stick with that size for a while. For a young BP to go so quickly from eating next to nothing to eating a large
mouse might be a digestive challenge...let's hope he keeps it down. Not that they have such choices in the wild though, & it's mostly fine.

I would stick w/ medium (NOT large) mice for some time, actually...if he was my snake. It's better not to push it too far...it's too soon to rush to a small rat.
But also, as sufficio's post suggested, rat fuzzies or rat pups would also be fine...they're about the same size as the med. mouse...so either way.
If nothing else, snakes teach us patience...

Quote:

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Originally Posted by sharpe

UPDATE:

He ate a large mouse. Still can't believe it fit down his neck, but I guess that's what they do.

The next size up is a small rat, and I'm pretty sure that that's too big for him right now.

He still hasn't shed or had a bowel movement since I've started increasing the size of his food.

I'll stick with the large mouse unless someone wiser than I thinks that that still isn't enough.

Hoping to get his first shed soon.

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It's pretty darn impressive what they can do. They haven't survived thousands of years for nothing though. And they've survived all these years with no arms or legs.

If it were me, I'd stick to the large mice for a little while. Then I'd try to switch. Maybe feed him the mice until his 3rd shed with you. Then wait him out. Dont feed durong shed or after the first aign of shed. Then let him get good and hungry (by this point he'll be plenty healthy enough to miss a week or two) and then offer a rat.

He handled the large mouse really well (he's handled each increase in size well actually). After this large mouse, he hid away for a couple days, but last night, I found him out on the warmer side of the tank hanging out. He seems really content.

I've been buying my frozen mice from the local pet smart, but they only have rats that are obviously quite a bit larger than the large mouse.

Is there an online retailer that you'd recommend?

Quote:

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Originally Posted by sharpe

He handled the large mouse really well (he's handled each increase in size well actually). After this large mouse, he hid away for a couple days, but last night, I found him out on the warmer side of the tank hanging out. He seems really content.

I've been buying my frozen mice from the local pet smart, but they only have rats that are obviously quite a bit larger than the large mouse.

Is there an online retailer that you'd recommend?

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I use perfect prey. Big cheese, rodent pro and Layne Labs all have good reputations.
I swear by perfect prey though. Great quality, flawless packaging.m, fair prices and solid customer service. :gj:

You may be able to find somebody fairly local to you and save that way too. It try to hit a reptile expo.

Thank you for the advice! I will check them out!

OK,

He'd been hiding out a little more these past couple days. Came home and found him out on his warm side of the tank. He'd left a rather large bowel movement outside his hide and when I lifted up the hide to look underneath, there was a large piece of shed skin.

Mostly one large piece with another smaller piece. I'd estimate about 90% of it came off in one single shed.

Looks like things are working as expected now.

About how fast does a BP grow now that he's being fed properly?

Quote:

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Originally Posted by sharpe

OK,

He'd been hiding out a little more these past couple days. Came home and found him out on his warm side of the tank. He'd left a rather large bowel movement outside his hide and when I lifted up the hide to look underneath, there was a large piece of shed skin.

Mostly one large piece with another smaller piece. I'd estimate about 90% of it came off in one single shed.

Looks like things are working as expected now.

About how fast does a BP grow now that he's being fed properly?

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Nice!!! Yeah, they often poop in conjunction with the shed.

As for growth, they grow fairly quickly, but I feed on the conservative side, so mine grow more slowly than some others.