Newbie moments

[emoji216]What was "your" newbie moment as a BP owner?[emoji216]

[emoji216]What was your first snake? (Insert Picture if you like)[emoji216]

~ My newbie moment was thinking I had his enclosure perfect according to my research. Come to find out I have to fix his enclosure little by little.

~ My first snake is a Mojave BP! https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/201...674947b2d7.jpg

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I’m still a newbie. My actual newbie moment was when someone on here told me that you can’t keep two snakes in one tank. I thought one laying on top of the other meant they enjoyed each other’s company! Lol

First snake was a male axanthic that is growing like a weed and eats anything you put in front of him!


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Originally Posted by Jbabycsx

I’m still a newbie. My actual newbie moment was when someone on here told me that you can’t keep two snakes in one tank. I thought one laying on top of the other meant they enjoyed each other’s company! Lol

First snake was a male axanthic that is growing like a weed and eats anything you put in front of him!


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Wow I didnt know that either. I would have thought the same thing as you. That they love keeping each other company.

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My biggest mistake was using those horrible heat rocks inside the enclosure. I have no idea how none of my snakes were burned or cooked.

Of course, back then Google and forums like this didn't even exist. So we just kinda read some books and winged it.

Not to break any stones here, but I have no idea how people can "resrarch" animals these days and still not know that cohabbing is a horrible idea (or any number of newbie mistakes, lack of thermostat, feeding pinkies, etc...etc...etc...). I just googled it and found several answers in 2 minutes. All saying it's a bad idea.

OK, I'm going to have a newbie moment here... You mentioned in your thread "feeding pinkies", and it seems you're saying everyone should know thats a bad idea? So... I'm open to a learning moment; is there something wrong with feeding snakes pinkies? I just recently got two young corn snakes and I was pretty excited when they both took their F/T pinkies like champs. If thats wrong, what is the alternative?

-C.

Good old hot rocks, I unfortunately remember them to well myself. Yep, definitely the “Rock Heaters”. I was also very lucky, I never burnt a snake.

I bought my first snake, a normal Ball Python from a local expo. I was nervous about looking like a moron when buying, so I didn't ask to handle the snake before making my purchase. Note: I'd never touched a snake before, at least that I can remember. I'd learned through research that when I got home, I should put my new friend in her enclosure (which I had already set up for her) and leave her be for a week or more. So, my plan was to place her in her enclosure, by putting the whole little plastic dish into the enclosure, let her crawl out on her own, and then figure out exactly how I'd handle her for the first time during the week of her acclimation. She had different plans...
I got home, I placed the little plastic dish containing my new snake into her enclosure and took the top off the dish. And boom! My new friend was up and half way out of the enclosure within what felt like a fraction of a second. So my first time touching a snake was my grabbing her to prevent her escape! Overall event lasted about 4 seconds. My overall heart rate increase was about 70 beats per minute. Apparently I didn't grab her too tight, hurt her, or anything. Her and I have come a long way since then. But that will always be an experience I will never forget.

-C.

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Originally Posted by callen727

OK, I'm going to have a newbie moment here... You mentioned in your thread "feeding pinkies", and it seems you're saying everyone should know thats a bad idea? So... I'm open to a learning moment; is there something wrong with feeding snakes pinkies? I just recently got two young corn snakes and I was pretty excited when they both took their F/T pinkies like champs. If thats wrong, what is the alternative?

-C.

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I think the feeding pinkies is more aimed at bp’s, which start out on hoppers. For corn snakes, pinkies are the standard starter prey until they are big enough for something larger.

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Originally Posted by callen727

OK, I'm going to have a newbie moment here... You mentioned in your thread "feeding pinkies", and it seems you're saying everyone should know thats a bad idea? So... I'm open to a learning moment; is there something wrong with feeding snakes pinkies? I just recently got two young corn snakes and I was pretty excited when they both took their F/T pinkies like champs. If thats wrong, what is the alternative?

-C.

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I'm pretty sure Craig was referring to feeding baby ball pythons with pinkies, since that is protocol at some/many of the Petsmart/Petco stores and what is often told to buyers there. Ball pythons should be started with hopper mice, not pinkies, since they are much larger as babies and typically eat small adult mice after the first few meals. (Hatch weights are somewhere around 40-70g I think? Something like that.)

Pinkies are definitely needed for baby corn snakes as they're too small for anything larger for a while. Congrats on getting yours to eat!

Dianne, you just beat me! :)

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Like Craig, I’ve been keeping since before Google or internet forums. I bought my first boa in 1991, and had him until he passed last year at age 26. As for newbie mistakes, back then I used unregulated heat lamps and then CHEs. No-one I knew or heard of was using thermostats for something like that back then. ‘Regulating’ was tinkering with the wattage until you were using a bulb that didn’t get your hot end over the desired limit - measured by plain old mercury thermometers stuck to the tank or cage wall. Luckily the store I used was not a fan of heat rocks, even though they carried them.

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Originally Posted by pretends2bnormal

I'm pretty sure Craig was referring to feeding baby ball pythons with pinkies, since that is protocol at some/many of the Petsmart/Petco stores and what is often told to buyers there. Ball pythons should be started with hopper mice, not pinkies, since they are much larger as babies and typically eat small adult mice after the first few meals. (Hatch weights are somewhere around 40-70g I think? Something like that.)

Pinkies are definitely needed for baby corn snakes as they're too small for anything larger for a while. Congrats on getting yours to eat!

Dianne, you just beat me! :)

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Great minds think alike! :D

It still amazes me how many stores provide misinformation....pinkies for bp’s, hot rocks are okay as are unregulated heat sources...particularly UTH. :( I know there wasn’t a lot of info available when I started in this hobby (read obsession lol), but we did have books, a few good stores/mentors, and lots of trial and error. Today there is so much information available online that even a little dedicated research can weed out the misinformation. Everyone will still make mistakes, that’s just life...sometimes stuff happens.

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Originally Posted by callen727

OK, I'm going to have a newbie moment here... You mentioned in your thread "feeding pinkies", and it seems you're saying everyone should know thats a bad idea? So... I'm open to a learning moment; is there something wrong with feeding snakes pinkies? I just recently got two young corn snakes and I was pretty excited when they both took their F/T pinkies like champs. If thats wrong, what is the alternative?

-C.

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I apologize, I should have specified feeding pinkies to BPs. Of course, feeding pinkies to most species of colubrids is the proper prey until they outgrow them.
I was generalizing, but if we're nitpicking I should say I did not mean rat pinks either

Sorry, totally didn’t mean to be nitpicking. I’m still new to this and hungry to learn anything and everything I can. I appreciate the feedback very much! You guys are all awesome. When I think of what it must’ve been like to raise snakes without google and forums such as this one, I kind of feel like we newbies today have an unfair advantage. But, I’m ok with it. [emoji6]
Thanks again everyone!

-C.


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Originally Posted by Dianne

Like Craig, I’ve been keeping since before Google or internet forums. I bought my first boa in 1991, and had him until he passed last year at age 26. As for newbie mistakes, back then I used unregulated heat lamps and then CHEs. No-one I knew or heard of was using thermostats for something like that back then. ‘Regulating’ was tinkering with the wattage until you were using a bulb that didn’t get your hot end over the desired limit - measured by plain old mercury thermometers stuck to the tank or cage wall. Luckily the store I used was not a fan of heat rocks, even though they carried them.

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Very true! Thermostats were unheard of back then. I had to experiment with different wattage bulbs, moved them further and closer to the tank, laid them on the screens, used blankets wrapped around the sides of tanks, etc...to get decent temps.

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Originally Posted by pretends2bnormal

I'm pretty sure Craig was referring to feeding baby ball pythons with pinkies, since that is protocol at some/many of the Petsmart/Petco stores and what is often told to buyers there. Ball pythons should be started with hopper mice, not pinkies, since they are much larger as babies and typically eat small adult mice after the first few meals. (Hatch weights are somewhere around 40-70g I think? Something like that.)

Pinkies are definitely needed for baby corn snakes as they're too small for anything larger for a while. Congrats on getting yours to eat!

Dianne, you just beat me! :)

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Wow! I didnt know that. I thought feeding pinkies to BP when they are hatchlings was normal. I am quite sure I saw a youtuber breeder who was feeding his hatchlings pinkies. Lol. [emoji2962][emoji15]

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Originally Posted by craigafrechette

Very true! Thermostats were unheard of back then. I had to experiment with different wattage bulbs, moved them further and closer to the tank, laid them on the screens, used blankets wrapped around the sides of tanks, etc...to get decent temps.

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Craig,

It sounds like we were applying many of the same tricks. When I think back to those days, sometimes I’m amazed any of the more delicate species survived. We were all just winging it until we got something close to right. :) Back then the only thermostatically controlled ‘cage’ in my house was a tropical fish tank.

Luckily the Colombian redtails, bp’s and most colubrids were pretty forgiving. That’s probably what has kept these species so popular in the pet trade to this day...reasonably easy to care for and great dispositions.

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Originally Posted by Dianne

Today there is so much information available online that even a little dedicated research can weed out the misinformation. Everyone will still make mistakes, that’s just life...sometimes stuff happens.

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No doubt, we were ALL beginners once. And we're all still learning.
But with literally a world of information at our fingertips, some mistakes could/should be very easily avoided. It takes 2 minutes to research what took weeks when I first started out.

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Originally Posted by Mc.mischievous7

Wow! I didnt know that. I thought feeding pinkies to BP when they are hatchlings was normal. I am quite sure I saw a youtuber breeder who was feeding his hatchlings pinkies. Lol. [emoji2962][emoji15]

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You may have. That doesn't make it right. The internet is an amazing tool. But it's also a vessel for misinformation to spread like wildfire.
There are also exceptions to every rule, and some BPs may have birth defects or other reasons they need a few pinkies to get started. I honestly don't know.

It's very important to cross reference multiple sources before believing anything to be true. It's so easy for somebody to spread info on the internet that is 100% horse plop. Abraham Lincoln himself was quoted saying that you can't believe half of what you read on the internet. Hehehhee

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Originally Posted by craigafrechette

You may have. That doesn't make it right. The internet is an amazing tool. But it's also a vessel for misinformation to spread like wildfire.
There are also exceptions to every rule, and some BPs may have birth defects or other reasons they need a few pinkies to get started. I honestly don't know.

It's very important to cross reference multiple sources before believing anything to be true. It's so easy for somebody to spread info on the internet that is 100% horse plop. Abraham Lincoln himself was quoted saying that you can't believe half of what you read on the internet. Hehehhee

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That is true.

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Originally Posted by Mc.mischievous7

[emoji216]What was "your" newbie moment as a BP owner?[emoji216]

[emoji216]What was your first snake? (Insert Picture if you like)[emoji216]

~ My newbie moment was thinking I had his enclosure perfect according to my research. Come to find out I have to fix his enclosure little by little.

~ My first snake is a Mojave BP! https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/201...674947b2d7.jpg

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It's a beaut !


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Originally Posted by Zincubus

It's a beaut !


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Thank you. Came back home this evening and he spilled all his water out of his water dish.[emoji2362][emoji1787][emoji23]

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Quote:

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Originally Posted by Mc.mischievous7

[emoji216]What was "your" newbie moment as a BP owner?[emoji216]

[emoji216]What was your first snake? (Insert Picture if you like)[emoji216]

~ My newbie moment was thinking I had his enclosure perfect according to my research. Come to find out I have to fix his enclosure little by little.

~ My first snake is a Mojave BP! https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/201...674947b2d7.jpg

Sent from my SM-N950U using Tapatalk

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Newbie moment. I need a scale! [emoji2362][emoji15] totally forgot all about that.

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Pulled me a noob move over the weekend. She got in to food mode a bit early and prowled the tank for a few days straight. When I dropped the rat in and she immediately went for it. She struck so hard I heard it sounded like it went through the glass. While she's doing her thing I usually take the time to spot clean, change water, etc. I had done this every feeding since I got her and she usually pays no attention to me. Not this time. She spun around on me so fast. Struck and missed, then struck at the mesh top while I was putting it back. It really caught me off guard. I've had her a few months and hadn't even seen a hint of aggression. I don't know if my hand still smelled like a delicious rat or if I just agitated her. Another possibility is expecting more food. The previous owner was feeding 3 mice at a time and I've recently switched to a single rat. Good lesson for me to be more mindful. Unlike my dog, she will bite the hand that feeds her if I'm not careful.

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Originally Posted by Helonwheelz383

Pulled me a noob move over the weekend. She got in to food mode a bit early and prowled the tank for a few days straight. When I dropped the rat in and she immediately went for it. She struck so hard I heard it sounded like it went through the glass. While she's doing her thing I usually take the time to spot clean, change water, etc. I had done this every feeding since I got her and she usually pays no attention to me. Not this time. She spun around on me so fast. Struck and missed, then struck at the mesh top while I was putting it back. It really caught me off guard. I've had her a few months and hadn't even seen a hint of aggression. I don't know if my hand still smelled like a delicious rat or if I just agitated her. Another possibility is expecting more food. The previous owner was feeding 3 mice at a time and I've recently switched to a single rat. Good lesson for me to be more mindful. Unlike my dog, she will bite the hand that feeds her if I'm not careful.

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Oh man! [emoji33][emoji15]

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Originally Posted by Mc.mischievous7

Oh man! [emoji33][emoji15]

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Haha yeah it was quite the surprise. The only thing I'm sure of is that it was likely something I did. I've been spoiled thus far as she's been so easy to work with. I admittedly started to get a bit careless as a result.

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Originally Posted by Helonwheelz383

Haha yeah it was quite the surprise. The only thing I'm sure of is that it was likely something I did. I've been spoiled thus far as she's been so easy to work with. I admittedly started to get a bit careless as a result.

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Instead of you spoiling the snake the snake spoiled you. [emoji1787][emoji2][emoji1] How cute.

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i feel very lucky to have had my first BP (Morty the Lemon Blast) be a total pain in the ass. Humidity/ enclosure issues, not eating, being skiddish, etc. So he totally made me get my husbandry and keeping skills on point. Has made my other 18 BP's a total breeze in comparison. They are the best snakes!

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Originally Posted by Cam the Snake Man

i feel very lucky to have had my first BP (Morty the Lemon Blast) be a total pain in the ass. Humidity/ enclosure issues, not eating, being skiddish, etc. So he totally made me get my husbandry and keeping skills on point. Has made my other 18 BP's a total breeze in comparison. They are the best snakes!

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Awww!! He was preparing you for the other 18 snakes. Just keeping you on your toes. Lol[emoji16][emoji1787]

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My worst mistake was not checking for mites. He’s a BEL too; looking back, they were so obvious. He also had a stuck shed when I got him and subsequently didn’t eat for 4 weeks, both of which I assume came from the mites. Basically, I ignored all the red flags because he was sO cUtE and outgoing.

Luckily, I was able to treat the mites fairly quickly once I noticed them. My first snake made for a VERY steep learning curve as I was frantically researching every micro aspect of husbandry trying to figure out what I did wrong.

So, yeah, message received: always thoroughly examine any animal BEFORE purchasing it.

Favorite newbie moment? So Monty was super chill and easy to handle (male reticulated python). So a friend of mine comes over and asks to hold him. We are talking about how chill he is and how easy he is to handle. I start bumping him on the nose with my hand to show him how unlikely he is to bite you. I do it several times and then BAM he bites my hand. He lets go right away and tries to hide in my friends arms. He just reached a point where he had had enough. Blood was going everywhere because fingers bleed a lot. If you tease them they will bite eventually. Was totally my fought. All I could do is laugh at myself. Happy I don't do silly things like that anymore.

First snake was a ATB that was a beast and hated everyone around her. You would be holding her clam and relaxed and then she would just start randomly striking everywhere. Was when I was 12 that I got her as an adult from a friend of mine. She never did calm down and became a display animal. My dad kept her when I went into the military. A few years ago it died of old age but boy was that girl feisty.

I love hearing yall stories! Keep them coming!

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Originally Posted by KKM

My worst mistake was not checking for mites. He’s a BEL too; looking back, they were so obvious. He also had a stuck shed when I got him and subsequently didn’t eat for 4 weeks, both of which I assume came from the mites. Basically, I ignored all the red flags because he was sO cUtE and outgoing.

Luckily, I was able to treat the mites fairly quickly once I noticed them. My first snake made for a VERY steep learning curve as I was frantically researching every micro aspect of husbandry trying to figure out what I did wrong.

So, yeah, message received: always thoroughly examine any animal BEFORE purchasing it.

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Oh no!![emoji33][emoji33]

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Originally Posted by Skyrivers

Favorite newbie moment? So Monty was super chill and easy to handle (male reticulated python). So a friend of mine comes over and asks to hold him. We are talking about how chill he is and how easy he is to handle. I start bumping him on the nose with my hand to show him how unlikely he is to bite you. I do it several times and then BAM he bites my hand. He lets go right away and tries to hide in my friends arms. He just reached a point where he had had enough. Blood was going everywhere because fingers bleed a lot. If you tease them they will bite eventually. Was totally my fought. All I could do is laugh at myself. Happy I don't do silly things like that anymore.

First snake was a ATB that was a beast and hated everyone around her. You would be holding her clam and relaxed and then she would just start randomly striking everywhere. Was when I was 12 that I got her as an adult from a friend of mine. She never did calm down and became a display animal. My dad kept her when I went into the military. A few years ago it died of old age but boy was that girl feisty.

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Ouch![emoji53][emoji15]

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