Unexplained stress??

My 5 month old ball python has been acting strange tonight. He keeps trying to escape like he used to before I upgraded everything. I don't know why he wants to escape, but he keeps trying.

He has two identical hides, one on the cool side and on on the hot side. He has a strand of fake leaves and two piles of sphagnum moss for humidity reasons. He also has two branches to climb on. His cool side temps are usually 77-78 degrees. Sometimes 80. His hot side temps stay between 90-92. All of his walls are blacked out with construction paper. Humidity ranges between 55-65%.

Can anybody explain why he might be trying to escape? He was doing just fine for a good while, so this just came up out of nowhere.

Anything helps

They'll also do that if they're hungry- how many grams does he weigh and what have you been feeding, and how often?

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Originally Posted by redshepherd

They'll also do that if they're hungry- how many grams does he weigh and what have you been feeding, and how often?

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I haven't gotten around to weighing him, but I feed him every Friday. I know he needs to size up in mice but I'm trying to get rid of all the hoppers I have, so he's been eating two hoppers. Should I start giving him 3?

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Originally Posted by Traceur

I haven't gotten around to weighing him, but I feed him every Friday. I know he needs to size up in mice but I'm trying to get rid of all the hoppers I have, so he's been eating two hoppers. Should I start giving him 3?

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Not knowing the weight doesn't help, but you can try offering 3 and see if he'll take it. I'd switch to rats as soon as you can though instead of getting more mice. The sooner you decide to switch, the easier it is.

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Originally Posted by redshepherd

They'll also do that if they're hungry- how many grams does he weigh and what have you been feeding, and how often?

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^^^ agreed ^^^

Sounds like a hungry boy to me as well.

If you're insistent on feeding off the hoppers you have I'd also switch to feeding every 5 days til he's got appropriately sized prey.

Another thought: some snakes like rats immediately & some don't. You might do well to save a few hoppers to save as "appetizers" for the "new" food, rats.

When confronted suddenly with food that smells & presumably tastes ;) different, your BP may refuse to accept a rat, but if he has just chowed down a hopper
he may be more accepting of the "new food" offered immediately as if it was just another hopper. Having some hoppers on hand may help him to switch. You
can also thaw them together to help the rat smell more "familiar".

And yeah, he sounds hungry to me too.

I have a July 2018 hatchling that currently weighs 270 grams. When I got him he was about 170 and I was feeding him a small adult mouse weekly. I also had some rat fuzzies and the last two meals I've been feeding him a rat fuzzy and small adult mouse in tthe same feeding (about 30-35 great total weight for the two). I have 3 of each left and then a bunch of rat pups. Is it ok to be feeding him 2 items in the same feeding until I use up the mice and fuzzies? He's been hammering both items the last two weeks, but I wanted to make sure I was doing right by my snake.

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Originally Posted by ryknoll3

I have a July 2018 hatchling that currently weighs 270 grams. When I got him he was about 170 and I was feeding him a small adult mouse weekly. I also had some rat fuzzies and the last two meals I've been feeding him a rat fuzzy and small adult mouse in tthe same feeding (about 30-35 great total weight for the two). I have 3 of each left and then a bunch of rat pups. Is it ok to be feeding him 2 items in the same feeding until I use up the mice and fuzzies? He's been hammering both items the last two weeks, but I wanted to make sure I was doing right by my snake.

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Sure, that's perfect...it will help him transition. :gj: It's always nice to have a snake that isn't "fussy" about food. That's why I suggested doing that in my
previous post to the OP...as long as the combined 2 items aren't bigger than what the snake should normally consume at one time, it's fine, & in fact, they'd
do the same thing in the wild.

This all honestly really helps! I tried offering 3 hoppers to him, but he didn't take the 3rd one. He was acting fussy again today- tried escaping again, and it's been 5 days since he last ate. So I certainly will start feeding every 5 days.

What size of rats should I be feeding a 5-6 month old ball python? After he's almost done with the hoppers?

https://mail.google.com/mail/u/0?ui=...d=ii_jmze1aj60

Weights help a lot, as we aren't seeing your snake. Weight of the snake, weights of the food offered. ;)

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Originally Posted by Bogertophis

https://mail.google.com/mail/u/0?ui=...d=ii_jmze1aj60

Weights help a lot, as we aren't seeing your snake. Weight of the snake, weights of the food offered. ;)

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Will do:D

Ill feed him tonight and then when he dries, I'll put him on the gram scale. Then I'll update you then on his weight:)

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Originally Posted by Traceur

This all honestly really helps! I tried offering 3 hoppers to him, but he didn't take the 3rd one. He was acting fussy again today- tried escaping again, and it's been 5 days since he last ate. So I certainly will start feeding every 5 days.

What size of rats should I be feeding a 5-6 month old ball python? After he's almost done with the hoppers?

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Unfortunately weight/size isn't proportional to age in snakes, so weight is important when you're troubleshooting something like feeding!

If a snake was fed very infrequently or fed too small meals for months of it's life, it'll grow slowly and be small for longer. If a snake is fed frequently and has larger meals, it'll grow faster, even if both snakes are the same age.

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Originally Posted by Traceur

Will do:D

Ill feed him tonight and then when he dries, I'll put him on the gram scale. Then I'll update you then on his weight:)

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It's you that needs to know his weight, so you can see from the chart what size his food should be. ;)

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Originally Posted by redshepherd

Unfortunately weight/size isn't proportional to age in snakes, so weight is important when you're troubleshooting something like feeding!

If a snake was fed very infrequently or fed too small meals for months of it's life, it'll grow slowly and be small for longer. If a snake is fed frequently and has larger meals, it'll grow faster, even if both snakes are the same age.

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That's a great thing to note:D I always thought it didn't depend whether it was age or weight, so I thought I wasted money on buying a semi-pricey gram scale for him. But I'm glad I got this info, I'll be sure to keep that in mind! Thank you:)

Hes gone through phases of not eating a couple of times because of stress, but he's been doing great ever since I improved his security and humidity. Maybe once I get his weight, you guys can tell me if he's at where he should be weight wise?

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Originally Posted by Traceur

Maybe once I get his weight, you guys can tell me if he's at where he should be weight wise?

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If you post his weight we can help with what size prey to offer, but his weight won't help much with anything else because it's so variable. Ball pythons can be the same age and sex and have a huge difference in what they weigh, so the number on the scale is really just a number.

If you're wanting to know about his body condition, pics are generally more helpful. :)

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Originally Posted by Bogertophis

It's you that needs to know his weight, so you can see from the chart what size his food should be. ;)

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Sounds great! Is a certain chart more accurate than the other or are they all the same?

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Originally Posted by WhompingWillow

If you post his weight we can help with what size prey to offer, but his weight won't help much with anything else because it's so variable. Ball pythons can be the same age and sex and have a huge difference in what they weigh, so the number on the scale is really just a number.

If you're wanting to know about his body condition, pics are generally more helpful. :)

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Another thing I will keep in mind- thanks:) I honestly still don't know how to post pictures on this forum XD But if you could help with prey size, that really would be wonderful:D

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Originally Posted by Traceur

Another thing I will keep in mind- thanks:) I honestly still don't know how to post pictures on this forum XD But if you could help with prey size, that really would be wonderful:D

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If I'm posting photos from my phone I use the Tapatalk app (a lot of people on here use this). If I'm posting photos taken from a camera I upload them to imgur and post to the site. Instructions can be found here: https://ball-pythons.net/forums/show...-Post-Pictures

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Originally Posted by Traceur

Sounds great! Is a certain chart more accurate than the other or are they all the same?

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I'd suggest using the chart I posted above...that's why I posted it. :rolleyes: It's been frequently posted on this site in many other threads as well.

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Originally Posted by Bogertophis

I'd suggest using the chart I posted above...that's why I posted it. :rolleyes: It's been frequently posted on this site in many other threads as well.

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The image didn't load, so I couldn't see the chart. Do you mind posting the image again please?

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Update: He stands at 119 grams

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Originally Posted by Traceur

The image didn't load, so I couldn't see the chart. Do you mind posting the image again please?

- - - Updated - - -

Update: He stands at 119 grams

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https://mail.google.com/mail/u/0?ui=...d=ii_jmze1aj60

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Originally Posted by Bogertophis

https://mail.google.com/mail/u/0?ui=...d=ii_jmze1aj60

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I'm still not seeing anything

Do you think you could possibly link one of the threads that has the chart?

That's weird...??? How can I be seeing it & not you? You'll have to look thru threads on feeding, it's been posted on this forum many times...

If he's 119 grams you're looking for a rodent that's about 12-18 grams, so a small adult/weaned mouse (one size up from a hopper) or a rat fuzzy. Just take his weight and multiply it by .1 and .15 to find the range. A simple Google search of "ball python rat feeding chart" brings up the chart you're looking for. You can also go by the weights listed on rodent sites such as Perfect Prey.

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Originally Posted by Bogertophis

That's weird...??? How can I be seeing it & not you? You'll have to look thru threads on feeding, it's been posted on this forum many times...

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It keeps coming up as a blue box with a question mark XD
Is it the feeding chart that is labeled "Ball Python Feeding Guidlines" by Eric Brunick? I'm just checking to make sure.

Edit: Nevermind, I got it:D

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Originally Posted by WhompingWillow

If he's 119 grams you're looking for a rodent that's about 12-18 grams, so a small adult/weaned mouse (one size up from a hopper) or a rat fuzzy. Just take his weight and multiply it by .1 and .15 to find the range. A simple Google search of "ball python rat feeding chart" brings up the chart you're looking for. You can also go by the weights listed on rodent sites such as Perfect Prey.

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Awesome, thank you!:D