Eleven progression (my first normal)

Long time lurker here on the forum, and just got my first Ball, Eleven. Here’s a little rundown on the sequence of events since I adopted her.

-26 October 2019: She was shipped from somewhere in the US and arrived at PetsMart
-13 December 2019: According to Petsmart records, Last meal on this date; I don’t believe Petsmart keeps good records of Feeding or age.
-27 December 2019: Had gone to multiple petsmarts to look at BP’s and most looked good. Prior to adoption, I did a brief inspection for visible mites, my very first sexing (used popping method) and it appears to be a girl. On a side note, I think petsmart should have someone trained to sex the animals. After a satisfactory experience at this petsmart, I Adopted Eleven. Here’s the day I brought her home.
https://ball-pythons.net/forums/cach...4ccb142b22.jpg

-30 December 2019: Weight 150 grams ( I waited 3 days to give some time to get accustomed to the house before weighing and handling.

-30 December 2019: Fed 2x 4g mouse Fuzzies. She destroyed these two mouse fuzzies. After doing some research tryst night I realized 2 mouse fuzzies was not enough. Still have a pack of mouse fuzzies in the freezer.

-3 January 2020: Fed 1x 18 gram adult mouse, took a video took her about 17 minutes to eat.
https://ball-pythons.net/forums/cach...2f99ad210f.jpg
https://ball-pythons.net/forums/cach...d3fe5c3448.jpg

-3 January 2020: Weight 186 (I forgot to weigh before meal, so weighing was done a few hours after feeding)

-6 January 2020: eyes Blue (going into shed)
https://ball-pythons.net/forums/cach...09ae54dd0d.jpg

-6 January 2020: Bought some New Zealand Spagmoss and put in a humidity hide (Pyrex bowl with top), she spent about an hour in there before going back into the warm hide.https://ball-pythons.net/forums/cach...9db793b08b.jpg
https://ball-pythons.net/forums/cach...8a19508d03.jpg






Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

Prior to Bringing he home, I was fascinated by all the designer pythons (morphs) but after I got her home I found a real appreciation for the "normals". My next python will be a "normal" Carpet Python (I'm torn between diamond and jungle subspecies). I already found a very reputable breeder and now in the process of deciding and building an enclosure.

Congrats on your first!! Glad to see your excited about it. They are addictive!!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Glad you got her out of Petsmart, I worked there for two and a half years and it’s a terrible place, their snakes are not kept like they should be.....that’s why I have my ball. He is a pinstripe so he was considered fancy and no one would pay the money for him, I got attached so I took him. He is the best snake, best personality. Good luck with your new baby, can’t wait to see what you get next [emoji847][emoji847]


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Finn0208

Glad you got her out of Petsmart, I worked there for two and a half years and it’s a terrible place, their snakes are not kept like they should be.....that’s why I have my ball. He is a pinstripe so he was considered fancy and no one would pay the money for him, I got attached so I took him. He is the best snake, best personality. Good luck with your new baby, can’t wait to see what you get next [emoji847][emoji847]


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

---

Quick two questions for anyone but the first is primarily for Finn,
1) In your experience working at PetsMart, what is the average age of the Balls when they arrive at Petsmart. According to the chart they gave me she Arrived at petsmart on October 26, 2019. I don't really have a frame of reference on how snakes age and feature as they age. Would it be safe to assume she was approx a month old when she arrived at Petsmart?

2) I have been feeding her progressively larger food, primarily due to not knowing exactly how much she can take. I just bought a mouse that weighs quite a bit, about 48-50 grams, when the mouse is measured, it's about 1 and a quarter inch wide, Eleven is just short of 1 inch wide at her widest part. Do you think this weight difference is a big deal?

Well I decided to go ahead and give her the 52 gram mouse, tried feeding it to her for about 10 minutes with no luck, she just kept balling up, and letting the mouse walk all over her, I then remembered last time I fed her, she didn't eat until the lights were off. I then dimmed the lights and within seconds the mouse was wrapped up. That was at 8:16 pm, 8:33 the mouse was gone and thanked for his sacrifice.

It was very fascinating to see her slowly but quickly stalk the mouse with the lights dimmed. The moment the lights were dimmed she started slowly approaching the mouse and that’s where it ended.

I can’t lie, feeding her something that’s larger than her head is gonna take some getting used to.
None the less, She's definitely got a full belly.

https://ball-pythons.net/forums/cach...f718a7c32f.jpghttps://ball-pythons.net/forums/cach...6178f4b1a0.jpghttps://ball-pythons.net/forums/cach...d793200232.jpg


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

Looks like you're off to a successful start, though I highly recommend getting your beautiful python to eat pre-killed (either f/t or fresh killed) rodents only, for the
sake of her safety. Rodents can do a lot of damage, injure or even kill a snake if the snake hesitates or grabs wrong or just isn't hungry enough. I like the normal
ball pythons too...remember, that's what nature (natural selection) decided works the best too.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Bogertophis

Looks like you're off to a successful start, though I highly recommend getting your beautiful python to eat pre-killed (either f/t or fresh killed) rodents only, for the
sake of her safety. Rodents can do a lot of damage, injure or even kill a snake if the snake hesitates or grabs wrong or just isn't hungry enough. I like the normal
ball pythons too...remember, that's what nature (natural selection) decided works the best too.

---

Nonsense! If I can go hunt for my food, so can she. I’m Just kidding, that’s Understandable and makes perfect sense. I’d hate to have her get hurt.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

Beautiful girl! Sounds like she's doing well :)

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by rayman99

Nonsense! If I can go hunt for my food, so can she. I’m Just kidding, that’s Understandable and makes perfect sense. I’d hate to have her get hurt.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

---

Mice tend to be less feisty than rats. Better to switch to F/T with mice and get her used to that before trying when switching to rats.

We are here to help with questions about F/T and eventually switching to rats.

I decided to give my girl a soak tonight, she’s going into shed and I want it to come off nicely. I live in the high desert and humidity is pretty low here. I bought spagmoss the other day and have to rewet it daily to keep the humidity above 30-40%.

On a side note, that rat pup she ate left a mighty large impression on her!
https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/202...2c76a54a77.jpg

https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/202...794f23aabf.jpg


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by rayman99

Quick two questions for anyone but the first is primarily for Finn,
1) In your experience working at PetsMart, what is the average age of the Balls when they arrive at Petsmart. According to the chart they gave me she Arrived at petsmart on October 26, 2019. I don't really have a frame of reference on how snakes age and feature as they age. Would it be safe to assume she was approx a month old when she arrived at Petsmart?

2) I have been feeding her progressively larger food, primarily due to not knowing exactly how much she can take. I just bought a mouse that weighs quite a bit, about 48-50 grams, when the mouse is measured, it's about 1 and a quarter inch wide, Eleven is just short of 1 inch wide at her widest part. Do you think this weight difference is a big deal?

---

Unfortunately when they send the snakes in they don’t give us any information about them at all, I even contacted the company/breeder we got them from to see if I could find a hatch date for Finn and didn’t get anywhere, my guess when they come there, they are close to a month old if that....they like for them to eat a few meals first and then they send them, but that is strictly a guess


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Yeah, I questioned the Worker at Petsmart quite a bit, She was very helpful and had good info, (she has 2-3 BP of her own) but didn't have any info on Eleven prior to arriving at the store.

I let my girl move around outside of her house for the first time and after about 10 minutes she found my dining room chair, climbed it and just perched there until I put her back in the home. Really fascinating to see her climb the chair legs and find a comfy spot.
On another note, I possibly may have a new addition shortly,adult female normal, the person is practically giving her a way due to moving apparently...https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/202...3351c5b4f2.jpg


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Random Thought, and this may just be a typical Ball Python demeanor, But due to her demeanor, Calm, docile, relaxed, very rarely scared (never balls up), I feel like this she is older than 3.5 months old. Maybe its due to the fact that she was at petsmart and probably handled often but she is just unbelievably calm around me and my kids. On another note, she shed a bit last night, it didn't come out as one clean shed, but I think that make be due to the lack of rough items in the enclosure. The rough textured cypress mulch I have down is covered with a layer of very soft and moist spagmoss.

https://ball-pythons.net/forums/cach...94b298f1cb.jpghttps://ball-pythons.net/forums/cach...7d13ceef97.jpg

https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/202...9cf4e13065.jpg

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Not surprising...eating more while in shed can mess up sheds. Shedding uses up their hydration and so does digestion. And that last meal appears bigger than it
should be, as that's more than a "slight mid-body bulge". In the last photo where she's wrapped on the chair leg, you can see she's going to defecate pretty soon
by the bulge above her cloaca...lucky you aren't cleaning the carpet. ;)

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Bogertophis

Not surprising...eating more while in shed can mess up sheds. Shedding uses up their hydration and so does digestion. And that last meal appears bigger than it
should be, as that's more than a "slight mid-body bulge". In the last photo where she's wrapped on the chair leg, you can see she's going to defecate pretty soon
by the bulge above her cloaca...lucky you aren't cleaning the carpet. ;)

---

Yes I do agree, the last mean might have been bigger than it should be, but in fairness she hasn’t pooped out the last two meals, so hopefully when I get home from work she has defecated. Actually as she was moving around I was a bit worried she might go.
Today after work I was planning on doing a full clean of tank and replacement of substrate, so hopefully she has defecated by then.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I'm just glad to finally hear a good reptile story out of petsmart; its downright depressing most of the time. You probably saved this life.

I also fell for a normal at PetSmart (who was not in great shape) and now he's doing fantastic. :)

One thing I'd suggest is to space out your feedings. If you gave a meal on 1/3 and another on 1/8 (one that was probably a bit bigger than it ideally would have been), that's quite a bit of food for a snake that's young and still adjusting. Every 7-10 days is fine. Aim for as big as the widest part of the body or 10-15% bodyweight. There are a lot of obese snakes in captivity. ;)

Nice to see your girl is eating well! Agreed with the advice about feeding above. Maybe leave a longer gap between this feeding and her next since she had an unusually large meal.

I'm also quite surprised to see a Petsmart snake this healthy. Most of the ones I've seen come with a lot of health problems and need to be rehabilitated. It's really cool that Eleven is a climber! Must be good exercise for her especially after all those meals :D

I think that the shed was incomplete most likely due to humidity. In the photos of her climbing the table leg I can see some wrinkles on her body which is a sign of dehydration. You mentioned in a previous post that you have trouble keeping your humidity above 30-40% - this is too low for a ball python, it should be a minimum of 50-60% humidity. It might help to consult some of the BP care guides on this forum, there are lots of different methods for increasing humidity in the enclosure.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by WhompingWillow

I also fell for a normal at PetSmart (who was not in great shape) and now he's doing fantastic. :)

---

Thats so good to hear!!

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by WhompingWillow

One thing I'd suggest is to space out your feedings. If you gave a meal on 1/3 and another on 1/8 (one that was probably a bit bigger than it ideally would have been), that's quite a bit of food for a snake that's young and still adjusting. Every 7-10 days is fine. Aim for as big as the widest part of the body or 10-15% bodyweight. There are a lot of obese snakes in captivity. ;)

---

Yes, understood, I now plan to feed her every 7 days. Thanks!

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Luvyna

I'm also quite surprised to see a Petsmart snake this healthy. Most of the ones I've seen come with a lot of health problems and need to be rehabilitated. It's really cool that Eleven is a climber! Must be good exercise for her especially after all those meals :D

I think that the shed was incomplete most likely due to humidity. In the photos of her climbing the table leg I can see some wrinkles on her body which is a sign of dehydration. You mentioned in a previous post that you have trouble keeping your humidity above 30-40% - this is too low for a ball python, it should be a minimum of 50-60% humidity. It might help to consult some of the BP care guides on this forum, there are lots of different methods for increasing humidity in the enclosure.

---

A bit misleading, I had to spray the cypress mulch every morning to keep the humidity high enough. I then bought Spagmoss which i still give a spritz each morning to aid in keeping it high. Usually Its around 60-70%, but again thats with me spraying every morning. But you may be right she possibly is dehydrated.

Any other suggestions on how to help her shed completely? all Info is definitely appreciated.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by rayman99

A bit misleading, I had to spray the cypress mulch every morning to keep the humidity high enough. I then bought Spagmoss which i still give a spritz each morning to aid in keeping it high. Usually Its around 60-70%, but again thats with me spraying every morning. But you may be right she possibly is dehydrated.

Any other suggestions on how to help her shed completely? all Info is definitely appreciated.

---

I think that if you get a large (!) plastic food container (& cut a doorway in it) to use as a humid hide, that would help a lot. You need to completely soak sphagnum moss,
then pour off the excess water (spritzing doesn't cut it); the humid hide needs to be big enough for a lot of moss + the snake. If it's near but not right over (or under) the
"hot spot" so it's warm but doesn't dry out too fast it will be used by this snake a lot.

As far as right now & helping her out of the rest of her shed: a damp terry towel for her to be wrapped in for a while & rub against will help greatly, both for humidity & friction.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Bogertophis

I think that if you get a large (!) plastic food container (& cut a doorway in it) to use as a humid hide, that would help a lot. You need to completely soak sphagnum moss,
then pour off the excess water (spritzing doesn't cut it); the humid hide needs to be big enough for a lot of moss + the snake. If it's near but not right over (or under) the
"hot spot" so it's warm but doesn't dry out too fast it will be used by this snake a lot.

As far as right now & helping her out of the rest of her shed: a damp terry towel for her to be wrapped in for a while & rub against will help greatly, both for humidity & friction.

---

took all your advice, took out all moss from enclosure and tank, soaked and excess poured off And moss reapplied. Hopefully that helps and next time I’ll be better prepared. Also I think she really enjoyed the warm towel, as soon as I wrapped her, she moved around for 30 seconds and then sat there for 15 minutes while I gentle rubbed/ moved towel around.https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/202...860ed60b79.jpghttps://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/202...102e3a592c.jpghttps://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/202...bbfbdd00d2.jpg

I decided to place her back in her original house for now, until I get this shed under control. The RUB holds temps and humidity very well. Im contemplating building a pvc enclosure over the next few months. It’s a bit sad having to put her back in the RUB but best right no

https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/202...d71b29ea9d.jpg


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

Well, She Finally Pooped! I came home from work and as soon as I opened my front door, I was hit with a whiff of some unpleasantries. I immediately went to her tub only to Find nothing, I then went to my trash can to take out the garbage, only to see there was no garbage; I took it out last night...In utter confusion, I'm trying to figure out where the smell is coming from. It take her out of the tub, put her in a different look through the substrate and find the two small pieces of poop (combined about the size of a quarter), I did take a pic but I'll save everyone those details. I figured she'd have a lot more poop considering her last meal was a whopping 52 grams but maybe her body used the rest. She doesn't have that massive bulge at her cloaca that she had two days ago, So I think it was a good poop for her and all is good. https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/202...853b30404e.jpg

I'm still working on getting the last bit of shed off, In her tub(since the night of the 11th) the ambient temp has been roughly 77° F, hotspot 90° F and pretty high humidity of 80%. I have her out now and she's pretty active, literally hanging out on the edge of the tub. I think she's happy now.
https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/202...0df1de87f3.jpg
https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/202...236901642c.jpg

Today I decided to give my girl an upgrade, she was constantly roaming around her 9 liter tub, so I put her in the 33 liter I was saving for when she was much larger, I also decided to buy a larger hide and bought coconut husk, then threw away the bag of cypress mulch. I have only had a reptile for about a month but I have decided coconut husk is what I’ll be using from now on, the mulch once dry was so sharp, and doesn’t seem to soak\retain water very well. I tomorrow, I’m gonna find some more clutter (preferably something to climb on) for the tub.https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/202...5243a18fee.jpg


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

Well I have got to be the worst judge of rat sizing. After work today, I purchased her weekly meal, I weighed it and realized it was significantly heavier than it looked, (55 Grams). I then tossed the rat in the tub, and when Eleven came out of her hide, I then realized Eleven was not as wide as I remembered. None the less, width wise, the rat wasn't too big, just not the 100% correct proportion.https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/202...08d747399a.jpg

Well my girl is going through her second shes since I adopted her (seems to she’s once per month). Her last shed did not go well at all, I spent multiple days trying to get stuck shed off, it’s was a nightmare and got all but a section on her neck. I don’t plan on having this issue again so as soon as I realized she was blue, I upped her humidity to high 90’s, the one issue is I tossed her a rat tonight before I knew she was blue, so I hope that doesn’t mess with her shedding process.
Wish her and I good luck!
https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/202...956f13c163.jpghttps://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/202...2bb2e231b7.jpg


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I’m pretty happy now, I’ve finally got a good shed, she had stuck shed on her for weeks, and this last shed was perfect! https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/202...8f527b7728.jpghttps://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/202...41bb855580.jpghttps://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/202...9525eab2fa.jpg


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Wanted to show a quick update on my girl Eleven. She’s doing great and is so friendly. She’s weighing in at 378 grams (weighed 10 minutes ago), and is just amazing! Funny thing is last night I weighed her and she was 410 grams. Needless to say she left me a spicy meatball, I’ll save you a pic of that but I can’t imaging how 32 grams of poop can come out such a small package, lol.
Also I just got another noodle, Coastal Carpet Python named Max (Maxine). No Pics of her here on this thread but its in the Morelia Forum here on Bp.nethttps://ball-pythons.net/forums/cach...4daa7513df.jpghttps://ball-pythons.net/forums/cach...1077c0c9ea.jpghttps://ball-pythons.net/forums/cach...948eee47d3.jpghttps://ball-pythons.net/forums/cach...082c328d00.jpg


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Howdy folks, it’s been a crazy year so far. I work in the healthcare field and I have to tell you work has been nuts in these times. But just thought I’d do a quick update on one of my girl Eleven (Normal Ball)she is growing like a weed and is so gentle. I adopted Eleven from pets mart in December and her proposed hatch date is in August 2019, making her approx 11 months old. When I adopted her she weighed exactly 150 grams. I only feed her once a week and sometimes every 10-11 days, Pics of her are below.

My Morelia (coastal carpet)on the other hand is just starting to adjust to humans, but she’s doing well also. As of about 2 weeks ago I can now handle her without her getting snappy.



https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/202...6d70b5a3a7.jpg
https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/202...c4a6557379.jpg


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Glad to hear things are well man. Post up pics of that great carpet of yours too!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

LOL. I once had a cat named Eleven. Congrats on your new baby!