First time BP owner after 7 years of research!

Hi all,

just wanted to introduce myself and Buttons. She is a female normal(I think), she is almost a year and a half old and weighs 533grams.. I took her in as her previous owner was traveling too much to take care of her. She seems happy and took the first meal I offered her (medium f/t rat), just 16 hours after bringing her home!

here are some pics

https://ball-pythons.net/gallery/fil...4a11f6ab1.jpeghttps://ball-pythons.net/gallery/fil...cdd113659.jpeg

Congratulations and good on you for taking the time to do research and wait until the time was right to get a BP. Thank you for adopting a girl in need of a good home as well! It's a great sign she ate for you so soon.

Oh my goodness, I had one look at that first photo of her and immediately fell in love! What a beautiful girl and illustrious climber she is :D Can't wait to see more of her, keep us posted!

Welcome to the forum. :welcome:

Congrats on your beautiful Ball. I love the sharp golden color contrasts.

Props to you for doing research and good luck with your BP. She has an awesome pattern.

Looking good! Props on doing your research first!

One observation. A medium rat (90-150G or so) is probably too big for a 500G BP.

I would be feeding weaned rats for now.

She's a beautiful girl. I hope you have many happy years ahead with her!

No one can accuse you of rushing into snake-ownership ;) & you've got a beautiful companion there...:gj: Welcome!

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Originally Posted by dakski

Looking good! Props on doing your research first!

One observation. A medium rat (90-150G or so) is probably too big for a 500G BP.

I would be feeding weaned rats for now.

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awesome thanks for letting me know, I just went off of what the previous owner was feeding.. she didn't struggle what soever with eating the medium on Saturday, what would the tell tale signs be for a meal being too large if you don't mind me asking?

I will have to wait for this covid lockdown to end in my country (south africa) before I can get different size rats as my biggest pet store does not have any mice or rats left :(

Thanks for the assistance!

Very nice BP. Congratulations on the new addition and the first successful feeding. I agree that medium rats are a pretty big meal for a 500 BP but if she can get them down with no issues I'd just space out the feedings to every 10-14 days. If you get some small rats you could probably feed those weekly. Best wishes with your new critter.

Her first shed with me!! Very excited to have caught her in the act

https://ball-pythons.net/gallery/fil...e07edb8fd.jpeghttps://ball-pythons.net/gallery/fil...c0c3b50a0.jpeg

Very cool you were able to catch her first shed! I didn't see my BP shed for the longest time after I got him, I'd always just find a rolled up shed in the morning. I hope it all comes off nicely and can't wait to see her shiny new look after shedding :D

Yeah I will definitely grab some photos tomorrow morning, She just finished about 15 minutes ago and I see she still has a bit stuck on her right side of her head(hopefully not the eyecap).. so I will soak her tomorrow if she hadn’t got it off yet! Its such a struggle without a hygrometer, as the previous owner didn’t have one and now I need to wait for next thursday when lockdown is over in my country

Even after keeping snakes for many years, it's still fun to watch them in the act of shedding... (now if only my dogs would shed in one piece! :rolleyes: lol)

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Originally Posted by ThisisChris

Yeah I will definitely grab some photos tomorrow morning, She just finished about 15 minutes ago and I see she still has a bit stuck on her right side of her head(hopefully not the eyecap).. so I will soak her tomorrow if she hadn’t got it off yet! Its such a struggle without a hygrometer, as the previous owner didn’t have one and now I need to wait for next thursday when lockdown is over in my country

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If she does have a stuck eye cap, give her a soak first and then use a damp towel to gently try to rub the eye cap off in the direction she sheds (toward her tail). Also make sure the water you use to soak is around 85F so it's not too hot or cold. It is definitely tough to gauge humidity without a hygrometer! It can also help to put a damp piece of sphagnum moss in the hides when your snake goes blue to give them a bit of a humidity boost.

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Originally Posted by Bogertophis

Even after keeping snakes for many years, it's still fun to watch them in the act of shedding... (now if only my dogs would shed in one piece! :rolleyes: lol)

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Yes, for sure! It's very satisfying to watch :)

Hey all, so I took her out this afternoon for a bit and noticed that part of her belly is a little red, like something scraped her?:confusd:

https://ball-pythons.net/gallery/fil...81a82165c.jpeg

https://ball-pythons.net/gallery/fil...89017d35e.jpeg

I think this might be the culprit as she likes climbing on this plant, as seen in the first picture of this thread:

https://ball-pythons.net/gallery/fil...49ad6d99e.jpeg

So I was looking for some input or guidance on what I should look out for, is this just me being paranoid or something that will sort itself out?

When inspecting the plant closer, I found exposed wire right on top:O

https://ball-pythons.net/gallery/fil...3fd8e90ba.jpeg

one of the her scales also seems “dry” or hard, it is located at the start of the scratch, it there anything I can do to help her get better?

So Today was the day I we went shopping to give her an enclosure makeover, we added a branch as she always seems to be climbing at night!

https://ball-pythons.net/gallery/fil...777f4384b.jpeg

and now she thinks that she is a green tree python :D

https://ball-pythons.net/gallery/fil...ad957e3f6.jpeg

https://ball-pythons.net/gallery/fil...445228f15.jpeg

I also finally got a digital hygrometer and thermometer as lockdown restrictions have eased a bit, now i realize that my town is quite humid, currently 85% outside, so now I need to hope that her cage (currently 90% humidity) settles a bit after changing her substrate today!