I <3 my BP

Hi, just wanted to get some input & post my picture.


A little background on my BP. I got him from my cousin who was not taking care of him AT ALL. From what I could see, he was constantly shedding and my cousin did not clean his tank. Someone had dumped this gorgeous snake and his tank on my cousins door step and frankly I think my cousin was afraid of him. I know that he was pre-killing small rats when he did feed him. I have had him for approx 5 months now. I started feeding small rats (i so can not pre kill or stun them) and Slowly increasing the size of the rats. I feed him about every 7-10 days or so a medium/large'ish rat. He has never shown any sign of distress or difficulty eating. My aunt who did not see him for about 4 months after I got him saw him the other day and said OMAG THAT SNAKE IS WAY TOO FAT. So now I am concerned. I thought that a BP would refuse food if it was not "hungry" I do believe he was near death when I got him (he did not move much and was so skinny). ALSO, he has only shed once in 5 months, reason for concern?

SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO... here is a pick of my baby.
http://i39.photobucket.com/albums/e1...03-07_1955.jpg

Thank you for reading, and any input. (I have more questions, but I'll wait.)

Think about it like this with ball pythons: Fat and happy, sad and skinny.

You ball looks great. Your aunt, no offense, doesn't know what she's talking about.

Might want to scale down the medium rats, I've got big breeder girls that don't get anything larger than small rats. In my experience, they do better with that sized rat than the larger sizes.

thanks, that makes me feel a lot better. now medium rats that he can gulp down? how often? sometimes he doesnt poop before it seems that he is hungry again. even with medium rats, I do not see a bump after his 'neck'. is that normal?
http://i39.photobucket.com/albums/e1...7/IMG_0635.jpg
http://i39.photobucket.com/albums/e1...7/IMG_0633.jpg
in the second picture i posted it seems like he has 'wrinkles' on his eyes, is this reason for concern? he has had them since i got him and they did not change after his shed

"Wrinkly eye" was something I encountered some time back and asked around about. I was told its just a result of a snake being in low humidity for an extended period of time (months, years).

The snake I had that had it shed fine, no retained caps, and you could even see the wrinkles in the shed caps. After about 6 months and the 4th shed, her eyes went back to normal. No big deal, just keep your humidity up.

what would be the proper range of humidity? its really a dry winter right now and its at 60%.

Also, I have had him 5 months, and only one shed so far. It looks like he might be getting ready to get ready to shed (if you know what i mean)

Beautiful ball python! he looks like he's about to poo in the picture so I think it's clearly evident that he's eating very well. Other than that he looks great!
I wouldn't worry about the wrinkled eye, raising the humidity will fix in a matter of a couple days...


Best of luck with your boy! He looks great! killer pattern!
:rockon:

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Originally Posted by djslurp1200

I wouldn't worry about the wrinkled eye, raising the humidity will fix in a matter of a couple days...

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Wrinkly eye and a dent in the eyecap are different. Without a pic, it'd be too hard to tell. I've got pictures at home I'll post a little later so everyone can see the difference.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by elevatethis

Wrinkly eye and a dent in the eyecap are different. Without a pic, it'd be too hard to tell. I've got pictures at home I'll post a little later so everyone can see the difference.

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I posted a pic, they definatly look like wrinkles to me. (not that i know what dents in the eyecap look like) you can see in the picture the lines in his eyes that is about the extent of it, but in person you can see that his eyeballs are not smooth..

im still wondering how to get humidity higher than it is now? do i add another water dish?

Quote:

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Originally Posted by JESSiKA

I posted a pic, they definatly look like wrinkles to me. (not that i know what dents in the eyecap look like) you can see in the picture the lines in his eyes that is about the extent of it, but in person you can see that his eyeballs are not smooth..

im still wondering how to get humidity higher than it is now? do i add another water dish?

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What kind of enclosure is he in? 60% humidity should be ok but if he is shedding, I would try and bump it up to about 75-80% to be sure he has a good shed. You can do this by either putting his water on the warm side of the enclosure, misting, or covering up part of the screen(assuming he is in an aquarium)
Hope this helps a bit

that helps a lot. makes sense too, i guess i was overthinking it.

ok, so back to a subject i asked about earlier, rat size. when he eats a medium/large rat i do not see a lump in his belly. should i downsize him to small rats still? how often should i feed him?

ive heard that the prey should not be larger than his head with his mouth closed, AND from another source i heard that the prey should be the size of his midsection...

Your baby looks good to me.

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Originally Posted by JESSiKA

that helps a lot. makes sense too, i guess i was overthinking it.

ok, so back to a subject i asked about earlier, rat size. when he eats a medium/large rat i do not see a lump in his belly. should i downsize him to small rats still? how often should i feed him?

ive heard that the prey should not be larger than his head with his mouth closed, AND from another source i heard that the prey should be the size of his midsection...

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Many of us prefer to feed smaller weekly meals. After picking the brain of our very own Adam, I've made the decision not to feed any larger than a small/small rat - even for my biggest girls (for me, that's about a four to five week old rat, or a recently weaned rat).

The wonderful thing about ball pythons is that the longer they are kept in captivity, the more we learn about them. If you think about it - even with a small/small rat each week, 52 weeks of the year, that's more than their wild cousins would eat in a single year, and more than enough food for them! :D

I don't ever see a visible lump after feeding any of my kiddos, but I still average about 100 gram weight gain a month for my juveniles (a nice growth rate).

He's beautiful by the way. Have you had him sexed yet, to be sure he's a male?

Jessika, where in SoCal do you live? I'm in Redlands. =)

thanks for the info on feeding. I have not sexed him yet, my cousin named him Camo, and when we got him my kids could only agree on one name, Cameron (so it could go either way).

I have read some on sexing snakes, but i dont feel that I know enough to try.

I live in Camarillo, CA -- Ventura county

sounds like you've received some good advice. welcome to the forum! https://ball-pythons.net/gallery/fil...7/overhere.gif

Welcome aboard. Nice looking snake. :)

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Originally Posted by JESSiKA

thanks for the info on feeding. I have not sexed him yet, my cousin named him Camo, and when we got him my kids could only agree on one name, Cameron (so it could go either way).

I have read some on sexing snakes, but i dont feel that I know enough to try.

I live in Camarillo, CA -- Ventura county

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You are right. Don't even try it if not experienced.

Beautiful ball jessika! :rockon:

:eek:

WHOA....thats a really plump BP....nice :rockon:

I concur--beautiful snake. I see hermit crabs in your picture. If you can keep hermits alive and thriving, you'll do fine with a snake. BP's are easier, I think.