New Baby BP!!!

Hi this is my first time to have a BP. I am also new to this fourm. I had a kinda weard question. I brought my new baby home about 3 days ago and they told me to try to go ahead and feed it. Well i tried last night. They told me not to feed it in the cage that i have it in. They told me to take it out and try to feed it well i did that and tried to feed it and it would not. I had it on the carpet trying to feed it. So i tried to feed it in the cage and it would not eat there either. Well i took the snake out and put it on my hand and it wrapped around my fingers and i was holding the fuzzy with a pair of long tweezers and put the fuzzy right in front of his face like i have done the other times. He struck and the fuzzy and started eating it right there on my hand. I slowely put him back down in the cage so he could finish eating it. Has anyone had anything like this happen?

First off all welcome.
Now there is really no real reason to feed outside the enclosure. Its normally a good rule of thumb to allow them to settle in for a week prior to handling or trying to feed. Also feeding out of your hand you run the risk of getting bit. Hope this helps

You can feed him in his cage, he's not going to mistake your hand for food or whatever line they told you, as long as your hands don't smell like mice at all times.

If you got him 3 days ago, you probably wanna leave him alone for a week or two without handling unless cleaning the cage. It's cool that he's eating so readily, but he needs time to get adjusted to his new environment.

Don't handle him after feeding, it could possibly cause regurgitation.

Edit: Beaten to it, :P

I have not bothered him after he ate. I read leave him alone for 48 hours. Why does he need so much time alone at first? Also how much weight will he get up to when he is full grown? I have a 10 gallon tank that i fitted with the screen that you can buy and i bought one of those lights that you put over the tank. When i have the normal day light over the tank the warm side gets almost to 100 degrees and the cool side 90 or 85. How can i make it not as warm? I used a red light last night and it keeps the cage at 88, 89 and cool side 79 can i use this light all the time?

Grants on your baby,
Make sure you have a way to secure the top down. when you ball gets bigger he will eventually be able to push the top open and get out.
I had a terrerium that had a lock pin I never secured it until one night he got loose. Snakes are escape artists. heh heh

You can use the strap down secure tabs used for computers they are cheap and your snake will never be able to push open the top. Just secure it on four corners.

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Originally Posted by patrick76

I have not bothered him after he ate. I read leave him alone for 48 hours. Why does he need so much time alone at first? Also how much weight will he get up to when he is full grown? I have a 10 gallon tank that i fitted with the screen that you can buy and i bought one of those lights that you put over the tank. When i have the normal day light over the tank the warm side gets almost to 100 degrees and the cool side 90 or 85. How can i make it not as warm? I used a red light last night and it keeps the cage at 88, 89 and cool side 79 can i use this light all the time?

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Yes, you can leave that light on 24/7 as long as it's not in direct sun too. I would definitely recommend NOT leaving the tank in the sun as that can be very hazardous.

I would suggest reading the glass tank setup guide sticky at the top of the forum page. It's got great tips for setting up your glass tank.

Dont see that sticky

Quote:

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Originally Posted by patrick76

Dont see that sticky

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sorry, it's at the top of the Husbandry page.

http://www.ball-pythons.net/forums/s...ad.php?t=32800

just a pointer, your baby will outgrow that 10gal fairly quickly, start saving to get a bigger cage, ideally a 30 or 40gal long, i think he'll outgrow that 10gal in a couple months if im not mistaken, correct me if im wrong

Well thats fine when he get 2 feet i will get a 30 gallon. No answer to my other questions?

Where can i get a thermostat for my cage?

Also i got my BP at Petco anyone know what type it is? They did not tell me that much about it. Also how can i sex my BP?

it's probably just a plain old normal ball python. Gender should be determined by a vet or experienced breeder. Generally it's done by probing for the existence of hemipenes in the tail via the clocoa, although "popping" is also used in immature snakes since they generally lack the muscle control to stop it from happening.

Thanks i will post some pics tonight so everyone can tell me for sure what kind he is. How can i find out what vet works with a Bp?

Well its not exhaustive but there's a good list here.
And one of our mmbers (Icygirl) recently shared this site as well.

If you can't find anything near with those lists it might be worth looking for memebers located near you and finding out who they use, you can also ask local reptile stores and zoo's.



dr del

Where can i get a thermostat for my cage?

get the theros here www.reptilebasics.com

this might help him to eat,get a toilet paper roll, put the pinkie inside it, set it down and let him find it, sometimes they like to feel like they are hunting a burrow, i had a baby a couple months ago that this worked with, also just feed in his cage, the whole associating you with food is myth, hope this helps

http://i205.photobucket.com/albums/b...676/new043.jpg

http://i205.photobucket.com/albums/b...676/new044.jpg

Close up of new baby.

http://i205.photobucket.com/albums/b...676/new042.jpg

Salizar in his cave.