Got my first BP today!

I picked him up from a nice breeder. Very healthy, VERY attentive, a little nervous it seems, but not too bad. Hes on a live rat pup every 5 days, and when I gave him his first tonight, he looked it over for twenty seconds then went to town on it. I was glad to see he wasnt too stressed or nervous to eat. He should start a shed in a week or so, which will be nice. Ill get some pictures up soon, but I didnt want to bug him too much. Nobody likes indigestion :)

congrats on your first bp. hope its healthy and nothing goes wrong :)
i just got my first bp 2 days ago.
is it a baby? male/female?

Its a baby, a month or two old. He had to check on the exact hatch date, which he'll email to me tonight. Really nice guy. Its a male as well. He had two brothers and a sister.

yeah, mine is a month old to. who did you get him from? does he have an online place?

Nah. He's a local who has been taking care of them for years, but just decided to start breeding last year. This was his first batch.

I would definitely switch to F/T while he's young. Just my :2cent:

F/T = Frozen/Thawed?

should i do that for my baby to?

You got it! Frozen thawed, trust me.. It can get messy, the rat/mouse can bite the snake, and what if your snake starts to fast, your stuck with a mouse to take care of, like I said before I definitely say switch while he's young :)

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Originally Posted by trumetal96

should i do that for my baby to?

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Yeah I would if I were you...

Oh yeah.. SHOW SOME PICTURES! we love them here :D

what about pinkies, they will bite my snake?

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Originally Posted by trumetal96

what about pinkies, they will bite my snake?

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Lol, like what westcoastjungle said to me, leave the pinks for the corns :). Switch to fuzzys, hopper mice, or rat pups, what ever you think.

it doesnt like hopper mice, well at least from my experiences. it wouldnt eat the hopper i tried to feed it, but it ate the pinky, maybe its mouth was sore from that woodchip

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Originally Posted by trumetal96

it doesnt like hopper mice, well at least from my experiences. it wouldnt eat the hopper i tried to feed it, but it ate the pinky, maybe its mouth was sore from that woodchip

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Maybe.. Switch to paper towel or newsprint, I did and I love it, wait until next feeding day and feed him a F/T hopper, use tongs and dangle it in front of him, what I do is i make the mouse tap his nose, then he just strikes it. Just my :2cent: But it's definitely worth a shot.

i will try it, can you post a picture of your tank for me so i get an idea for laying it out.

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Originally Posted by trumetal96

i will try it, can you post a picture of your tank for me so i get an idea for laying it out.

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Yeah.. tomorrow after work. I gotta go to bed, i work early, I'll show you later

I'm in the same boat. Picked up my first BP today (actually first snake), been watching him all evening. Facinating creature.
Now I have a house full.

1 - ball python
4 - cats (3 common + 1 Maine Coone)
1 - Dog (Blue Healer)
Colony of WC Frontosa Moba
4 - Clown Loaches
20 or so Yellow Labs (Cichlids not canines)

Oh yea,

1 - Wife
2 - Kids

my bp wont come out of its hide. do they usually just sit in there rolled up in a ball?

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Originally Posted by Brando

I'm in the same boat. Picked up my first BP today (actually first snake), been watching him all evening. Facinating creature.
Now I have a house full.

1 - ball python
4 - cats (3 common + 1 Maine Coone)
1 - Dog (Blue Healer)
Colony of WC Frontosa Moba
4 - Clown Loaches
20 or so Yellow Labs (Cichlids not canines)

Oh yea,

1 - Wife
2 - Kids

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Cripes. Thats a lot of pets there. That dog must be a giant.

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Originally Posted by CanadianNinja

I picked him up from a nice breeder. Very healthy, VERY attentive, a little nervous it seems, but not too bad. Hes on a live rat pup every 5 days, and when I gave him his first tonight, he looked it over for twenty seconds then went to town on it. I was glad to see he wasnt too stressed or nervous to eat. He should start a shed in a week or so, which will be nice. Ill get some pictures up soon, but I didnt want to bug him too much. Nobody likes indigestion :)

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Congrats on the new baby! Sounds like a good decision to get him from a breeder that sold you a well-started baby. We usually keep the little ones on every 5 days until they hit about 200 grams, then go to feeding once every 7 days.

Just to review here for the other posters with new baby snakes. A prey item should not leave a big lump in your snake. Compare the rodents greatest girth (it's butt) with the empty largest girth of your baby for the right "fit". Here's a few links about prey size and life stages....knowing your prey helps you feed appropriately and that helps your snake be in the best shape possible....(in this thread are two other links to prey info)....

http://www.ball-pythons.net/forums/s...ad.php?t=52429

Most folks here will tell you that a pinky/fuzzy mouse isn't much of a meal at all.

As far as feeding live or "having" to switch to f/t, that's an owner's decision really. Since very small bp's have very specific sizes they need sometimes it's easier to go to f/t if you don't have a regular supplier of that specific size of prey. However, trying to switch a baby you just got either in type of prey (mice to rats for instance) or method of feeding (from live to f/t for instance) will often cause the snake so much stress it stops feeding. You do not want to have a very tiny baby bp stop eating so it's usually best to stick to what the snake knows for awhile before considering a switch.

As for live feeding being unsafe, that's been covered in many, many threads here so I'd suggest spending time with our excellent search function to read up on member's opinions and direct experiences with all the feeding methods.

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Originally Posted by trumetal96

my bp wont come out of its hide. do they usually just sit in there rolled up in a ball?

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Yeah thats normal, leave him alone for about a week, this means no handleing, only change his water, after that week is over and he's settled in, give him a F/T hopper, that should be alright.
Hope this helps

Mitch