New ball python, simple questions

Hello, Im new to the boards and am glad i found a forum for these snakes... Im a member of a ton of car forums and bird forums and love them so i was glad to stumble on this.

Anyways, I just picked up a ball python about a week and a half ago from petco. Yes i know i should have gone through a breeder, but i took a look their and talked to their reptile expert, and she was very knowledgeable, and repeated to me almost everything I had found on the web as far as husbandry for snakes. I was impressed, and the ball python was active, bright, his tank was clean, and he was eating.

Anyways, My only concern was how skinny he looks. I did some searching and saw that another member had this problem and everyone kinda agreed to just keep feeding every 5 days and keep an eye out.

I fed him coincidentally 5 days after i got him, and fed him today (5 days later). He has normal eating habits, and i didnt have any problems getting him to eat either time. He is active and aware of his surroundings, flicks his tongue, and is comfortable with handling. His humidity is about 55-60% in his tank, and heat on the cold side is 80 with a uth and 90-92 on the warm side with a heat light. Everything seems good with him, other than he is so skinny.

Here is a pic to show you guys

http://img294.imageshack.us/img294/6990/71107059kk4.jpg

Should I just keep up with the every 5 day feeding, or be concerned? He seems very young still. The only thing i didnt like was the lady was unsure of exactly how old he was. Hes about 16-17 inches long (best measurement i could get without him moving lol) and is eating small fuzzy mice about the same size around as he his.

Thoughts?

Hi and welcome to the site! :welcome:

I'm glad you're taking the time to set up your snake correctly and get him healthy. He does look a little skinny which may mean that they weren't feeding him very often at Petco, but as long as he's eating regularly and isn't showing other signs of stress he should be okay. I'm sure with a 5 day schedule he'll get up to size in no time. You may want to bump up the food size to a small or even medium mouse. Also, check out his defecations. They should be firm and not runny. It is possible that he has parasites so if he has runny stools or if he isn't gaining weight a vet visit with a fecal sample would be in order.

Good luck!

welcome!!

well i glad you found someone that knows snakes:). he might be skinny because he's most likely dehydrated as i see baggy skin. for feeding techniques i cant really say but im sure someone with more experience will jump in. one thing you're missing though is an acurite digital thermometer.you can,hopefully,find them at your local walmart for $12. they're better than the gauges at petco because sometimes the gauges will display incorrect temps and can screw up the setup. the acurites are digital and can measure both temps and humidity on both sides of the tank.

cool snake and welcome to BP.net!!

I got my BP from Petco too and mine was around as skinny as yours was it seems to be alrite for it's size and you might want to feed it small adult mice of fuzzy rats...make sure that the meal makes a bump on your snake, if those are two big then feed it like two or three of the pinkies at one sitting even though that's not convinient because it takes alot of energy for them to take them down. But atleast yours is eating mine didn't eat for about 2 weeks when i first got him so i think you should be fine...mine was around 10" when i got him and now atleast 42"+. good luck he looks good!

Thanks for the quick replies everyone...

He did have one runny poo when i first got him home, but hes gone twice since then and they both seemed fine... Kinda wierd huh? I just assumed the first was due to stress of a new enclosure and such, but we'll see. The 15 day guarantee also says that if i notice something wrong, they will schedule a free vet visit for him, so i suppose i could do that if need be, but i checked him as best i could for mites and didnt see anything...

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Originally Posted by lookout4theyeti

He did have one runny poo when i first got him home, but hes gone twice since then and they both seemed fine... Kinda wierd huh?

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He defecated three times in a week and a half? I'm not sure if that's indicative of a parasite problem, but it is unusual. They should go about once every 1-2 weeks, but young snakes may only go once every month or so. I'm not trying to frighten you and he's probably fine, but it's something to keep an eye on.

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Originally Posted by xdeus

He defecated three times in a week and a half? I'm not sure if that's indicative of a parasite problem, but it is unusual. They should go about once every 1-2 weeks, but young snakes may only go once every month or so. I'm not trying to frighten you and he's probably fine, but it's something to keep an eye on.

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yea he went twice after the first time i fed him. once either the day after or two days after, and then again just the other day, and i fed him again today like i said

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Originally Posted by lookout4theyeti

yea he went twice after the first time i fed him. once either the day after or two days after, and then again just the other day, and i fed him again today like i said

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well like they say....when you gotta go, you gotta go:8:

move him up to either small hopper mice or rat pups. when i got my ball from petco he was skinny but after 3 good meals he plumped right up.

and also do you have any hides in the tank?? they should have identical hides on the hot and cold sides.

Yea sorry i didnt post up full pics of the tank... its a 20 gallon, uth on cool side, heatlamp on warm... i have a hide on the cool side, and am goin tomorrow to pick up the warm side hide (this was one thing i was unaware of when buying him). Then i have the water dish he can get in and drink from and some fake greenery

cool. good luck man. try to feed something bigger than a pinky or just pinkys at every meal. mine got down a small mouse at the size yours is. looked like it may have been a little big but the lump was gone within 24 hours. now he takes em down like nothin.

When you say he "went" three times do you mean three brown, formed stools or were any of them white in color? I would think about bumping up the prey size slightly. Fuzzy mice (which PetCo just loves to feed) aren't much of a meal really. You don't want to push it or cause a large lump in the snake but you want to be offering a prey that's the same or just slightly smaller around than the largest girth of the snake. Do you have any idea on the snake's weight? An inexpensive digital scale can be a very handy thing when raising a snake.

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Originally Posted by frankykeno

When you say he "went" three times do you mean three brown, formed stools or were any of them white in color? I would think about bumping up the prey size slightly. Fuzzy mice (which PetCo just loves to feed) aren't much of a meal really. You don't want to push it or cause a large lump in the snake but you want to be offering a prey that's the same or just slightly smaller around than the largest girth of the snake. Do you have any idea on the snake's weight? An inexpensive digital scale can be a very handy thing when raising a snake.

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They were all white in color... is that a bad thing? I thought it was supposed to be white?

I feel stupid lol... did some reading, realized that those are urates? Anyways, he hasnt "pooped" yet then.

Yep urates, it's just how snakes pee. Snake poop looks something like cat poo. I think your little guy will be just fine, once he plumps up, move back to one feeding every 7-10 days, but up the size of your mice as well.

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Originally Posted by lookout4theyeti

I feel stupid lol... did some reading, realized that those are urates? Anyways, he hasnt "pooped" yet then.

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That's why I asked LOL. Not that you are "stupid", just that it can be confusing for a new snake owner. As you've read those are urates, the solid form of their urine - they also pass liquid urine just like most anything does. Their feces just basically look like a cat poop to me (or somewhat like a tootsie roll which might explain why I no longer wish to eat tootsie rolls).

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Originally Posted by frankykeno

(or somewhat like a tootsie roll which might explain why I no longer wish to eat tootsie rolls).

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dammit... i love tootsie rolls too....

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Originally Posted by frankykeno

Their feces just basically look like a cat poop to me (or somewhat like a tootsie roll which might explain why I no longer wish to eat tootsie rolls).

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yeah i think about that everytime i eat tootsie rolls.

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Originally Posted by lookout4theyeti

dammit... i love tootsie rolls too....

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Wait until you've cleaned up a lot of snake "logs"....puts you right off tootsie rolls! Sort of takes the fun out of raiding my kid's halloween bags. :(

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Originally Posted by frankykeno

Wait until you've cleaned up a lot of snake "logs"....puts you right off tootsie rolls! Sort of takes the fun out of raiding my kid's halloween bags. :(

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You're weird! :P I don't tend to think of food when I'm cleaning poop! :D

Thanks Jo, I never thought of them looking like tootsie rolls and now I am sure I'll never look at another tootsie roll the same way again....I love (loved??) them too :) :)

Hello and welcome. I am glad you found your way to this site!! It was one of the best things I could have done for my snakes, becoming a member here!! Like others have said, I would just stick with your 5 day schedule for now. As long as it is eating regularly he should put on some weight in no time. Good luck with your cutie pie there!! :)

I remember Monty had one poo the very day I got him (he still seems to love to wait until I have changed his newspaper before any kind of voiding!) then nothing for several months. He was on rat pups and so there was almost nothing he couldn't digest (no hair, nails, teeth, gut full of milk only and poorly mineralised bones). As the big chains seem to often have wild caught/farmed BPs it would probably be a good idea to take a faceal smaple to a vet when he does defecate to look for parasites - just don't worry that it may take a while!

Thanks for the welcome guys...

I went and got the other hide today for the warm side. I'm gonna have to get my self a thermostat here pretty soon (even though i check his temps constantly when i get back from class and whatnot). The only problem i've been having is my humidity is low... Its been like 45-50 and i had to put an extra water dish in to get it over 50%... the back and sides of the tank have cardboard on them now (mostly to block outside light since we stay up pretty late playing xbox) but it also helps keep some heat in.. I also just recently made one for the top of the tank to go over the screen (except where the heatlamp is) and covered the bottom with foil. I have a fish aquarium light that i use during the day that doesnt really create any heat, just makes it easier to see him, so i cut out a section for that to fit in the cardboard as well. Hopefully the new top piece will trap in some humidity? well see...

i still cant get his humidity up.. any suggestions? it seems like everyone else has the problem of too much humidity...

you can try and spray it down once a week(?) and that should help with humidity.

Hi and welcome!

It's funny b/c i just said this on another thread this morning, but I had a horrible time keeping up my humidity at first. The thing that worked best for me is to put a damp towel over 2/3 of the top of the tank. I was even able to keep it above 70% during his last shed cycle and it went great! The towel will dry out over time, and you should change it out for a clean one every couple of days, but it was really no problem. I usually check on him a few times a day anyway.

Another thing you can do is move the tank to another room- the humidity in my office (where he is now) is about 5% higher than the living room (where he used to be). After I moved him I don't have to do anything to raise it unless he's in shed.

Wet towels combined with the warmth of the cage is going to create a petri-dish effect. That towel is going to harbor alot of bacteria and mold, even if it's not visible. Air is being filtered down through that towel, and your snake is breathing that in.. Ick.

I would recommend either a piece of plexiglas cut to fit the inside of your screen lid(where the screen touches the metal) or cover the lid mostly with foil and saran wrap.

The towel is just not a hygenic solution.

Your problem is the overhead lamp. They suck humidity up like there's no tomorrow. You've covered part of the lid and that's going to help some but until you ditch the overhead light you're likely going to continue to have issues with humidity.