help please ASAP

I have a 06/08 Male Pied, he has been perfectly fine, I moved him to a new 10 gallon Friday, also fed him in another container on friday, and he ate great, he did not eat another mouse right after though as he normally does. Since he has been in his new tank, he has been acting differently, whenever I pick him up, he does not "latch" or hold me as tight anymore, like he is just weak or something, although he has been very active, he seems like he is not as tight skinned anymore, whenever he bends he gets wrinkles, big wrinkles on his body. I do not think he is going into shed, his belly is pink, and he has a few rough spots on his sides, but thats about it. I have tried feeding him again, he strikes but does not grab a hold of the rodent, and sometimes he acts scared of it.

Note : I have not seem any mites at all.

Sounds like hes dehydrated, does he have access to fresh, clean water? As for the belly, any pics?

i will go get a picture for you, his belly is a little pink, and yes, he has water, I seen him drink last night for a few seconds, picture on the way

Hmm, I agree that sounds like dehydration. What's his humidity like? It could be external rather than internal.

And pink belly is usually the early sign of a shed. That's probably contributing to it. Pics would be quite helpful.

http://img143.imageshack.us/img143/6...0320fd5.th.jpg
http://img179.imageshack.us/img179/3/img0321jk0.th.jpg
http://img143.imageshack.us/img143/8...0325vi7.th.jpg
http://img403.imageshack.us/img403/6...0323pk2.th.jpg
http://img403.imageshack.us/img403/2...0324cu8.th.jpg This picture shows the wrinkles, he also doesn't seem as full bodied as 3 days ago.

Right now, humidity is at 67

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Originally Posted by defuze

I have a 06/08 Male Pied

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after looking at the pictures what did you mean by pied??

sounds like hes just really stressed out i have heard from people that glass tanks can do that to a ball don't know if its true but it seem that way for my ball also don't know how the tanks setup but first one did that when after trying to climb to the top and fell a couple times and i took him to the vet and he broke his ribs there still messed up cause it was the first snake i had and didn't think about going tot he vet for a couple months so that maybe be something trying felling his sides all the way down and see if he has any not normal bumps.

just trying to help

Does he have plenty of hides? You might want to bump up the humidity, since he's getting ready to shed.
I wondered too about the 'pied', did you mean het pied?
Have you weighed him? Has he lost weight?

he is 66% het piebald, i forgot to add that .... but ya he has 1 hide, but the past 2 days, I have found him snuggly behind bowl, in the corner. I don't know what that means. So, you guys don't think it is anything serious? I will lay a wet towl on 1 side for the next few days. Any advice, I would appreciate. The only thing that worries me is, when I hold him, he just does not "hold on tight" anymore, before I could barely move him, not he is just...mushy I guess. Active though, just feels different when I hold him, but as far as weight, not that I can tell, just like I said, he doesn't seem as tightly wrapped.

Here is a sticky regarding setting up glass tanks: http://www.ball-pythons.net/forums/s...ad.php?t=56846. I think that if you read this through, and address some husbandry areas (like needing two hides) your snake will more than likely return to his typical self. :)

I actually ordered another one already from reptilesupply, along with a new thermostat, mine is not working like it should

If your really worried about him, take him to a vet. Noone on here can tell you what is wrong with out actually seeing the snake in person.

But, from what you have said, it does sound like he is getting ready to shed. I know my girl gets pretty 'loose skinned' feeling just before a shed. If he was just born in June, he very well may be shedding again now. They grow pretty quickly when they are little and because of that will shed fairly often.

Well, thanks for your help. He seems he may be shedding soon, I hope so anyway. I guess that would be another reason he isn't wanting to eat also. He strikes, but he doesn't grab them

Can you improvise a make-shift hide in the mean time? Maybe 2 little plastic bowls that you cut a little door into? This would help your snake a lot.

Also, how are you measuring temps while waiting for your new one to come in?

Lastly, please read the sticky that Cassandra wrote up. It is SO good and informative and any of the little tricks (like covering the sides and back of the tank with something dark) will only increase your snake's sense of security. :)

the sides and back of the tank are covered with black construction paper on the outside, and yes, I can make another hide, only problem with that is, a 10 gallon doesnt have alot of room

temps are checked with 2 thermometers, its my thermostat that doesn't work, but yes, I do check my temps often

That's what you want the snake to perceive: a closed space with very little room for anything but the snake ;)

If you could devise 2 hides that are similar (identical even) until you get the ones from RBI, it would be great!! Remember, little bitty hides.... :P

I asked about monitoring the temps because heat sources running at full throttle can get too hot for the snake :)

Well, its a 80 degree room at all times. I have a 5 gallon heat pad which normally runs the warm side about 91, and cool 86ish, I turn them off at night, at night he goes behind his water on the cool side, guess thats what he likes. I run the basking light for 3 hours a day, when the light comes on, pad goes off. I actually going to be no longer using the light, since he usually goes to the other side. I have a 10-20 gallon pad ordered, 2 digital thermometers, 2 small hides, and a small water bowl, and a thermostat, should actually be here Monday sometime via FedEx. But after looking at pictures of other bp's ... it seems most snakes skin folds at bends like mine does. I guess I just noticed it. But like I said, he does seem to be a softer than usually, hopefully you guys are right, and he is starting to shed , his last shed date was June 18th btw if anyone was wondering

Yes, the pink belly is an early indicator of a coming shed :)

Monday will be a very fun day for you! :D

Any advice on feeding? I fed him Friday, but him in a plastic bin,and he snatched a hopper up within 10 seconds. He did not take to the 2nd one, I gave him 2 because the breeder was feeding him rat fuzzies. Anyway, he didn't eat it, and I have tried 1-2 times a day, since then, and he has struck about 3 times, but never grabbed it. Thinking maybe its his shedding

With my snakes, I always wait until the next feeding time if the snake refuses. So, I feed Thursday night and one of my snakes refused (he;s in deep blue.) So now he gets to wait until next Thursday. It has been my experience that offering day after day (or several times in one day) only stresses out the snake; maybe why yours might be defensively biting the prey. Are you feeding every 5 days since yours is so little? Also, did you also order a gram scale from RBI? They are handy husbandry tools to have around!!

HAHA, I was actually placing another order now, Thanks for reminding me about a scale. Also, is there any place that sales live rodents online? Petsmart does not sell live, they sale frozen, and we have no Petco, plus I dont feel like getting mites from them. The closest person that sales live is about a hour away.

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Originally Posted by defuze

HAHA, I was actually placing another order now, Thanks for reminding me about a scale. Also, is there any place that sales live rodents online? Petsmart does not sell live, they sale frozen, and we have no Petco, plus I dont feel like getting mites from them. The closest person that sales live is about a hour away.

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Where abouts do you live?
There may be more petstores than you think. There were two hidden petstores in my area that I had no idea existed until recently.
Petsmart should sell mice, but I don't think you can tell them its a for feeding as they want them to be pets only..

I live in North Carolina. And the PetsMart here only sales Hamsters, Ferrets and Gerbils, and a few chinchillas

Hmmm, well, I live in Oregon and have no idea what goes on in NC these days! :P

If you wanted to switch over to frozen, I recommend The Mouse Factory. They are very awesome people and their product is beyond compare :)

Quote:

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Originally Posted by defuze

Well, its a 80 degree room at all times. I have a 5 gallon heat pad which normally runs the warm side about 91, and cool 86ish, I turn them off at night, at night he goes behind his water on the cool side, guess thats what he likes. I run the basking light for 3 hours a day, when the light comes on, pad goes off. I actually going to be no longer using the light, since he usually goes to the other side. I have a 10-20 gallon pad ordered, 2 digital thermometers, 2 small hides, and a small water bowl, and a thermostat, should actually be here Monday sometime via FedEx. But after looking at pictures of other bp's ... it seems most snakes skin folds at bends like mine does. I guess I just noticed it. But like I said, he does seem to be a softer than usually, hopefully you guys are right, and he is starting to shed , his last shed date was June 18th btw if anyone was wondering

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Hi,

I'm a little puzzled - why do you turn the heat pads off at night?

It might be worth trying to experiment a bit to see if you can get the temps to 80-83 cool side and 90-93 warm side ( possibly using a combination of the light and heatpad? ). How much of the 10 gallon is sitting on the heat pad at the moment?

He should get enough ambient light from the room and there's no reason to give him a night time drop unless its for breeding. :)


dr del

Hello. I will just chime in here and see if I can be helpful. I don't know what part of NC you live in, but I know of stores/places where you could get live feeders in and around Raleigh and High Point. You may not be anywhere near any of those places, but I recommend looking at the yellow pages in your phone book and seeing if there are any pet stores listed there you don't know of. Good luck, you have a nice looking baby!

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Originally Posted by PythonChick

Hello. I will just chime in here and see if I can be helpful. I don't know what part of NC you live in, but I know of stores/places where you could get live feeders in and around Raleigh and High Point. You may not be anywhere near any of those places, but I recommend looking at the yellow pages in your phone book and seeing if there are any pet stores listed there you don't know of. Good luck, you have a nice looking baby!

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I actually live in Goldsboro, about 1 hour from Raleigh, I know 2 places in Raleigh that sell live. I might make 1 trip a month, and buy what I need at one time.

The store I use in Raleigh is actually on the Garner side of Raleigh, so that might be more close to Goldsboro than some other places in Raleigh. I wouldn't give up though, there has to be something closer.

Well, my red tails eat frozen, so I MIGHT try to start him on frozen so I could just order from my usual place.

I would say getting him on frozen eventually would be a great idea. I am planning to switch mine over as soon as I move again at the end of the summer.

Looks to me like hes gonna shed soon thats how all mine get.