Newb with pics

[guntersxr]

hey everyone, im a new snake owner. i have 2 young ball pythons. they were brought to my veterinary practice on the brink of death and were surrendered. ive studied the care of snakes for a long time so im fairly confident i can care for them properly. here are a picture of them. sorry no wild colors but both snakes are very sweet and good eaters. great to be here.
George is the one up front and sally is in the back.

[Kaorte]

Welcome! It is nice to hear that someone is taking in a couple rescues

I do have a few suggestions that could help give George and Sally a more comfortable and happy life.

First of all, it is a general consensus that these snakes are not social animals and receive no benefit from being housed together. Often times, one snake will go off feed while the other will take off and grow quickly, the other slugging behind. Not to mention if one gets sick, they both get sick. If one has internal parasites, you would have to do two fecals and treat both snakes. If they are in fact male and female, breeding at a young age is also something to worry about.

It is in yours and the snakes best interest to separate them.

Also, I would get them some different hides. Ball pythons are super shy snakes and enjoy hiding ALL THE TIME! Hides don't have to be expensive. I use plastic cereal bowls from the dollar store (4 for $1) and cut a hole in the side as an entrance.

Also, I can't see from the picture how you are heating the tank, measuring temps, or controlling your heat source so I will do a quick run down of the cheapest and easiest method. An under tank heater is best with these guys since they are ground dwelling animals. If you use an under tank heater (UTH) you must use it with a reptile thermostat to prevent thermal burns. The reptitemp 500r is an inexpensive unit but hard to find in stores. There are many for sale online. You also want to accurately measure the temperatures in the tank. An Accurite weather station from the home depot, lowes, or walmart, does a great job of taking all the measurements you need. It is only $12 and you only need one per setup.

They are beautiful little ones! and ps, looks like George is going into shed so make sure to keep your humidity around 70% to prevent stuck shed.

Good luck with them!

[mr. s]

How nice to come across a couple beautiful snakes.
Gunter, my friend, I think you may find that the general snake keeping community is seriously against keeping snakes together for a number of reasons. I would guess that being a new snake keeper, you don't know this yet. I'd read up a bit more on the subject if I were you.
Concerning husbandry, there is always more to learn. You are going to want at least 2 hides, one on the warm side and one on the cold. Other than that, I would assume you know the rest since you have been doing research. Best of luck.

[guntersxr]

thank you so much for the information. i have already sepperated them. i am in fact a veterinary technician but ive never worked with exotics. the fact that the head doctor at my practice is deathly afraid of snakes may have something to do with that. im actually trying to get part time work at an exotic practice to learn more about caring for them on a medical level. i do have a UTH as well as a heat lamp. ive heard several suggestion on what is the best temp for them. please tell me what is correct. also the research i have done is more along the lines of thier health care so any additional pointers would be greatly appreciated. thanks again both of you for your help.

[Falconsmith]

This caresheet should answer everything with good info:

http://ball-pythons.net/modules/Sect...warticle&id=59

I'm glad you could care for them when someone else couldn't!

[stratus_020202]

They do look healthy overall. It's nice to know they are in good hands.

Welcome to the addiction.

[guntersxr]

ive actually found sally a new home, but george is too awesome of a snake to let go. you can touch his face his neck, he dosnt care. back when he was a patient at the hospital ive removed his eye caps on more than one occation and he was cool with it. hes very active and dosnt seem very shy. i guess i just got lucky. george is about to shed, and his feeding day is tomorrow, should i still offer it to him?

[guntersxr]

heres another pic, taken the same night.

[Kaorte]

ive actually found sally a new home, but george is too awesome of a snake to let go. you can touch his face his neck, he dosnt care. back when he was a patient at the hospital ive removed his eye caps on more than one occation and he was cool with it. hes very active and dosnt seem very shy. i guess i just got lucky. george is about to shed, and his feeding day is tomorrow, should i still offer it to him?

I offer food to all my snakes even if they are in shed. Most of them will eat fine during shed

[guntersxr]

ok, i just fed both of them, they grabbed and suffocated the mice immediately. oddly enough its taking both of them 45 minutes so far to get them down. theyre still trying but havnt even passed the first legs yet. what should i do? continue to wait?