New hatchling BP

[cordell]

Hello, new here, new again to BP's. We had 3 of them 7 years ago. I wasnt to concerned with husbandry then, we ended up selling them. Now we have just purchased a hatchling, 61 grams. I am not sure on the sex of it yet, the seller (pet shop) told me they are to young. My question is the seller said that it had eaten close to a week ago. Should I feed it or let it settle for a week? He also told us that it is eating hoppers, does this sound right at 61 grams?

Thanks
cordell

[AkHerps]

You can either feed hoppers or small adult female mice. My hatchling has been doing fine on small adult female mice, a lot of breeders skip right over feeding hoppers and go straight to small mice. It's pretty hard to find places that sell live hoppers but if you can, go for it, if not, small mice work fine too.

Give the baby some time to settle in, check out the care sheet on this site and make sure you have everything right. You could try in about a week and see how it goes.

I would suggest feeding in the tank, not a separate feeding cage as you want the baby to get on a good feeding schedule without any un-needed stress.

[cordell]

So the seller told me feed in a separate container. I did not do this before with our BP's, though they were adults. I will defiantly read over the care sheet. I keep box turtles and know the care these animals require, as before we were younger and just kept them in a cage. Another concern we have is handling, should we handle it at such a young age. I am guessing yes, this way it gets used to us, right? How much is to much?

cordell

[iCandiBallPythons]

Keep handling to a very minimum for a few days to let it settle in, if they feel secure feeding should be no problem. There is no reason to feed outside the enclosure.

[AkHerps]

I give my snakes time before I start handeling them. I get them on a couple meals, then start really slow with the handeling. Maybe once or twice a week for 10-15 min. If the snake is getting fed once a week, and you can't hold them the day of feeding, and for about 2-3 days after feeding, that gives a couple days. Once I realize the snake isnt stressed by being handeled, I up it a little bit.

[seeya205]

That's funny! Cna't tell the sex because too young! You can sex a bp right after they hatch. That store did not know what they were talking about! There is alot of that! Don't feed or handle for one week! I would feed rat fuzzies myself. When you feed, if it refuses then don't handle for anothe week and keep repeating until it eats! Don't start handling until it eats a couple times! Buy your bps at shows or online from well known breeders! Stores usually are more and do not take proper car of their bps! Here is the care sheet: http://www.ball-pythons.net/modules/...warticle&id=59 Good luck and enjoy your new pet!

[Kyle@theHeathertoft]

That's funny! Cna't tell the sex because too young! You can sex a bp right after they hatch. That store did not know what they were talking about! There is alot of that!

I second this. As I've been told, popping baby snakes is actually easier than popping adults, since adults have more muscle control. Again that's just what I've been told...I'm not yet comfortable popping a snake much less probing though, I'm too worried I'll harm my beauties.

[cordell]

While in the pet store I Googled with my phone on how to sex a hatchling "popping" was the method that was being used. I figured they would have done it already, nope. The store had 50+ hatchlings @ $29.99 each. We couldnt resist! I guess it really doesnt matter, I preferred a female due to the length, but a male is fine by us Thanks for all the answers and quick responses I am sure done the road, sooner than latter I will have more questions, lol.

[pitoon]

here's a tutorial on how to sex by popping.....

http://www.unitedherps.com/Popping%20a%20snake.htm

Pitoon

[cordell]

here's a tutorial on how to sex by popping.....

http://www.unitedherps.com/Popping%20a%20snake.htm

Pitoon

The link shows a adult male, a hatling male will be the same on a smaller scale right? What does the female look like? Remember I am a n00b, LOL