New baby BP - Dannie

[Klogue1]

Seems like a unisex name to me, but kind of hoping it's a female So, here as some pics of my first ball python!

She is 104 grams as of yesterday, but I didn't take a picture. I would remeasure again but she just ate and is being moody when I walk by haha.

I got her from a local family-owned pet store with whom my family is friends with and we know they buy from breeders, but we do not know the birth date or age. She seems to be hatchling or young juvenile though, according to weight. The people there gave us 6 free frozen fuzzy mice; I think these are a teeny bit small for her right now so I've fed her two, and she's already eaten both! I will wait a week to feed again though.







Fuzzy #1


Fuzzy #2


She had some trouble getting it in her mouth with the first strike, from the position she's in, in the picture. So she had to spit it out and retry. It did worry me a bit when she spit it out, so when she had it all out, I waved it around a little more and she struck again.







And finally, the setup!





On the thermometer, basking spot temps are on the top (91*), cool side temps on the bottom left (77*) and humidity is 48%.
I use an exo terra heatwave dessert mat small under a 10 gallon critter cage tank, which covers approx. half the tank, and I have it on a repti-temp thermostat

Sorry guys for all of the pictures, I hope there's no rules about something like that, I couldn't find any... if there are, I will take a lot of them down so as not to take up space or anything

And sorry about the quality. Had to take them with my iPhone asmy camera quit on me

[Klogue1]

Oh, also the reason the probe for the thermometer is just outside the hide, is because for some reason it tends to read higher inside the hide, about 2-3 degrees higher, so to get a more accurate reading of the floor heat and not also ambient heat inside the hide, I place it on top of the UTH side but outside the hide. But inside the hide the ambient + floor heat stays around 94~ish? I hope that's ok or should I lower the thermostat?

[Theron]

That temp should be fine...nice looking setup too
It shouldn't be a problem to polish off the rest of those mouse fuzzies, but at 100 something grams, I'd try to get ahold of either rat fuzzies, or small adult mice. (I prefer rats, because they seem to get size on the snake faster, and are better for them) Either one of those should be about 10-15% of his body weight which is a safe way to make sure you are feeding an appropriate size feeder

Welcome to the forum too! It's an addiction mind you, I have picked up 5 already..in like a month, and built a rack! It's a great addiction to have though, and I hope you enjoy it!

[Klogue1]

Haha thank you very much for the praise!! Makes me feel good knowing I haven't messed a lot of it up (I'm sure I made a mistake somewhere, but hey, we all do! it's probably not a huge, life threatening one anyways).

Thank you for the tip on feeder sizes, I have read a lot on how determining feeder sizes it's best to go by the thickness of the thickest part of the snake and it should be bigger than or almost the same size as the thickest part of the prey item. I will now take your tip into consideration as well when choosing a good prey item.

I've also got a 20 gallon and 40 gallon breeder for when she gets bigger, as well as a large exo-terra heatwave UTH (I really like those haha, they work quite well for me) that covers 1/3 of the 40 gallon enclosure.

[Theron]

Make sure to keep an eye on the ambient humidity in there too...I know tanks are nice looking but in some areas of the country are impossible to keep good humidity. If you start to have issues try covering a portion of the screen lid with foil, or even get a piece of plexiglass cut to fit inside the lip of the tank. The lid would still fit over it, and it would help with some humidity.

Some people recommend damp towels, but you have to keep them wet all the time. If they dry out, they will just suck even more moisture out...

Have fun with him/her =)

[Klogue1]

Thanks a bunch! I actually have a towel over the majority of the lid, but I don't think you can see it in the picture. I mist the paper towels every once in a while too but it tends to stay fairly constant. Hopefully I can keep it that way

However I will think about changing to foil like you said, as it probably wouldn't suck the humidity out like the towels.

[Missy_Misfit]

Welcome ,Congratulations shes gorgeous !
And x 2 on everything Theron said , I also like rats better and also about the big tanks, I had so much trouble trying to keep ambient temps and humidity right in them i ended up switching to tubs, and now my snakes seem happier and i know i am lol and they are DEFINETLEY addictive haha
There are no rules on too many pictures, i know i love to look at them anyway, sure others do too ! Glad shes eating good for you and everything is going well

[Klogue1]

Thank you very much Missy ^_^

[bivman]

Seems like a unisex name to me, but kind of hoping it's a female So, here as some pics of my first ball python!

She is 104 grams as of yesterday, but I didn't take a picture. I would remeasure again but she just ate and is being moody when I walk by haha.

I got her from a local family-owned pet store with whom my family is friends with and we know they buy from breeders, but we do not know the birth date or age. She seems to be hatchling or young juvenile though, according to weight. The people there gave us 6 free frozen fuzzy mice; I think these are a teeny bit small for her right now so I've fed her two, and she's already eaten both! I will wait a week to feed again though.







Fuzzy #1


Fuzzy #2


She had some trouble getting it in her mouth with the first strike, from the position she's in, in the picture. So she had to spit it out and retry. It did worry me a bit when she spit it out, so when she had it all out, I waved it around a little more and she struck again.







And finally, the setup!





On the thermometer, basking spot temps are on the top (91*), cool side temps on the bottom left (77*) and humidity is 48%.
I use an exo terra heatwave dessert mat small under a 10 gallon critter cage tank, which covers approx. half the tank, and I have it on a repti-temp thermostat

Sorry guys for all of the pictures, I hope there's no rules about something like that, I couldn't find any... if there are, I will take a lot of them down so as not to take up space or anything

And sorry about the quality. Had to take them with my iPhone asmy camera quit on me

Bigger prey and bump feedings up to every 5 days for a while. Cute snake..

[DellaF]

Pretty little BP. They can be very entertaining when they eat. Mine sometimes coil to much and it's like ok how am I gonna eat this thing now.