new to ball pythons

[the_reaper]

Hello first time ball python owner here. I have a few questions. First though heres my set up. Floyd is living in a ten gallon tank. Hes about a foot long id say. Ive had him almost a week, and the store I got him at said he had eaten almost a week before the day I got him. Im running 78 on the cool side and 86-90 on the hot side. I dont know the hunidity, as I still need the tool to measure it. Im saving fir a better thermostat as I feel this zoo med one is very inconsistent.

On to my questions. Firstly, I tried feeding him a f/t pinky this morning ane he wanted nothing to do with it. I want to try feeding live but hopper mice are the smallest I can get in my area. Any suggestions? Im posting a picture of him alongside this to give a better idea of his size.

Secondly, does anyone have any suggestions as to floyds possible age?

Thanks!

[alykoz]

possibly multiple hoppers

[norwegn113]

possibly multiple hoppers

im pretty sure the op meant that hoppers were too big? I believe the order goes Pinkies,peach fuzzies,fuzzies,then hoppers, weanlings,XL, and Jumbo.

[the_reaper]

You think they will be ok? Im worried they will.be too big. How big are hoppers supposed to be?

[Velrys]

Hi Reaper,

Do you know what the store you got him from was feeding him? what store did you get him from?

I would assume unless you got him from petsmart, or some other chain store that doesnt know how to care for animals, he hasnt eaten pinkies in a while. He could just be waiting for some real food to come along. You could try just offering him some larger FT item before switching to hoppers. Not that there is anything wrong with live feeding but maybe in your area you can find a middle of the road FT.

Also, since animals that small lose heat so quickly it could be that by the time you are done heating the food to when you actually dangle it in front of your snakes face it has cooled down considerably. Just try keeping that in mind and see if it helps.

Good Luck,
Mike

[alykoz]

im pretty sure the op meant that hoppers were too big? I believe the order goes Pinkies,peach fuzzies,fuzzies,then hoppers, weanlings,XL, and Jumbo.

oh right haha. x) I'm a noob.
well I have a baby ball and she took a baby mouse like a champ! and that mouse was a pain in the ass too. tried escaping and bit my snakey she got her revenge though.

[the_reaper]

Apparantly he was fed live pinkys. Maybe that's why hes being picky. I might have to order something off the net then.

[norwegn113]

Hello first time ball python owner here. I have a few questions. First though heres my set up. Floyd is living in a ten gallon tank. Hes about a foot long id say. Ive had him almost a week, and the store I got him at said he had eaten almost a week before the day I got him. Im running 78 on the cool side and 86-90 on the hot side. I dont know the hunidity, as I still need the tool to measure it. Im saving fir a better thermostat as I feel this zoo med one is very inconsistent.

On to my questions. Firstly, I tried feeding him a f/t pinky this morning ane he wanted nothing to do with it. I want to try feeding live but hopper mice are the smallest I can get in my area. Any suggestions? Im posting a picture of him alongside this to give a better idea of his size.

Secondly, does anyone have any suggestions as to floyds possible age?

Thanks!

Rarely with ball pythons is it ever a f/t vs live issue. ( I have 7 ballies and all of them have taken to f/t prey ) I have found that is more about correct size and temp of the food offered. Ball pythons are very sensitive when it comes to the size of the food offered. A mouse that is too small will often be "passed up". On more than one occasion while mine were growing they passed on a mouse , when offered the next size up, they struck. ( having many different aged snakes comes in handy because you will always have a variety of sizes of food available) Probably most important in f/t process is temp. Ball pythons use their heat pits to seek out prey so they are very sensitive to the temp of the mice offered. Mice that are either too hot or too cold are sometimes passed by snakes with a less aggressive feeding response. An IR temp heat gun comes in very handy for checking the temps of the food. Try experimenting a bit. once you find what works for your snake , write down the results. ( one side note, dont offer food too often , this can lead to a stressed situation only further complicating things. if your snake doesnt eat for you then wait a few days before offering more. He WILL eventually eat!)

[Forrester86]

Try fuzzy mice. I fed fuzzy mice the first two feeds with me, and mine looked a lil thin like that. Now I feed 9-12g hopper mice or 10-15 % of snakes weight.

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[norwegn113]

You think they will be ok? Im worried they will.be too big. How big are hoppers supposed to be?

This is for MICE only. Pinkies = 2-2.5 grams .5-1 inch , peach fuzzies = 3-4 grams 1-1.25 inches , fuzzies = 5-7 grams 1.25-1.5 inches , hoppers 8-12 grams 1.5 - 2 inches , weanlings = 13-18 grams 2-2.5 inches , large = 19-25 grams 2.5-3 inches , XL or Jumbo = 26-45 grams 3-3.25 inches. Hope this helps a bit?