figuring out my baby

[gaplastina]

I need some advice trying to figure out my baby... I've had him for a few months and have been struggling to get him on a regular feeding schedule on the proper food.

- He went thru a bad shed when I first brought him home - retained eye caps.
- During that period, he would eat on occasion and only hopper mice. He would not eat any of the rat pups I offered, even though they were a more appropriate size. Every time I would offer a rat, he would display defensive behavior and hide.
- After a second bad shed, I took him to the vet who helped me get the eye caps off and he also gave him a vitamin shot as he was a bit under weight (115 gm).
- Now he seems to be hungry all the time.
- I fed him 2 hoppers on 12/3 and again on 12/8. I did the hoppers because I really wanted to get some food in him and he had always turned his nose away from rats. After the 12/8 feed, he sat with his head out of his hide like he wanted more.
- Yesterday, I went to hold him after giving him a couple days to digest. He was sitting with his head out of the hide and his wobble started - exactly like he does when he's looking for food. He actually tried to strike at me through the glass - I totally believe this was hunting/eating behavior. I then offered him a rat pup even though he had just eaten 2 days ago. He ate it SO fast... this was his first rat.
- Now today, he is again hovering with his head out of his hide looking like he wants to eat. When I lift up the towel to see him, he starts to wobble again and track me. Again, it looks to me like hunting/eating behavior.

My question is, should I offer him food again today? Maybe tomorrow? I know he hasn't been eating well since I brought him home, so I'm happy to see that he's interested in food again. It's been over a week since I've been able to handle him because I don't want to handle him 48 hours after eating.

I feel like if he's displaying these types of hunting/eating behaviors, then he's probably still hungry. My thoughts are I should perhaps give him a rat every other day until these behaviors stop. I don't like him going this long without being handled, but when he seems to clearly want food, I don't want my hand to become his target. A hungry snake is not going to be a happy snake to handle.

Any advice? Should I offer every day? My feeling is that he's playing catch up after 2 months of eating so poorly, but I'm not sure how to find the balance.

TIA.

[200xth]

Are you sure the food is the correct size? It should be around as big as the snake is wide at his widest point. If you have a scale, you can weigh him and the food with a general target of 10% to 15%.

If he is around 115g though, you can feed him every 3 or 4 days. They will eat a lot at that size since they're trying to outgrow the "I'm breakfast for everyone" stage of life as fast as they can.

[AlexisFitzy]

I'm going to try an help the best I can but my answers are not absolute so hopefully more people will chime in to balance things out. I have a snake that started of like yours, mine didn't eat the first month that I had him and once he did start eating I had to feed him mice hoppers because he wouldn't take rats yet. He was extremely defensive and would strike at me all the time and actually bit me a couple times. I would say to hold off on handling for a while and since he's showing signs of wanting to eat get him on feeding schedule. Mine would eat everyday if I offered but he doesn't need to be fed everyday or every other day. Every 4-5 days for a hatchling ball python is good. And once he gets on a good schedule and settles in more he will be a lot easier to handle because he will know when food is coming and when it's time to be handled especially now that he's eating rats a rat pup will be good for him every 4-5 days. Hope this is helpful and more people chime in. If anything in here is wrong someone please correct me lol. Oh almost forgot! What is your set up like? Is he in a tank or rack system? How are you measuring temps and humidity? Just wondering so we can help with the snakes shedding issues. Bad sheds means the humidity is too low. So if you tell us what your set up is like we can try and help you even more


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[gaplastina]

Are you sure the food is the correct size? It should be around as big as the snake is wide at his widest point. If you have a scale, you can weigh him and the food with a general target of 10% to 15%.

If he is around 115g though, you can feed him every 3 or 4 days. They will eat a lot at that size since they're trying to outgrow the "I'm breakfast for everyone" stage of life as fast as they can.

The hoppers are WAY too small. The rat fuzzies are the next size up (I get my rodents from rodentpro.com). They may still be a tad small, but since he's only eaten hoppers before now, I didn't want to push it too much. I do have the next size up as well. The rat pups are probably the size he should be at. But again, after only eating mice hoppers, I didn't want to bump him up 2 sizes.

I'm going to try an help the best I can but my answers are not absolute so hopefully more people will chime in to balance things out. I have a snake that started of like yours, mine didn't eat the first month that I had him and once he did start eating I had to feed him mice hoppers because he wouldn't take rats yet. He was extremely defensive and would strike at me all the time and actually bit me a couple times. I would say to hold off on handling for a while and since he's showing signs of wanting to eat get him on feeding schedule. Mine would eat everyday if I offered but he doesn't need to be fed everyday or every other day. Every 4-5 days for a hatchling ball python is good. And once he gets on a good schedule and settles in more he will be a lot easier to handle because he will know when food is coming and when it's time to be handled especially now that he's eating rats a rat pup will be good for him every 4-5 days. Hope this is helpful and more people chime in. If anything in here is wrong someone please correct me lol. Oh almost forgot! What is your set up like? Is he in a tank or rack system? How are you measuring temps and humidity? Just wondering so we can help with the snakes shedding issues. Bad sheds means the humidity is too low. So if you tell us what your set up is like we can try and help you even more

Before he started eating like this, he was handling fine. It's just been the past week - kindof like he's realizing he likes food and wants more... LOL... So maybe I should shoot for every 4 days?
My set up is a tank - I know I'm struggling to get the correct humidity. He was going into shed when I bought him, but the second bad shed was totally on me. I believe my issue is the screen cover and heat lamps. I don't think my UTH is working well, so I had to kick up the lamps to get the heat correct, which I know is drying out my humidity. My temps are correct, but the humidity is in the crapper. I've actually just got a new UTH, thermostat, and some other goodies to work on the humidity issues I just haven't gotten to fix the tank yet. Was going to try and work on it yesterday when he decided he wanted to eat again.

[200xth]

The hoppers are WAY too small. The rat fuzzies are the next size up (I get my rodents from rodentpro.com). They may still be a tad small, but since he's only eaten hoppers before now, I didn't want to push it too much. I do have the next size up as well. The rat pups are probably the size he should be at. But again, after only eating mice hoppers, I didn't want to bump him up 2 sizes.

From what I read he's taking the rat pups now (or at least, he took one and ate it quickly). He should be fine eating those now every 4 or 5 days for a while. You don't want to feed him every other day for long periods, that is too often. Most people do 4 or 5 days up to 7 days. Your guy is hungry. Personally, I would just give him a rat pup every 4 days until he reaches 200g then switch him to 5 days for a while. This is all dependent on it being the correct size, of course.

[AlexisFitzy]

Before he started eating like this, he was handling fine. It's just been the past week - kindof like he's realizing he likes food and wants more... LOL... So maybe I should shoot for every 4 days?

My set up is a tank - I know I'm struggling to get the correct humidity. He was going into shed when I bought him, but the second bad shed was totally on me. I believe my issue is the screen cover and heat lamps. I don't think my UTH is working well, so I had to kick up the lamps to get the heat correct, which I know is drying out my humidity. My temps are correct, but the humidity is in the crapper. I've actually just got a new UTH, thermostat, and some other goodies to work on the humidity issues I just haven't gotten to fix the tank yet. Was going to try and work on it yesterday when he decided he wanted to eat again.

Haha yeah mine was like that too! Lol but definitely get him on a feeding schedule of either 4 or 5 days whatever works best. And keep handling to a minimum maybe once a week so you don't stress him out and he'll keep eating for you. But handling him for just a little while will get him used to you and should help a lot.

I have a tank set up too that I'm about to change over to T8's to get rid of heating and humidity issues. But for a quick fix you can mist the tank when you see them going into shed or put a damp towel over part of the screen so humidity doesn't go through the top. There's also a thread on here about wrapping up the screen top so you won't lose heat and humidity. If I can find it I'll post a link to it for you


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[NYHC4LIFE8899]

My little BPs the same way with food,he will eat rat pups,but it can take him hours on end sometimes,others he won't and others he will strike in seconds. Now put a mouse near him,done deal within seconds he strikes.

my ghost is about 360 grams and can eat a small rat,but I feed him fairly large weanling rats.

my black pastel is about 100 grams and is eating rat pups/small mice.

Feed according to the fattest part of the snakes body..don't stress yourself about weighing the prey,it's just a way to drive your self crazy. Just eyeball,snakes fattest girth and find a rat or mouse accordingly,even a little bigger then the snakes fattest part is fine. It's that simple..simple simple simple,why make things a hassle I just don't get it.