Got my first Curtus!!

[Kroberts10]

I got my first little short tail today. She's a 105 gram Breitensteini. The guy I got her from said that she's 2 month old and seems pretty calm right now. I had her out for a few minutes handling her. She gave me a good nip when I first unboxed her, which is understandable after riding around in a truck for 24 hours. Then she calmed right down and started exploring around my arms, and was even curious about my beard.

I was hoping she was big enough to handle the mice I have tht my ball pythons outgrew. But she's not quite there yet. She's 105 gram and the mice average 18 gram. So those will have to wait. The people said she was taking frozen thawed small mice. I'm wondering if it is worth trying to swap her to rats after she acclimated after the shift. If so, what would be a good rat size to get her on? I'm thinking some small fuzzy rats would be perfect for this time. But I'm not exactly sure of what size to feed her at this point in life. I have a pretty good idea for when they are larger. With the short tails having a slower metabolism than balls, do I still follow the 10% guidline while small, or do they recqire a bit smaller. I just got her today and will give her a good week or so to acclimate before trying to feed her. So I have time to get the proper sized food she needs.

I know her tub is WAY to big right now, I was wanting to get a larger individual but he wasn't available. So I'm cluttering up the large tub with lots of paper towel and lots of hides, which I need to get more of. and hoping she will like it. I did that with two of my balls at about that size and they did fine, so I'm hoping she will.

Well time for a few pictures, more will come when she gets comfortable.

Kyle


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[ashleymarie]

Shes pretty!! She may enjoy a dig box too!

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[Kroberts10]

Thank you. I love her colors myself.
Do you think some sphagnum moss would be good for a medium in the dig box? And I'm guessing the medium should be slightly damp but not really wet


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[ashleymarie]

Sphagnum moss would work. I use cypress mulch from Zoo Med bc its cheaper than moss.

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[DennisM]

FYI, breitensteini is no longer classified as python curtus. The three subspecies of p. curtus have long since been reclassified as separate species. P.brongersmai, p.breitensteini and p.curtus.

which will do absolutely nothing to diminish your enjoyment of your new snake.

[Kroberts10]

That's good to know, I had no idea they were reclassified. I knew they were classified as seperate species. I thought they all still had Curtus in the name. I suppose I'll be correcting that from now on. Thanks for the update.


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[Kroberts10]

the little girl likes her dig box I gave her. I left her with it over night and she didn't go near it. So I put her down in it and she started to check it out right away. I left for an hour then can back to check on her and she was buried down with her head sticking out the hole, just waiting to ambush.

Kyle




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[AriSilvermoon]

the little girl likes her dig box I gave her. I left her with it over night and she didn't go near it. So I put her down in it and she started to check it out right away. I left for an hour then can back to check on her and she was buried down with her head sticking out the hole, just waiting to ambush.

Kyle




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this is such a cool idea I'm going to go shopping tomorrow to make one for my new male I got this evening! Beautiful female congrats!

[Fraido]

Hooray! Excellent choice! 😄

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[Kroberts10]

Apparently she's happy with her new home. She was poised in her digging tub like she was hungry, so I thawed her out a hooper mouse while thawing food for the ball pythons. She took it with no hesitation at all. I know it was a little soon after getting her, but if she's poised and looks ready, why not. I wish I would've taken a picture of her first meal here, but too late now.

Kyle


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