Adopted an unkown ball python

[Nick6969]

Alright ill try to make this short this is my first post, i adopted this ball python that was left in a house when the people moved the new residents didnt know what to do with it i said id take it, the tank its in looks small to me this is my 2nd snake once had a corn that died at 7/8 yrs old but i have many questions and hooe some can be answered, how old would you gestimate he/she is , what gender or will i have to go to a vet for that one , does he/she look healthy and is the cage setup decent for a couple months 3 or 4 then ill get him a bigger one and better hides because the hide he has is for a cornsnake lol lifted it on a log and a rock. Thanks for the help. I just want to acquire the right knowledge from exeprienced ppl not just someone talkin to talk. Wont let me post pics but thatll be fixed in comment ill try comenting them

[Stewart_Reptiles]

One thing is certain you can neither determine the age by size or based on a picture nor can you determine the gender so even if you were providing either it would be impossible to tell.

Understand that size may vary a poor feeder can be 200 grams at a year a strong feeder can be that much at 3 months just like a strong feeder can be 1000 grams by the time it reaches a year.

You will also see some 4000 grams animals that are 6 years and some of the same age in the 2500 grams genetics and feeding or lack there of all play a part.

As for sexing while female gets bigger some male can get pretty big too, and if the female was not care for properly it may have remain small so the option here is to have the animal popped or probed it will depend on the size of the animal and experience of the person doing it, some people have a hard time popping larger animals.

So basically unless the animal is around 60/80 grams you have a BP that is anywhere from 1 to 30 years old and you have a 50/50 chance on the gender.

[Nick6969]

[Nick6969]

[sufficio]

It's hard to tell from the photos alone how big the snake is, could you weigh them and try to measure their length?

Also how are you heating the tank? The snake doesn't look unhealthy, it looks a healthy-ish weight and no stuck shed from what I can see.

[Nick6969]

The tank has a heat mat about 6by6inchs under his hide he shed when he was brought to my home eye caps are off for the length and weight i will get back to you on that also should i try popping it to know what sex it is or is it to old and i should go to a vet to get it probed

[Ronniex2]

I applaudyou! Thanks for stepping up when someone decided it was too much to take careof an animal they brought into their home.

That beingsaid it looks like glass terrarium you have him/her in, if so the humidity willbe an issue if you going to keep him in there for now, if it has not been alreadyhandled. Card board/wooden plank, I used a cutting board for a while till I figuredit out lol.. Wrapped in foil or I wrapped in shrink wrap over my screen meshtop, but that would be depending on your heat source if you using CTH as well. Iwill go with your last response and assume you just using UTH so you would befine.

Yousaid he had shed issues when you received him, just an FYI until you get his permanenthome (I’m just gona call it a “him”) especially in a glassenclosure, misting is crucial, as well as a big water bowl, wide… good substrate co-co nut husk I see .. & as Deb saidsex and age would be best determined by a more experienced person, who can physicallydo the “popping”, for someone who has never done this, it can causeserious injury to your snake and IMO, would not be worth the risk .. it is not importantif you do not intend to mate …but then genes becomes yournext question n on that MORE pic of this beautiful looking normal?, I see lil reducedpattern very little to indicate other wise unless you want to elaborate on hismorph, but I am not your gene ID guy lol… I’m just a friendly FYI tohelp you better communicate as more experienced members will want to know moredetails far as:
temps, humidity, feeding, poop, handling, weight,etc. and also the Vet if you end up wanting to find out more about your animal.So just get as much details as you can from his previous owners and keep upwith his stats if you haven’t already started a log andall that, hopefully he will be just fine in your care… good luck!!

[SMTHook]

Surprised it's owner left it behind. If you showed the pictures without the story, I'd think the owner loved and cared for it. (despite some apparent husbandry issues)

[Nick6969]

I have the heat mat and a 150watt light bcause the tank is hig a have a thermometer light is on 12/12 cycle i spray it with a mist bottle 2 times a day his bowl is a gog bowl that i taped to the bottom making sure no tape could touche the snake of course he ate 2 times i feed him once then 12 days after the meals are small rats petshop dnt have bigger. His shed went fine, top of his head looks dry when lookin at him one way and normal when you look. Closer its weird, as for the morph im pretty sure its a normal one but was curious to know

[Nick6969]

And also the substrate is those wood chunks or whatever dnt know the name but know its better than aspen as they swollow aspen and this they dont also with some dirt/sand looking thing i mixed with it to keep humidity i also have a curiosity question for a vet her in canada how much would it cost to get it sexed and evaluated health side