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  1. #1
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    Ball Python too skinny?

    Hello all,

    Just got my first ball python 4 days ago and well, he looks too skinny. He is approximately 1 month old (Unsure of weight atm) and so far has eaten two pinkys in that time. The first day I brought him home he ate, and today he took another with great response. Now I do plan on weighing him for aprox food size, but the pinky mice look to be about the size of the widest part of his abdomen. Obviously, if he is too skinny, I understand he will need bigger food. I was hoping someone could take a gander at him and see if he looks unhealthy. What worry's me most is the crinkles in his skin when he moves and his sunken in mouth.

    Other than that, he seems happy. He moves around for an hour or so every other night and spends the other time in two of his three hides. I try to maintain an 80F ambient temp (90 basking/78 cold side) and a humidity of about 60%. He has a lamp, pad and reptifoger all attached to a thermostat and even a nanny cam (Over protective pet owner here) so I can check on him at work.

    Also one of him swallowing just because.

    Thanks!

    https://imgur.com/a/lpSZP0H

  2. #2
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    Re: Ball Python too skinny?

    Hello and welcome to the forum and the wonderful world of snake keeping!!!
    Your BP doesn't look to skinny, but could definitely add some weight.

    Unfortunately, pinky mice are not BP food. They are WAY too small. They eat hoppers right out of the egg for their first few meals. Typically only 3-5 meals. And quickly move up to small adult mice.

    You'll need to get some appropriately sized prey for your new pet.
    There are two general rules of thumb for feeding juvenile BPs.
    1) the prey item should be approx 10-15% of the snakes weight.
    2) the prey item should be about the same size around as the snake at its widest point. Widest point, not head, not neck, but widest point.

    This chart should help:


    Sent from my SM-J327T1 using Tapatalk

  3. The Following 4 Users Say Thank You to Craiga 01453 For This Useful Post:

    MissterDog (09-21-2018),PhilyD (09-21-2018),rufretic (09-21-2018),ryu80 (09-21-2018)

  4. #3
    BPnet Senior Member rufretic's Avatar
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    Nice post Craig, not much to add on that about feeding.
    But about the wrinkled skin, that’s not because he is too skinny, it’s because he either has stuck shed or needs to shed but is too dry. It happens if they get past the point of when they should shed usually because the humidity is too low. Get your humidity up by misting his cage daily. That alone may be enough to get him to shed on his own but if he still has issues shedding then do some research on stuck shed and you’ll find tons of info, it’s very common for new snake owners.
    Congrats on the new snake and good luck.

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    Re: Ball Python too skinny?

    Quote Originally Posted by rufretic View Post
    Nice post Craig, not much to add on that about feeding.
    But about the wrinkled skin, that’s not because he is too skinny, it’s because he either has stuck shed or needs to shed but is too dry. It happens if they get past the point of when they should shed usually because the humidity is too low. Get your humidity up by misting his cage daily. That alone may be enough to get him to shed on his own but if he still has issues shedding then do some research on stuck shed and you’ll find tons of info, it’s very common for new snake owners.
    Congrats on the new snake and good luck.
    Although this may be true, simple dehydration may be to blame as well. Without knowing when the snake last shed it's hard to determine the cause. But I honestly guess dehydration. Since the snake is living on pinkies, it's getting almost no nourishment at all. It's like us trying to survive on a few bites of bread and a sip of water daily.

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  8. #5
    BPnet Senior Member rufretic's Avatar
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    Re: Ball Python too skinny?

    Quote Originally Posted by craigafrechette View Post
    Although this may be true, simple dehydration may be to blame as well. Without knowing when the snake last shed it's hard to determine the cause. But I honestly guess dehydration. Since the snake is living on pinkies, it's getting almost no nourishment at all. It's like us trying to survive on a few bites of bread and a sip of water daily.
    While I do agree with you that it could be dehydration, I think low humidity is a more common and likely problem in this situation only because snakes don’t need near as much water as people think and considering he already ate a couple meals, although way to small, they still have fluid and a snake that has eaten recently is less likely to be dehydrated than a snake that has not eaten or had fresh water in a decent amount of time. Of course we don’t know the conditions he came from so it is very possible he was dehydrated coming from the previous situation and he’s only had him for 4 days so odds are whether it’s dehydration or just being in too dry of conditions, it is likely he already had the issue when the new owner got him. I think the remedy is the same either way, get him fed properly with fresh water available AND get his humidity high enough and consistent. He’ll be in great shape in no time.

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    Craiga 01453 (09-21-2018)

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