Beginner Advice Needed

[Bai]

Hi all!

My 11 year old daughter is the recent, proud owner of a small ball python purchased for her as a gift at a local petco. The gift giver was a well meaning family member who inadvertently saddled us with what I have come to discover is a 20-30 year commitment to a species I had never considered previously. We have never had a pet that didn't have fur. My daughter had been begging for a snake for months. The good news is that after a couple of weeks, I'm actually quite fond of the little guy and have learned more about BPs in the past couple of weeks than I ever thought possible. The bad news is, I'm still struggling with a few concerns/issues and would like some guidance.

#1- The set up that was purchased. Again, I appreciated the money spent on her and the effort that went into this, but our little danger noodle is in a 20L "starter snake" setup. I have quickly discovered this is mostly garbage. I had to throw out half the things it came with and drop another $150 on programmable thermostats, digital thermometer/hydrometers, new substrate, etcetcetc. The top is wire mesh I believe. I get the temperature gradience right, the humidity drops, I get the humidity correct, the temperature is off. I've made do by placing a layer of chloroplast/plastic with a towel over part of the tank and adding moss/misting. If I don't mist, the covered side of the tank has a reasonable 60 percent humidity and the uncovered side gets down to 38 without misting several times a day. Any other advice would be appreciated, including sources for custom set up options. I've seen a few custom setups online that I would be interested in dropping some real cash on for him in the next two years or so, but only notes on how they were built and no sale information. Neither my husband nor myself are handy.

#2- He came to us in the middle of a really bad shed. We kept the humidity at 70-80% and gave him a good soak for about 15 minutes while gently rubbing him, and he looks much better now, but has still retained an eyecap. At this point I'm playing the wait and see game. I was also concerned about his weight. He currently weighs 73grams according to a digital scale I just bought. Most information points to him being a hatchling, though our family member said the petco employee said he had been there about 3 weeks and was being fed a fuzzy weekly. We've upped him to hoppers, and has taken three frozen/thawed meals from us with no issue. I don't know how much he weighed when we got him. What is a good rate of growth? I would estimate him to be between 16-18inches.

#3- At some point I'd like to get him switched over to rats because I can't imagine feeding him 4-5 mice at a time depending on how big he gets. I've identified a local reptile show an hour from my home that occurs monthly, though the frozen rat suppliers do not have the sizes that he would need at this time. When the time comes, how do I transition him before I buy the minimum required 25 rats? The smallest they carry is "small rats", and I prefer not to order the very expensive packs of frozen rat pups online without knowing that we'll be able to get him to take them.

He (or she) is really a very sweet snake and although mistakes were clearly made out of the gate here, we are committed to doing right by him. Any advice/guidance you can give to a beginner on the above items or just general recommendations would be much appreciated.

[Ronniex2]

OK.. sothe 1st thing is the Petco thing.. theworkers there are usually not very knowledgeable about things they don’t try tosell you- I mean with all due respect to the workers.
I’ll tryto hit some of your questions... the setup is a glass terrarium I am assuming,10-no more than a 20 gal for this 73g noodle 20 will be pretty big without alot of clutter but, multiple hides if you don’t have at least 2 for the lilguy.. The humidity it sounds like you have an idea of what your trying to do...misting is fine.. i bought a fogger for my tank before i switched to a tub set up....check this forum out if you havent already :

https://ball-pythons.net/forums/showthread.php?127203-Ball-Python-(Python-regius)-Caresheet

But part 2
length & weight will not reveal age really but it can be a sign, you saidabout a foot or so... he will grow, if he is under 100gs, I’d say less than a fewmonths old.. but they get fed- like you said fuzzy's, not a lot of ppl willwant a big snake, so that plus the inexperience usually associated with these BigBox stores far as proper BP care, you will have to do your own homework –that Reptile expo is going to ruin your life lol you’re going to love him soon and your baby girl will need her own snake lol.. if you haven’t been on MorphMarket yet, I saw some morphs and.. yeah here I am talking to you like I’vebeen doing this for 10 years lol ... but others I’m sure will chime in, just tryto keep him on a steady feeding regiment and you will see the growth, the actual"healthy growth weight" will depend on the animal, and he is eatingso you have no reason to worry yet… I’m sure you have read these guys can gomonths without a meal, so be prepared - FYI my noodle when I got him, was159gs, he also fast for almost 3 months, this was March, and he is about to hit300gs.. so they are not bamboo (not the morph, the plant) so if he is eatingtry to keep it steady is all

and as far as the mediums.. you will be waiting at least ... maybe a yearlol... he’s 73gs now.. if they pick up few gs a month or so and sheds every 6weeks or so ... you will be able to try him, sometime hopefully before springhe can take a med - obviously pending his size.. but I can assure you you willbe fine, 1^st step was saving that lil guy(gal) from that store, now you’rehere, and if these administrators or VETs cant do it.. or forums or threads cant answer your questions… in the words ofthe millennials, GOOGLE is your friend

I hope I helpedout a bit, and good luck !!

Lets seesome pics

[BPgirls]

I would recommend changing his feedings to an adult mouse. When he begins to grow try and switch to rats. As for the eye caps as long as it doesn't look that bad you can wait to see if they come off with the next shed just keep the humidity up and should get a clean shed. I was in the same boat but only i purchased the snake from petco. They are usually not properly cared for. Give it time and all should work out fine.

[Jakethesnake69]

Here is a feeding chart to get an idea of feeding regimen. Mice fuzzies are not a big enough meal if that’s what was being fed. Mice hoppers is a good place to start and prey size should be no bigger around then biggest section of your snake.

You could cover three sides and the top with something like foam board leaving a portion of top open for air circulation. Hide on cool and hot side. Misting daily will help with humidity.


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[Crowfingers]

For the humidity, you can add a third "moist hide", something that has damp moss in it at all times that is closer to the warm side just to keep it comfy. This way even if his ambient humidity drops into the 50's-60's he has somewhere he can choose to go.

When I had a tank I kept a damp towel over the center of the tank between the two heat lamps (being very careful that they did not touch the lamps) then covered over that with foil to seal in the humidity. It's a pain to deal with but I later went to lowes and had a large piece of clear plexiglass cut to slightly over (by 1/2 inch) the dimensions of the tank then had two 8.25 inch holes cut out for the lights. This really helped but made it a chore to actually get into the tank and I really only used it when we had to leave for a day or two or when the weather got really dry.

I also keep terra cotta pots in my enclosure simply because once you soak one in hot water for an hour or so they absorb a lot of water and will slowly release it over then next day or two. You can drill holes in these or widen the drain hole in the bottom and use them up-side-down as hides as well.

Moist air holds more heat, so your temps may read higher when the humidity is higher, except after misting which will cool all the surfaces down via evaporative cooling until it stabilizes again.

[Damselle]

For the humidity, you can add a third "moist hide", something that has damp moss in it at all times that is closer to the warm side just to keep it comfy. This way even if his ambient humidity drops into the 50's-60's he has somewhere he can choose to go.

When I had a tank I kept a damp towel over the center of the tank between the two heat lamps (being very careful that they did not touch the lamps) then covered over that with foil to seal in the humidity. It's a pain to deal with but I later went to lowes and had a large piece of clear plexiglass cut to slightly over (by 1/2 inch) the dimensions of the tank then had two 8.25 inch holes cut out for the lights. This really helped but made it a chore to actually get into the tank and I really only used it when we had to leave for a day or two or when the weather got really dry.

I also keep terra cotta pots in my enclosure simply because once you soak one in hot water for an hour or so they absorb a lot of water and will slowly release it over then next day or two. You can drill holes in these or widen the drain hole in the bottom and use them up-side-down as hides as well.

Moist air holds more heat, so your temps may read higher when the humidity is higher, except after misting which will cool all the surfaces down via evaporative cooling until it stabilizes again.

intersting... I went to aloes and they told me they don't cut offer or cut plexiglass...

[Damselle]

Being a new snake where myself, I'm so relating. I've found adding some moss (boiled first, to prevent parasites) can help with humidity.

my guy likes to hid underneath a bowl that I provided with some moss.

[Damselle]

intersting... I went to aloes and they told me they don't cut offer or cut plexiglass...

that is Lowes...

[Crowfingers]

Being a new snake where myself, I'm so relating. I've found adding some moss (boiled first, to prevent parasites) can help with humidity.

my guy likes to hid underneath a bowl that I provided with some moss.

I don't bother with boiling my sphagnum moss, but I do store it in the freezer. Same with my cypress mulch - I toss it in the deep freezer for about a week (two if I've gotten from a pet store reptile isle) before storing for use.