Vote for BP.Net for the 2013 Forum of the Year! Click here for more info.

» Site Navigation

» Home
 > FAQ

» Online Users: 2,973

2 members and 2,971 guests
Most users ever online was 6,337, 01-24-2020 at 04:30 AM.

» Today's Birthdays

None

» Stats

Members: 75,031
Threads: 248,489
Posts: 2,568,446
Top Poster: JLC (31,651)
Welcome to our newest member, isismomma
Results 1 to 9 of 9
  1. #1
    Registered User
    Join Date
    09-19-2018
    Location
    Minnesota
    Posts
    43
    Thanks
    1
    Thanked 7 Times in 7 Posts

    Baby Albino Ball Python Question

    Hello,

    I just picked up a baby Albino female on Sunday and I noticed her eyes have a lighter shade on the upper half. Today when feeding her she missed twice but ended up getting the mouse. Do some Albino (or other morphs for that matter) have different shading in their eyes? I know that my BEL has a few different shades of color in his eyes but just wondering?

    I really wish I knew how to add images to these posts....
    ssmith73

    1.0 Albino Enchi
    1.0 Butter/Mojave BEL

    0.1 Pied
    0.1 Butter/Ghost
    0.1 Albino
    0.1 Pastel

    1.0 Western Hognose
    0.1 Merauke BTS

  2. #2
    Registered User royalreilly's Avatar
    Join Date
    08-25-2017
    Posts
    67
    Thanks
    25
    Thanked 73 Times in 33 Posts
    Most ball pythons have 2 colors / 2 shades of one color in their eyes (including albinos). Since most morphs have a stripe on the scales of their face that goes "under" their eyes, the area where that stripe is is usually a different color. Are you worried that your girl is blind? She's probably perfectly fine. Ball pythons are kind of goofy and it isn't uncommon for them to miss their food when they strike, especially younger BP's. And even if a ball python had vision problems, they have the pit organs on their face that can sense heat, so they can "see" that way. Your girl sounds perfectly normal to me!

  3. The Following 2 Users Say Thank You to royalreilly For This Useful Post:

    Bogertophis (02-04-2019),Phoenix Rising (01-19-2019)

  4. #3
    BPnet Veteran Luvyna's Avatar
    Join Date
    01-06-2019
    Posts
    813
    Thanks
    1,284
    Thanked 803 Times in 475 Posts

    Re: Baby Albino Ball Python Question

    I have a baby albino mojave male, he also has this eye gradient you are describing. The top third of his eyes are a paler whitish pink and the lower two thirds are red. Your BP sounds normal to me too!
    Last edited by Luvyna; 01-18-2019 at 03:01 AM.

  5. The Following User Says Thank You to Luvyna For This Useful Post:

    Bogertophis (02-04-2019)

  6. #4
    Registered User
    Join Date
    09-19-2018
    Location
    Minnesota
    Posts
    43
    Thanks
    1
    Thanked 7 Times in 7 Posts

    Re: Baby Albino Ball Python Question

    I think she has a hard time seeing. She continually misses every time I attempt to feed her F/T from tongs. Today she missed 3 times! Should be interesting when she gets bigger, lol.
    ssmith73

    1.0 Albino Enchi
    1.0 Butter/Mojave BEL

    0.1 Pied
    0.1 Butter/Ghost
    0.1 Albino
    0.1 Pastel

    1.0 Western Hognose
    0.1 Merauke BTS

  7. #5
    Registered User Treeman's Avatar
    Join Date
    01-26-2019
    Posts
    153
    Thanks
    16
    Thanked 125 Times in 78 Posts

    Re: Baby Albino Ball Python Question

    I would recommend using a heat lamp after thawing out your rodents. Just take your thawed rodent and put it under the light until it is fairly warm to the touch, then feed. You don't want to cook it in any way, just heat it up. Its a trick that I know a lot of people use, because ball pythons really use their heat pits to "see" their prey more than their actual vision.

  8. The Following 2 Users Say Thank You to Treeman For This Useful Post:

    Bogertophis (02-04-2019),Luvyna (02-04-2019)

  9. #6
    Bogertophis's Avatar
    Join Date
    04-28-2018
    Location
    USA
    Posts
    20,183
    Thanks
    28,085
    Thanked 19,740 Times in 11,797 Posts
    And many here use a blow-dryer to heat up the thawed rodent, concentrating on the nose end of the rodent, where you want your snake to target.
    BPs use their heat-sensing pits quite a lot, actually; in "real life" they'd be ambush-hunting at night.

  10. The Following 2 Users Say Thank You to Bogertophis For This Useful Post:

    Luvyna (02-04-2019),Treeman (02-04-2019)

  11. #7
    BPnet Royalty Zincubus's Avatar
    Join Date
    02-22-2011
    Posts
    6,948
    Thanks
    2,510
    Thanked 4,897 Times in 2,992 Posts

    Re: Baby Albino Ball Python Question

    Quote Originally Posted by ssmith73 View Post
    I think she has a hard time seeing. She continually misses every time I attempt to feed her F/T from tongs. Today she missed 3 times! Should be interesting when she gets bigger, lol.
    As just mentioned a ten second blast with a hairdryer works wonders !!

    Especially if the lights are low and it's evening time of cou.

    Mine all strike from within their hides incidentally so I wait until they're settled in their hides before dangling in front of their noses..


    Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk




  12. #8
    BPnet Veteran
    Join Date
    05-23-2015
    Location
    South Carolina, US
    Posts
    314
    Thanks
    275
    Thanked 172 Times in 119 Posts
    Images: 6

    Re: Baby Albino Ball Python Question

    Quote Originally Posted by ssmith73 View Post
    I think she has a hard time seeing. She continually misses every time I attempt to feed her F/T from tongs. Today she missed 3 times! Should be interesting when she gets bigger, lol.
    Well at least you know she's hungry and eating if she tried 3 times.
    She'll get better with time.
    Oh one tip, I tried holding by the tail and mine missed a lot too. It's kind of like my dog when he tries to catch the bouncing ball (more miss than hit.)
    Try holding the feeder by the back skin and putting the feeder toward hide opening nose first (like a live one would enter a hide.) I'll bet you will see a huge change in hits if you were doing it by the tail. If you were doing it by the back then I'd say it will get better with practice at hitting IMO
    And like Zincubus I try to avoid feeding my snake when it is out of hide wandering/searching. I found that often scares them when you come at them with a feeder at that time or mode. So I do it before or after search time.

  13. The Following User Says Thank You to ballpythonsrock2 For This Useful Post:

    Zincubus (02-05-2019)

  14. #9
    Registered User
    Join Date
    08-12-2018
    Posts
    115
    Thanks
    106
    Thanked 103 Times in 60 Posts
    Images: 8
    I have an albino male and he misses quite often. If he lands a strike on the rats butt, that’s the end he starts swallowing first. Like Bogertophis said, I try to concentrate the heat if the hairdryer on the rats head to give him a better target. He eats like a champ though and has never refused a meal.

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •  
Powered by vBadvanced CMPS v4.2.1