Help With New Ball Python ASAP PLEASE

[Kira]

I weighed her and she is 4oz, or 113ish grams. According to the chart this means i should be feeding her small mice right? If so, I will get some right away.

I'm going shopping tomorrow and will pick up the mice, some more sphagnum moss, and a hydrometer. Is there anything else I should pick up?

I fed her on Saturday with a fuzzie, but since this was (as i now know), too small of a meal, should I offer the small mouse now or this coming Saturday? Or can I feed her another fuzzie to hold her over? Basically what I mean is should I feed the larger meal right away, or wait until her normal feed day?

I once heard a rule that the prey size should be about the size of the snakes head, and the fuzzies are her head size, which is why I assumed they were the right size meal for her. Is this rule true? If so, won't a small mouse be too big for her to swallow?

Sorry for all this confusion, and thank you so much to everyone for all this help, this is great community and I am thankful for all the answers!

Yes, a small mouse would be perfect! If you ever aren't sure what size of prey to feed your ball python, a good rule of them is 10-15% of their body weight. Since your snake is approx 113 grams her prey items should be about 11 to 17 grams, which is pretty spot on to the feeding chart that I linked you to.

If you don't have hides (not those half log hides) on both sides on the enclosure, I'd recommend grabbing some. It does sound like you do have at least one hide but I'm just making sure that you have at least two- one on the warm side and one on the cool side. Have to cover all of my bases

No, that's not a good rule to go by. Think about the size of an adult ball python's head, it's probably much smaller than a small rat right? We would be starving our snakes if we based their meals on their head size. It's definitely best to go by the weight of your snake and the weight of the prey item.

Don't feel bad about asking questions! There is a reason why this forum exists. Let us know if you have any more questions and please keep us updated on your ball python's progress!

[Craiga 01453]

Yeah, the size of the head rule of thumb pertains to colubrids, not BPs. With BPs it's their widest part. Your snake will have NO problem eating a small mouse.

The 10-15% rule is also a good one to follow. Just keep in mind that's only true until the snake is sub adult or adult, but you've got some time for that.

[curledallup]

Since she was fed on Saturday, should I wait until then to feed her the small mouse? Or should I just feed it to her right away tomorrow?

[Craiga 01453]

Since she was fed on Saturday, should I wait until then to feed her the small mouse? Or should I just feed it to her right away tomorrow?

It can't hurt to offer. If she refuses wait until at least Saturday to offer again.

[Zincubus]

One of these thermometer hydro combos

It looks like the same principle as all the other cheap , plastic stick on ones ..

I’d suggest it was as good as useless I’m afraid

At best it will give you a very , very approximate ‘ambient’ temperature reading but even that could be up to 20F out of the correct temp ( in my experience) .. the same goes for the hygrometer .

Ideally you should get a digital temp gun for around ten dollars or so .



You really need a digital thermometer with a wired probe which is then laid over the surface area you want a temp reading for ( eg under the warm hide) . You can get one of these for a few dollars off eBay - you can choose C/F .






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