It's a girl!

[ThyTempest]

Well, I have a story to tell.

I was planning on taking the rescue ball python from my friend now that I am home from college. I went to get it to take it to the vet, and found a perfect shed and a very large bowel movement. Went to the vet and found out she is a girl, and that she is in good health, apart from the mites which are already being treated. She is ~25 inches long and ~450 grams. The vet thinks she is at least 2-3 years old, but without knowing the feeding schedule, could easily be older.

Now the bad part, power went out yesterday, and came back on this morning. Luckily, I had gone to the vet and had a great styrofoam box to keep a hot water bag and the newly named Pandora warm until we could heat up her tub again. Temps are back to normal now, a bit cool on the cool side until I can get another under tank heater, but other than that, things are going well.

I made a mouse tub with a big storage tub and some hardware cloth, just like the sticky, but was disappointed that I forgot to put the cloth on the inside. Easy fix if it becomes a problem.

We are going to try and feed tonight since she has not been offered anything for over a week, and is probably hungry from the shed.

I will get some pics up if people want them.

[Nate]

Good news!

and bad news....2-3 years old should be twice that weight..at least.

edit..derrr you said "rescue"..you are probably already aware...?

[starmom]

Good news but she is SKINNY!!! I have a couple of 1 year olds who weigh twice that much!! Yikes!!!! Did you have her poo checked for parasites?

[ThyTempest]

Yes, we did a poo check, and no news is good news for that. If there are parasites the vet will call me today. She took two small adult mice last night like a charm. I had no idea she was that thin, but I am glad she is okay, I would imagine she will put weight on pretty fast.

About the feeding though, I offered the first (I am feeding live, but I watch constantly), and it took her about 10-15 minutes to take it, but that was partially my fault. Her tub is low enough that the mouse would have gotten out had I not been watching, so I took out the log and water dish, as I had already removed the hides after 5 minutes with the mouse in and her not even flicking her tongue. I pre-scented 25 minutes first as well. Anyway, I removed the hides and about 30 seconds later she was flicking her tongue and finding the mouse, but I had to remove the log as well so the mouse coulnt hide all the time, as Pandora was not much willing to move, and would only strike if it sat still for about 15 seconds. As you all know, good luck with that. So once I removed the log, the mouse was wandering closer and closer and she struck pretty quickly. Once she swallowed that, I replaced the hides and gave her a few minutes, she was wandering through the foliage and checking behind the hides flicking her tongue, so I offered the second, which she took in about 20 seconds, max. I didnt watch her swallow this one, but it only took her about 5 minutes, as opposed to a good 15 for the first one. Anyway, these are quite small mice (I dont have a scale so I cant give a mass), but after the third one, she was sitting at the edge of her tub looking through into the hardware cloth part of the mouse tub at our last mouse on the wheel, flicking her tongue the whole time. This was the first time we had offered her multiples, so I wanted to see how two would go before we went to three, but this behavior makes me think she may take a third as well? What would you all think? The mice we had are quite small, but we are looking into feeder breeders at shows this weekend and next weekend(I think).

[rabernet]

Congratulations on her - but YIKES! 2-3 years old and only 450 grams? She's about 1/3 of the weight of a female that age. Maybe she's really just a yearling?

[SatanicIntention]

No worries, I rescued a female who was over 3 years old and only 780g at the time. From May 06 to December 06, she gained about 1500g on 3-4 mice a week. She's now over 2300g and doing wonderfully

Just go slow on the feeding, and bumping the size up(or number of mice) every few feedings and she'll do fine.

[ThyTempest]

This is a pic from about a week and a half ago, while she was starting shed so she looks really faded, but this is Pandora. I will probably get some fresh pics soon.

http://i261.photobucket.com/albums/i...t/DSCN0370.jpg

About 75% of the rough scales cleaned up with her shed, hoping for better results next shed too.