Healthy weight? Or no?

[Moofins07]

I have a young ball python (yet to be sexed, but I'm 80% on it being a male) and I was just wanting to make sure he's at a healthy weight. I can't take any decent pictures right now, but he's 3 months old, approximately 15-16 inches long, and he looks to be about one inch thick at the widest point of girth.

Does this sound fat enough? He's one day away from feeding, and now that I look at the hopper we bought today, it seems so tiny. He absolutely refuses to eat anything f/t, sadly. Should I go ahead and feed him one day early, and continue to do so until he gains some weight?

Also, a couple quick questions: is an under-tank heater and one heating rock good enough? And to raise the humidity, do you just give the sides of the tank a quick spray each day? I hope I don't sound to noobish with these questions.

Any thoughts and suggestions would be so, so helpful. I just want to make my little serpent as happy as possible. Thank you!


(Edit): I just remembered that I do have a ton of pictures of him on my Facebook, so I'll add those now.

[rjk890]

Throw the Rock away!

[Oxylepy]

AHHHHHH! Throw the heat rock away!!!

They produce too much heat, the heat builds up and doesn't really dissipate and your snake can, and sometimes will just lay on it until it's cooked.

My god I found a heat rock advertised for usage with snakes, and it says it hits 101F AHH! These things need big fat warning labels saying they are dangerous to your animal, since it is.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heat_rock

See Wikipedia has it right, these things are not safe, and are poor for heating a habitat. Use a UTH with a thermostat.

[Moofins07]

AHHHHHH! Throw the heat rock away!!!

They produce too much heat, the heat builds up and doesn't really dissipate and your snake can, and sometimes will just lay on it until it's cooked.

Ahhh! Okayokay! You guys are scaring me. I had no idea. I feel so bad now.

[rjk890]

No harm, no foul.
You are asking questions, and that is how you learn.

Welcome to the forum, you will learn a lot here.

[Moofins07]

Thanks. I've already learned a fair bit. When I got the little guy, I believed I had at least the basics covered, but I had no idea about those stupid rocks. Wow.

I have a UTH that covers just above a third of the tank's underside, but it doesn't feel like it gets very warm. It doesn't feel like there's much of a difference in the aspen bedding when I touch the warm end, as opposed to the cool end.

[Oxylepy]

Make this your favorite place in the world for tonight:

http://www.ball-pythons.net/modules/...warticle&id=59

And for how much he eats: Get a scale, weigh him, feed him around 15% of his weight a week.

I got my snakes on F/T by leaving them alone for 2 weeks (they were both babies and believe me it was hard not playing with them) and then offering it to them. Once they are settled in and comfortable nough time will go by and they will become hungry enough to eat f/t.

[unrezt]

Thanks. I've already learned a fair bit. When I got the little guy, I believed I had at least the basics covered, but I had no idea about those stupid rocks. Wow.

I have a UTH that covers just above a third of the tank's underside, but it doesn't feel like it gets very warm. It doesn't feel like there's much of a difference in the aspen bedding when I touch the warm end, as opposed to the cool end.

Are you using a thermostat? It is in all seriousness the most important(and probably one of the most overlooked) necessities of the hobby.

In all likelihood, you will need to adjust the amount, or even the type of substrate on the warm end, at least under the hide to get the needed temperature. I have found that aspen does not let much heat through, so I ended up using under the warm side hide(this is also a good way to know if they have pee'd).

I have heard a handful different theories regarding UTH temperature and warmth to the touch, but IMO the only way to know for sure is with a good thermometer. Most people recommend an indoor/outdoor type made by Accu-Rite or Acu-rite, which can be purchased at walmart for a little under $15. This particular thermometer has a probe which you place on the glass inside the tank on top of the heat pad, and the actual thermometer unit somewhere else on the cool side of the tank, that way you can monitor both temperatures(and humidity) at once.

You should really think about getting a scale too, it will remove all doubt of your snake being over/under weight, and will make it 10x easier finding appropriate food for your snake. You can get these at wal-mart too, but for better quality, look online.

As for humidity...with my setup, spraying the sides does little for humidty, but spraying the bedding and mixing it around(we are talking a mist here, not soaking...humid is good, wet is bad) keeps the humidity up at good levels for a couple days.

[Bundu Boy]

I have a young ball python (yet to be sexed, but I'm 80% on it being a male) and I was just wanting to make sure he's at a healthy weight. I can't take any decent pictures right now, but he's 3 months old, approximately 15-16 inches long, and he looks to be about one inch thick at the widest point of girth.

Does this sound fat enough? He's one day away from feeding, and now that I look at the hopper we bought today, it seems so tiny. He absolutely refuses to eat anything f/t, sadly. Should I go ahead and feed him one day early, and continue to do so until he gains some weight?

Any thoughts and suggestions would be so, so helpful. I just want to make my little serpent as happy as possible. Thank you!


(Edit): I just remembered that I do have a ton of pictures of him on my Facebook, so I'll add those now.

That little ball looks quite healthy. I'd feed him once a week whatever he will take. They need feeding at this age as they are growing quite quickly. Once he hits about 800g or so I'd go onto a 10-14 days schedule with him.

Avoid the temptation to overfeed, packing on loads of weight in a short space of time may build up excess fat which may effect his health a few years down the line.

[Kaorte]

A hopper is too small for a 3 month old ball python. He should at least be taking adult mice, maybe even 2 if they are on the small side.