live feeding blues..

[roseyoungblood]

If you don't have a thermostat for your UTH, it might be too hot (they can easily get up to 130 degrees which is enough to burn & even kill a snake) do your thermometers have probes? and if so is a probe directly over the UTH?

I do have a thermostat for my uth with the probe directly against the glass floor.

[The Serpent Merchant]

I do have a thermostat for my uth with the probe directly against the glass floor.

ok, sounds good just trying to rule things out.

[roseyoungblood]

For what it's worth I got him from someone who did not have very good husbandry practices; there was no water in his water dish or anything at all done for humidity. The uth & thermometers were my new additions, as well as all the stuff on top of his screen to keep humidity in. I don't know what size they fed him but it was live mice. Itty bitty ones is my guess. I've had him for about 3 months now, & this will only be the 2nd shed while in my care.

[heathers*bps]

I think your temps are a little low. Up your cool side to 80-82 degrees and your hot side to 90 degrees.

[The Serpent Merchant]

A BP that is at least 3 months old really should be on more than just pinkies. The rule to go by is 15% of the snakes body weight.

Example:

Say you have a BP that weighs 100 grams. 15% of that snakes body weight is 15 grams (100 x 0.15=15) How you get to that amount of rodent isn't as important, but I try to get it in as few rodents as possible.

A cheap kitchen scale is all that is needed for this. I picked up mine for $15 at a grocery store. (I know many people buy ones from Walmart as well)

This is what I use:

[angllady2]

The little guy really needs bigger prey.

It is not unusual for them to be intimidated by bigger prey the first few times, just be patient and keep trying. If pinkies are what he wants, at least try rat pinks which are bigger. If you can find feeder rats of the correct size, he'll do much better on rats than on mice, fewer prey items with more food volume, if that makes sense.

Crawler rats are generally good for timid ball pythons as compared to hopper mice. They are about the same size, but hopper mice are called that for a reason, they jump all over the place and can really intimidate some baby balls. Crawler rats on the other hand, move around, but are not nearly as spastic as a hopper mouse.

Gale

[roseyoungblood]

I'll go pick one up. Is it bad if he only accepts the proper amount of rodent every few weeks? When I was feeding him larger he wouldn't eat consistently. Also I will bump up the temps a couple degrees.

[roseyoungblood]

The little guy really needs bigger prey.

It is not unusual for them to be intimidated by bigger prey the first few times, just be patient and keep trying. If pinkies are what he wants, at least try rat pinks which are bigger. If you can find feeder rats of the correct size, he'll do much better on rats than on mice, fewer prey items with more food volume, if that makes sense.

Crawler rats are generally good for timid ball pythons as compared to hopper mice. They are about the same size, but hopper mice are called that for a reason, they jump all over the place and can really intimidate some baby balls. Crawler rats on the other hand, move around, but are not nearly as spastic as a hopper mouse.

Gale

Great suggestion, I'll see how he responds to rats next week. Thanks for your advice guys!

[The Serpent Merchant]

They can go without eating for over a year so there are not any negative effects of them not eating consistently... but you want to get as close to the right amount of food as often as possible (meaning feeding consistently on feeding days)

[roseyoungblood]

yeah, if he were an adult or at least not on the skinny side, I wouldn't sweat it at all. Hopefully switching to rats helps!