It might be obvious...is it normal?

[marya1962]

Our 1 year old, 218 gram male ball python is clumsy. He forgets to hold on, overextends himself and lets go, and so on. My son says, "Duh, it's because he's a baby." But I figure that by one year he should have outgrown this by now. Is this something common to ball pythons? Is it because he's young? Or is it because we have a clumsy ball python overall? We love him no matter what. We're just wondering if he has the equivalent of two left feet.

[Eric Alan]

I'm probably not going to be much assistance in the "clumsy" department, but it does seem like everyday BP behavior to me. After all, they're not made to climb.

The thing about this post that sticks out to me though is how small your 1 year old seems to be. Maybe yours is just a slow grower, but my three "oldest" girls are all much younger than a year and are comfortably over the 200g mark.

Their hatch dates and last empty weight:

• 12/27/2012 - 297g
• 01/22/2013 - 277g
• 03/04/2013 - 208g

What does your feeding schedule look like for him and what/how much is he eating each feeding? What about your husbandry? Temps, humidity, hides, cage setup, etc...

Just trying to help!

[marya1962]

The last visit to the vet, the vet said everything was ok. He was a little fat. That was less than a month ago. Since we got him he has been a finicky eater. He was eating mice, the only thing he would take. Recently tried him again on a rat pup. Amazingly, he ate the silly thing! So he is now eating rat pups every week. I didn't know they weren't climbers as he climbs on everything put in his cage. His cage doesn't have heating at this point as we're primarily proccupied with trying to keep him cool in a 100 degree plus house. His lighting is a UVA/UVB bulb; 12 on, 12 off. He has an igloo that has a wet cloth on it for coolness and humidity. There is a frozen water bottle changed everyday. His water dish has moss around it for humidity. There is a climbing branch. The cage is glass and came with the snake. He gets baths every day to make sure he is getting enough humidity. We ultimately hope to get him a Boaphile. We are trying to raise him similar to our redtailed boa, but are learning many differences in the two different species. (Duh!) Our redtailed boa was larger at 1 year, too, but I thought, well...

[Flikky]

He needs belly heat more than ambient heat. To the best of my knowledge that is. Him roaming around so much could be because the ambient temp. is too high or he's looking for belly heat.

[Eric Alan]

The last visit to the vet, the vet said everything was ok. He was a little fat. That was less than a month ago. Since we got him he has been a finicky eater. He was eating mice, the only thing he would take. Recently tried him again on a rat pup. Amazingly, he ate the silly thing! So he is now eating rat pups every week.

Hooray! Getting the switch to rats is great! If he'll take it, I'd see if you can bump up his feeding timeline to every 4 days if possible to get him up to size a little sooner. All of mine are on this schedule and will stay that way until they're 5-600g or so (when I'll switch to weekly feedings). As much as they beg on day 3 right now, I'm dreading the looks on their faces when I switch to weekly feedings!

I didn't know they weren't climbers as he climbs on everything put in his cage.

A little climbing is fine (roaming around at night usually), but for the most part they're happy spending their time in one of their two hides on the ground - either the one on the cool side or the one on the warm side.

His cage doesn't have heating at this point as we're primarily proccupied with trying to keep him cool in a 100 degree plus house. His lighting is a UVA/UVB bulb; 12 on, 12 off. He has an igloo that has a wet cloth on it for coolness and humidity. There is a frozen water bottle changed everyday. His water dish has moss around it for humidity. There is a climbing branch. The cage is glass and came with the snake. He gets baths every day to make sure he is getting enough humidity. We ultimately hope to get him a Boaphile.

Any idea what the ambient temp is in the cage and what his "hot spot" temp is? What about the actual humidity level? Are you using a digital thermometer/hygrometer to measure these things? On a side note, I can't imagine how difficult it must be to keep him comfortable in a 100 degree house - much less keeping yourselves comfortable!

We are trying to raise him similar to our redtailed boa, but are learning many differences in the two different species. (Duh!) Our redtailed boa was larger at 1 year, too, but I thought, well...

Spot on - there are many differences in care requirements between these two. The care guides on this site are a HUGE help when figuring out which direction to go and what not to waste your money/time/effort on.