first snake

[westherocker]

Alright thanks for all the info. Can I start giving him live feed? I was worried about him getting injured for the first few times, but I figured he might like something live?

Also, sorry about all the questions but I noticed 2 of these little popcorn looking things in his tank and I thought they might be poop. Is that right?

Thanks again

[Patrick Long]

if there "pop corn ish" its prolly urates. kinda like poop, but crunchy (comes from same place). are you feeding him frozen/thawed food?

[westherocker]

yeah they're frozen pinkies, then I thaw them in warm water

[Patrick Long]

i know a lot of people on here feed frozen, but i have never fed a frozen rodent in my life. i have always fed live. some snakes like my corns i feed in the tank, while others like my pythons and redtails, i put them in a seperate container. usually a paper sack works really well. this is a heated topic here, becuause of the diversity.

[westherocker]

I usually feed my snake in a large cardboard box with the top taken off, I just didn't want to give him live mice because I wasn't sure if the mice would attack him, because hes still a young snake. But you think it would be alright to give him a live mouse?

[JoshJP7]

You can feed whatever works for you and your snake... I personally try to get all of mine eating F/T bc they cost less when you buy in bulk... I will very soon be working on building a rack for rat breeders bc its getting to damn expensive feeding 10 snakes every week. Since you only have 1 snake it really doesnt matter either way. If you dont have a problem going to the pet store every week for a live rat/mouse then do it up. A huge benefit with live is very rarely will you have a refuser... If its breeding season it wont matter either way with fasters but ill occasionally have a snake that refuses a F/T for whatever reason but when offered live will take it... Not sure why that is but whatever as long as they eat. A major plus with FT is you can buy a couple months worth and hot have to worry about it for awhile.... The only thing to watch out for with FT and using water is dont get the water too hot... Exploding rats/mice are pretty nasty and in the end a waste of money if you cant feed em to your snake... Use warm/hot water and keep an eye on how long its been thawing for and you should be good...

Either way you can feed whichever you choose... Neither FT or live is the "right" way... whatever works for you is the "right" way

[Patrick Long]

im not going to lie, theres a chance that your snake will get bit, there always is. but in nature theres no freezer of mice for them to pull out and thaw there food. theres ways of putting the mouce down (humane as possible) but even this is heated conversation. maybe start off on a live hopper of fuzzy so that its not as fast and agressive as a mouce, and work his way up.

[frankykeno]

yeah they're frozen pinkies, then I thaw them in warm water

Unless he's an incredibly small ball python, mice pinks are just not really going to cut it. They are really a tiny meal for most any size ball python, even a hatchling. You're going to want to go up some in prey size. If the snake is used to f/t prey you may want to stick with what it knows, at least for now. Settling a snake in is best achieved when you change as little as possible in it's feeding routines.

As far as the possibility of mites, you may not see them on the snake but here's an example photo of what a snake with mites looks like soaking in it's dish. Notice the things that look like black pepper flakes in the water dish...those are mites.

[westherocker]

Yeah, I think my snake does have mites... I came home from work today and he was in his water bowl with only his head sticking out, and when i was feeding him tonight after class I changed his water bowl and there was two big specks which I think are mites. What should I do?

[Elvyra's Keeper]

If im reading your post correctly you have your heat mat on the side of the tank? This needs to be placed under the tank and connected to a thermostat. Snakes need belly heat to help with digestion. You will need a cool side and warm side hide... Log hides arnt the greatest but if its all you can find it should work... If you got like 10$ id check out apple herp or someother places that carry the all black zilla hides... Baby ones are like 3-4$... If you want to save even more cash just pick up some really small tupperware bowls and cut 1 opening in it... works very well and pretty cheap... As far as shed... it usually takes 4-6 weeks depending on the snake and how much it has eaten... Make sure when he does shed you write it down so you know generally when his next shed will be.

I was looking for another hide for my snake today (I have a log and it absorbs too much from the pee and poop) I couldn't find any for snakes that looked like she would feel secure in (they all were too open) so I was walking around and saw the hamster homes made of plastic. Instantly I was like "wow, why hasn't anyone mentioned this before?" It's great. It's easy to clean, cheap, and they have small sizes up to extra large sizes. (Also a veriety of colors)