Questions that need answering!

[dsmalex97]

OK! Im new here so hi everyone first of all!!! I have 2 Ball Pythons at the moment, one normal female (4 months), and I picked up a Pastel male from the White Plains show yesterday. He's soooooo small!! When I got my first she was a decent amount bigger then this guy, and I'm wondering what the best idea is for food. I weighed him on a kind of bad scale but it should be some what accurate, it said 87 grams. My female was able to just start taking mouse hoppers, but I'm not sure if thats a bad idea for babies of this size. He looks like he could probably take one as well, but maybe just a little smaller...? Also, is it possible to put babies in too big of an enclosure, he is in a 28QT bin with aspen, cuz he seems a little freaked out, doesn't seem to like the hides, he's most likely fine, I'm just comparing his behavior to my other one. Also I like to feed my girl every 4 days, is this cool if I do the same with him? Thanks for all your help guys and gals!!

[Stewart_Reptiles]

Right now at this size I would recommend to put him in a 15 quarts tub and feed him a medium size mouse every 5 to 7 days.

[Slim]

At that size he should be able to take down a hopper with no problem. You might want to bump up the prey size for your female. She's prolly ready for something bigger than a hopper.

If he's not using the hides, he's still stressed from his adventure to the show and then to your house. A smaller enclosure would be a good idea, and let him have some calm down time before you try to feed. When he calms down, he'll use the hide. Once he's fully comfortable, you prolly won't be able to get him out of it

[Jeff Krupa]

I agree with slim, 15 qt is a good size the larger tubs are too big. I have some 200 gram balls in a 15 as well and they are very comfortable. It may not eat for a few days because it is a little stressed .As far as food goes, a good rule of thumb is to feed your animal a prey item as thick as your animals thickest point. Hope this helps. I was also at White Plains yesterday picking up a couple of goodies.....

[dsmalex97]

I should take some pics for you guys just so you know what I'm working with...yeah I wanted to bring home so much stuff, but what I realized was I need another job lol. But yeah I felt like that was the problem, cuz I know my girl acclimated pretty quickly, but she again was bigger. I'm gonna either make a video on my youtube account, or take some pics and upload them of the prey I'm feeding my girl and show you the pastel and his size and where he's living. Thanks for all your help!! And btw this forum is awesome everyone seems really cool on here!

[dsmalex97]

maybe what I have aren't hoppers, there seems to be a lot of names for these stupid rodents lol. I guess you could consider them adults...? I'm making that vid, I'll post it tomorrow!

[Slim]

maybe what I have aren't hoppers, there seems to be a lot of names for these stupid rodents lol

True that! Hoppers are usually around 8-12 grams. Some places sell weanlings at around 12+ grams. An adult mouse looks like, ah, an adult mouse

[dsmalex97]

Hey I got pics of my prey size, and pics of my snakes coming, but I'm waiting for my girlfriend to drop the wire off to me to upload them. But I wanted to ask you this in my original message, I have been feeding my girl every 4 days and was wondering if this was ok. She seems to be very willing to take them so I don't think I'm over doing it, and I heard about people feeding every 3 days, but figured 4 days is a better buffer. For example so there are no misunderstandings I fed her 11-25 and I fed her on 11-29. Is that cool?

[snakelady]

When they are that young feeding every 4 days is fine...as long as it's not a supersize meal. So, from what it sounds like you are feeding (size wise) every four days is fine.
I like to do two smaller meals twice a week until they are around 200-250 grams or so. Then start spacing it out more. Once a week is also fine.

[dsmalex97]

My girl is actually probably eating adult mice not hoppers, I looked on rodent pro to see what they consider "hoppers" and shes deffinately pounding adults for sure. The females are usually smaller but the males are bigger. Probably close to the 30 gram marker maybe. Also I found a local place that sells rat fuzzies, mouse hoppers, the works so I might just switch her over to rats...hey does anyone happen to know if rats smell just as bad as mice do? Cuz my collection is ever increasing and I'm thinking about breeding down the line, just don't know what to breed...