Please help identify this morph

[Ben Biscy]

... if she seems hungry offer her a meal

She was trolling hard, checking out mice across the room. I offered a live rat, which proved to be a mistake. She headed over to it, then tried to eat without a strike and coil. The rat surprised her, and she hid, rat was removed.

[JLC]

She was trolling hard, checking out mice across the room. I offered a live rat, which proved to be a mistake. She headed over to it, then tried to eat without a strike and coil. The rat surprised her, and she hid, rat was removed.

You didn't say how long you've had this snake (or if you did, I missed it)...but a bit of advice, if I may. While some folks have success in feeding a new snake right away, the best way to insure your odds of a successfully feeding snake is to give it a week or two to settle into its new home before offering a meal.

It also sounds like she's already had more than one enclosure in your home and has at least one more change ahead of her. Each change to a new enclosure needs its own new settling in period. This should be a time for the snake to completely rest with as little disturbance as possible. Frequent handling sessions are a very common cause for putting a bp off her feed. Especially if she hasn't had a chance to settle into a home yet.

These guys live life at a different pace than we do and it can take days and days for them to learn something that we can see in an instant. We look at an empty enclosure and know it's perfectly safe for her and nothing can harm her. But SHE doesn't know that. She has to explore every single nook and corner...every limb and every cave....to assure herself that there are no other animals around she must be wary of. And then she has to check again. And again. It can take awhile for them to become confident that they don't have to share their home with anything else and nothing in their home will harm them.

AFTER they've had a chance to settle in and feel secure...offer a meal. And preferably a meal like they've been used to eating in the past. If she actually tried to EAT a live rat without striking and wrapping it first, then I would guess she's had nothing but pre-killed or f/t her whole life. If at all possible, please try to stick with that regime. This fright from this rat may put her off eating at all for awhile.

More likely (although I'm just guessing, as I wasn't there to see it) she wasn't trying to eat the rat, and wasn't interested in eating at all. She was just sniffing at the new thing in her enclosure...and it startled her. Which leads back to that need to settle in and not fear she has other critters running around in some hidden corner of her cage.

LONG STORY SHORT: Give her at least a week (10-14 days would probably be better) to settle into her new home with as little handling and intrusion as possible. Then quietly offer her a small pre-killed or f/t rodent.

[Ben Biscy]

You didn't say how long you've had this snake (or if you did, I missed it)...but a bit of advice, if I may. While some folks have success in feeding a new snake right away, the best way to insure your odds of a successfully feeding snake is to give it a week or two to settle into its new home before offering a meal.

Brand new snake, bought to get her away from the blasted heat rock!!!

It also sounds like she's already had more than one enclosure in your home and has at least one more change ahead of her. Each change to a new enclosure needs its own new settling in period. This should be a time for the snake to completely rest with as little disturbance as possible. Frequent handling sessions are a very common cause for putting a bp off her feed. Especially if she hasn't had a chance to settle into a home yet.

She went from a cardboard box (dumb guy) to a temp enclosure (12x8x6h). She was kept in the temp box for around 24 hours, as i did some cage reconfiguring and cleaning. from there, she was placed in a clean 20g long, and live rat was introduced after a 4-6 hour wait. She sensed it, found it, then opened her mouth and started trying to down the rat, which woke up jumping. Certainly this stressed her out, i will not be trying to feed her again for at least seven days. I am going to assume she's been fed prekilled, so we will try that next time.

I do not handle snakes often, only to move them.

These guys live life at a different pace than we do and it can take days and days for them to learn something that we can see in an instant. We look at an empty enclosure and know it's perfectly safe for her and nothing can harm her. But SHE doesn't know that. She has to explore every single nook and corner...every limb and every cave....to assure herself that there are no other animals around she must be wary of. And then she has to check again. And again. It can take awhile for them to become confident that they don't have to share their home with anything else and nothing in their home will harm them.

I understand, and know what you're talking about. As a general rule, our snakes are loners, and don't get much more interaction than a "hi" and "bye". I've always offered new snakes a meal right off, which results in either an immediate kill and eat, or we remove the feeder and wait.

AFTER they've had a chance to settle in and feel secure...offer a meal. And preferably a meal like they've been used to eating in the past. If she actually tried to EAT a live rat without striking and wrapping it first, then I would guess she's had nothing but pre-killed or f/t her whole life. If at all possible, please try to stick with that regime. This fright from this rat may put her off eating at all for awhile.

More likely (although I'm just guessing, as I wasn't there to see it) she wasn't trying to eat the rat, and wasn't interested in eating at all. She was just sniffing at the new thing in her enclosure...and it startled her. Which leads back to that need to settle in and not fear she has other critters running around in some hidden corner of her cage.

She tried to eat it; nosed it for a moment, then opened the jaws and started working. Rat woke up and started jumping, scaring her...

LONG STORY SHORT: Give her at least a week (10-14 days would probably be better) to settle into her new home with as little handling and intrusion as possible. Then quietly offer her a small pre-killed or f/t rodent.

Will do; next meal will be a fresh killed small rat.

Thanks for the post!!!

[blackcrystal22]

If she doesn't have a completely clear and clean white belly she is what I suspect she is.

She looks to have the coloration of a malnutrition struck ball python, rather than a pastel.
She looks to be too skinny to me in my opinion, so make sure to get her in a nice enclosure setup and attempt to feed her later.

Feed her f/t. It seems like thats what she was expecting it to be, so get a small rat about the same thickness as the thickest point on her body, and thaw it out for her in about a week or so.

Good luck!

[Ben Biscy]

If she doesn't have a completely clear and clean white belly she is what I suspect she is.

She looks to have the coloration of a malnutrition struck ball python, rather than a pastel.
She looks to be too skinny to me in my opinion, so make sure to get her in a nice enclosure setup and attempt to feed her later.

Feed her f/t. It seems like thats what she was expecting it to be, so get a small rat about the same thickness as the thickest point on her body, and thaw it out for her in about a week or so.

Good luck!

thanks for the reply!

This is a young snake, roughly two feet. she has good girth, and is not skinny by any means. i think she would have eaten had the rat been prekilled... live and learn . I will be taking new pictures today, outdoors. hopefully that will help shed some clear light on the whole morph/color deal

I was not aware that color could be influenced; i thought it was all genetic.Can you provide me with any more information on this topic? Any info is appreciated.

[blackcrystal22]

thanks for the reply!

This is a young snake, roughly two feet. she has good girth, and is not skinny by any means. i think she would have eaten had the rat been prekilled... live and learn . I will be taking new pictures today, outdoors. hopefully that will help shed some clear light on the whole morph/color deal

I was not aware that color could be influenced; i thought it was all genetic.Can you provide me with any more information on this topic? Any info is appreciated.

She has the possibility of being a pastel, her pattern shows this, but to me, it doesn't have a super 'pastel' look and usually pastels have a different color pattern. Where they have almost a washed out yellow brown on top and it fades into a brighter yellow along the sides.
If she is 2 years old, she definitely seems too small in my opinion.

There was an interesting thread on here somewhere about a rescue that was beautifully brighter in color and it went back to normal after it was fed for a while. I tried to find it, but was unable.

[Ben Biscy]

She has the possibility of being a pastel, her pattern shows this, but to me, it doesn't have a super 'pastel' look and usually pastels have a different color pattern. Where they have almost a washed out yellow brown on top and it fades into a brighter yellow along the sides.
If she is 2 years old, she definitely seems too small in my opinion.

There was an interesting thread on here somewhere about a rescue that was beautifully brighter in color and it went back to normal after it was fed for a while. I tried to find it, but was unable.

not two years, two feet :p.

this snake has some bad burns on the side from a heat rock. the burn scars are blackened, but this can be seen up close as scar tissue, and not genetic color. this ball is a lot yellower than my high yellow normals, which i will include in the new pictures for comparison. i realize my pictures and info are not great, making identification more difficult. hopefully we'll get that sorted in an hour or so.

thank you for trying to find the link!

[nixer]

why is that tank vertical in the pics. ball pythons are not a tree dwelling species! and you shouldnt be swapping caging for any of your animals.

[Ben Biscy]

why is that tank vertical in the pics. ball pythons are not a tree dwelling species! and you shouldnt be swapping caging for any of your animals.

i own a pet store, and the animals i have will change from week to week. tanks are emptied, animals replace those that are bought. While it is true that bp's are not an arboreal species, they will make use of branches, if they are available (as seen in the pictures). this cage is aprox 16''x2', 2' high. the tank is not standing irregularly, but is a vertical tank, use mostly for arboreals.

again, all tanks are sterilized before new animals are placed. We do buy animals from not-so-great caregivers, but do well with our stock. I should probably mention also that i have approximately 20 years experience with serpents, hots and nots. some of what we do may seem controversial, but our animals are well cared for.

thank you for your concern

[JLC]

Just throwing my opinion out there...'cause I can... ....

Given the pictures so far...I don't think the snake looks skinny at all...and certainly not malnurished. And while I never claim to be an expert, I will say this is the first I've heard of malnurishment causing an unusually light color. Not saying it couldn't happen, but just that I've never heard it before. Still...even if that happens, it seems a pretty big leap to make from the pictures offered.

Ben...I'm looking forward to more pictures to show off her color and overall look more truly. Then maybe she can get some rest.