A desperately needed rescue!

[frankykeno]

I'd suggest you just go small for the mice as you can always offer 2 if needed down the road. Offer him/her a meal every 5 days and try to keep the handling down to a bare minimum. You want all this snake's energy directed toward regaining it's weight and good health.

Since you don't have any history on this poor little snake I'd really suggest having a fecal float done just to rule out any internal parasites. It's not an expensive test, most any vet clinic can do it (sometimes while you wait if you phone ahead) and it doesn't require the snake to be taken into the vet unless parasites are found and a treatment plan must be started.

[dsirkle]

That's one lucky snake.

[MinLynn]

I'd suggest you just go small for the mice as you can always offer 2 if needed down the road. Offer him/her a meal every 5 days and try to keep the handling down to a bare minimum. You want all this snake's energy directed toward regaining it's weight and good health.

Since you don't have any history on this poor little snake I'd really suggest having a fecal float done just to rule out any internal parasites. It's not an expensive test, most any vet clinic can do it (sometimes while you wait if you phone ahead) and it doesn't require the snake to be taken into the vet unless parasites are found and a treatment plan must be started.

Oh we definetly plan on doing so!

[hud556]

good rescue! I do love a happy ending

[Mery]

Wow, he's actually got an incredible pattern. Excellent job

[mechnut450]

i be worried about weer he kids got the snake from and just going back there and getting another one and doing the same thing to it ... the little guy is lucky that for sure.

[h00blah]

aw man.. this made me feel really sad

poor little guy ><;.. least hes perfectly safe

[MinLynn]

Thank you! He's doing pretty darn well! He took a fuzzy mouse 2 days ago and didn't regurge it. He's hiding out in his warm hide so I know that's normal behavior.I haven't been messing with him or handling him. I'm just letting him settle in for now.

As for where these kids got him.....I don't know. There are a number of pet stores in our area that do sell very young ball pythons right now. In fact I was in one yesterday picking up some new UVB bulbs for my water dragon and beardies and they had a whole tank full of about 15 of them.

[SatanicIntention]

Thank you everybody! He's settling in pretty well so far. He took a little rest in his warm hide, came out and soaked for a minute in his bowl and is now trying to find every way possible to escape the viv! Seems pretty normal! I've never had a ball this tiny before. I have an 08 that was double this size back in February and I just purchased an 07 normal female that's het for chocolate this past weekend that makes both of them look like worms! So in other words,this is my first true hatchling in the ball species! So should I be safe to feed him small fuzzy mice?

There's no such thing as a het chocolate Ball Python. It's either chocolate or not.. Like Pastels/Spiders and all the other co-dominant morphs.

For his size, a large fuzzy or a mediumish hopper mouse is fine. Leave him alone for a week first. If he doesn't feed, put him in a shoebox tub with newspaper, a water bowl, and a 4" plastic planter saucer(the saucer, not the pot).

When it's dark and quiet, put the hopper in a container next to his tub for 30 minutes or so. After he's peeking out of his hide, put the mouse in and close the tub up. Leave him alone with it for an hour or so. DO NOT feed him in a separate container, it only stresses them out and promotes poor feeding habits, meaning you take them out and they think they will be fed.

[MinLynn]

My husband was doing all the talking and all I heard was Chocolate so maybe she is chocolate? I don't really care.She's pretty and that's all that matters! I have no plans for breeding BPs anytime soon so haven't really studied up on morphs and genetics with them yet. We plan on breeding corns next season so I'm more brushed up on their morphs and genetics at the moment.

Oh and I already fed Surry 2 days ago(I mentioned that in the post above yours). He took a f/t fuzzy mouse no problem and I feed all 13 of my snakes in their vivs on plastic plates. It's just easier that way for us and the snakes know it's feeding time when the plate gets put in their viv. It's nice that way because I've never had to deal with tank aggression or hunger aggression even from my big boa boy!