New Owner, New Snakes, New Problem

[rab21w]

I've got some questions that I haven't been able to find answers for despite hours and days of searching. I am new to the world of ball pythons. I've only been involved in it for a couple of months. I have two snakes and am thinking about getting a third because I believe that the mojave is a beautiful morph and want one very badly.

The questions are as follows.
1. My adult BP has what appears to be many bad sheds in the form of eyecaps. Her eyes are very wrinkly or layered looking. Any solutions or ideas what it really is. I've kept the humidity higher in her cage and I've tried soaking her in warm water and the pillowcase method. I've also very lightly rubbed her eyes with a Qtip but with no success.

2. Today was the first time I killed their food first and neither one of them stuck and coiled their prey. I was told that the striking and coiling is the normal behavior no matter what. Should I be concerned at all?

3. The adult never leaves her one hide. I have one hide on each side of the cage and the one on the hot side is 2 or 3 times the size of her body and she still prefers it over the smaller one.

4. My younger snake is growing much quicker than I am told they are supposed to. I've only had her for about 2 months and she's almost tripled in weight. When I got her she was around 55-60 grams and now is approximately 180 grams. She went from eating mice to eating small rats in 4 weeks. Is this anything to be concerned about or is it normal as well?

5. The last question is dang near impossible to answer I believe. The adult BP was a rescue. I was told it was a pregnant female that was over 2 years old. That she had her prelay shed a week before I got her. However I have had it for 3.5 weeks and it's been eating the whole time. So I deduce that it's not pregnant. My question is what gender and age do you think the snake is? It is approx. 3.5 feet long and weighs 1738 grams.

[Kaorte]

1. If the snake has more than one stuck eye cap, take it to a qualified vet so they can remove them. If you leave them stuck for too long it can cause permanent blindness.

2. As long as they eat it, doesn't matter at all.

3. Both hides should be identical. They will sacrifice being at the proper temperature for security. Get another one of the hide that the snake likes and get rid of the other hide.

4. Nope, sounds normal! They grow very fast as babies and then slow down after a year or so.

5. You can't really tell gender based on looking at a snake. Since the snake has stuck eye caps, get it sexed while you are at the vet and see if the vet can tell if it is in fact gravid (this is the correct term for a ball python carrying eggs. Pregnant is the term used for mammals )

I hope this helps!

[PolkaDotPenguin]

Yup i think kaorte answered all of the questions very well!

I would also agree to get that one to the vet and have his stuck shed taken care of!

[withonor]

1. My adult BP has what appears to be many bad sheds in the form of eyecaps. Her eyes are very wrinkly or layered looking. Any solutions or ideas what it really is. I've kept the humidity higher in her cage and I've tried soaking her in warm water and the pillowcase method. I've also very lightly rubbed her eyes with a Qtip but with no success.

This question bothers me a little. I've had my python, which is about 4 years old, for two weeks now. When I first adopted him I thought, "Wow, that is an awesome animal." As I have read more here and observed him more I think he has a couple places of old shed stuck (About 4 scales total) and his eyes (One or both, can't recall now) have a wrinkle which made me think he was shedding, but I think those may have been old. I know how much effort I am putting into keeping his humidity up for this shed, his eyes are opaque blue now, and I don't see that happening with his last owners.

To keep the humidity up I have put a wet wash cloth over the screen and placed aluminum foil over that, but thats not enough. To his disliking I mist his cage, and he hisses inside his hide so I wait till humidity falls below 55% to reduce the stress as much as possible. His hissing started and increased as his eyes got more opaque, which is understandable. I went to a reptile store but they didn't have spagnum moss, just some live moss and others that appeared to be geared more towards lizards. This store did however have a huge variety of snakes, lizards and turtles.

[vjb]

I also have a mesh top and had problems with keeping humidity up. I followed the directions in this tutorial and it worked like a charm:

http://www.ball-pythons.net/forums/s...ight=duct+tape

I will say that after the shed its been tough to get the humidity down. I keep enlarging the hole in the duct tape and its helping but I am finding I'll need to open a very large hole in order for the humidity to fall sufficiently.

I plan to use a sheet of plastic to insert in between the mesh and the hole to increase the humidity during the next shed.

This question bothers me a little. I've had my python, which is about 4 years old, for two weeks now. When I first adopted him I thought, "Wow, that is an awesome animal." As I have read more here and observed him more I think he has a couple places of old shed stuck (About 4 scales total) and his eyes (One or both, can't recall now) have a wrinkle which made me think he was shedding, but I think those may have been old. I know how much effort I am putting into keeping his humidity up for this shed, his eyes are opaque blue now, and I don't see that happening with his last owners.

To keep the humidity up I have put a wet wash cloth over the screen and placed aluminum foil over that, but thats not enough. To his disliking I mist his cage, and he hisses inside his hide so I wait till humidity falls below 55% to reduce the stress as much as possible. His hissing started and increased as his eyes got more opaque, which is understandable. I went to a reptile store but they didn't have spagnum moss, just some live moss and others that appeared to be geared more towards lizards. This store did however have a huge variety of snakes, lizards and turtles.

[Vypyrz]

You don't have to use duct tape. Here is a link to and old thread that I posted pics on using cardboard strips wrapped in aluminum foil. It worked for me...


http://www.repticzone.com/forums/mes...on/2/114/main/

[tpllima88]

Yes as everyone else said if the caps are that bad take them to avet 2 get them removed or she could go blind. Also as lond as the snake is eating once a week and your not over feeding it. It will be fine. As far as the age of the other my best guess would be about 2-3 years old maybe 4. Hope this helps a bit

[seeya205]

This question bothers me a little. I've had my python, which is about 4 years old, for two weeks now. When I first adopted him I thought, "Wow, that is an awesome animal." As I have read more here and observed him more I think he has a couple places of old shed stuck (About 4 scales total) and his eyes (One or both, can't recall now) have a wrinkle which made me think he was shedding, but I think those may have been old. I know how much effort I am putting into keeping his humidity up for this shed, his eyes are opaque blue now, and I don't see that happening with his last owners.

To keep the humidity up I have put a wet wash cloth over the screen and placed aluminum foil over that, but thats not enough. To his disliking I mist his cage, and he hisses inside his hide so I wait till humidity falls below 55% to reduce the stress as much as possible. His hissing started and increased as his eyes got more opaque, which is understandable. I went to a reptile store but they didn't have spagnum moss, just some live moss and others that appeared to be geared more towards lizards. This store did however have a huge variety of snakes, lizards and turtles.

If you really need to mist, you should use very warm water because it will mist cooler than what the water temp is! It may be cold on your snake and thats why he is gettin upset. If you are using a lamp, then that is what is sucking your humidity! Coconut fibre is a good bedding for holding humidity well!