Quote Originally Posted by Fatman View Post
So I have worked with Ball Pythons at both a pet store and a zoo for a couple years and just today finally bought my first BP.
I bought it off of someone that had to move and couldn't take her with and to be honest I don't know how well he cared for her...
Since this is the first snake that I have actually owned I had a few questions...

1. She has shed recently. I don't know how recently (the oprevious owner couldn't remember), but it couldn't have been too long ago as there were still parts of her shed in her cage when I bought her. He said that she always has shed in patches like that, but I know that it should ideally be in 1 piece.
Could this just be a problem with the humidity that he kept her at? Would puttign in a humidity hide during shedding help that as well?

2. Along with the shed question... it seems that she still has bits that havent come off. Would a soak be the solution for that?

3. He said she has always eaten live mice. Will it be hard to switch to F/T?
I have heard that BPs can be fairly easy to switch over, but also that some are rather picky...

4. Finally, he said that he fed her 1 mouse a month. Should I slowly work her up to feeding her once a week or can I just start offering food every week starting now?

Any help would be appreciated.
Normally I would spend hours researching all of this on the internet, but unfortunately my laptop crashed a few days ago and the computer I'm on now has too many people sharing it to spend that much time on lol.
Congrads on your first ball pythons, they are great pets!

1. I usually keep my ball pythons at around 60% humidity all the time. When they go into the end of a shed cycle(right after their eyes switch from blue to semi clear) I will increase the humidity by pouring some water on their shaving or paper.

2. I would soak her in semi warm water that is 75% of her body height from 30 minutes and then let her crawl thru your hand while you are holding a paper towel. It should freely come off.

3. You might feed her live mice a few times while she is adjusting to her new home. Then switching should go smoothly. Just make sure the f/t mice are very warm to trigger her interest. Move it quickly to excite her.

4. Switch her over right away. She will adapt to the increase of food well and most likely have a much needed growth spurt.

5. I would leave her alone for a couple of days. Her old stuff is not important. Ball pythons usually adapt to new homes well.

Good luck and have fun!