New member with their new ball python

[Oneyoungman]

Hey everyone, I just wanted to introduce myself and my new ball. Ive been lurking and learning for a while, but finally made an account after I got my first python.

Here he is, Cenarius




Im sure he's just a "normal" but he did look different than the other babies. Here are some shots of the pattern.






His white goes really high up on the sides. Will that fade as he ages or is his look going to stay the same?

He's very small, only 69g. How old do you think he is at the weight?

So far so good, though. He's very active in the evening, very social, and seems to like being held. Despite my intentions I'm fairly sure he was captive hatched or even wild caught now that I think about the answers the vendor gave to my questions. Is there anything I need to be careful about or do differently if he didn't come from a breeder?

Thanks in advance guys!

Nick

[Juliemay13]

Welcome!

[Cendalla]

Welcome. I love his pattern. It seems to me that most snakes get darker when they get older but not all. My little mojave male gets lighter with each shed so you never know. I can't judge his weight...do you know how old he is? As those pictures stand he looks alright. I'm not really sure about differences between captive and wild other than keeping an eye out for parasites. Good luck with him. He's a cutie!

[Skittles1101]

Welcome, he is a looker! He appears to be "wild type" or normal, but they vary so much and he has such a pretty pattern. He could keep his whites, I know mine had pretty high whites on him when I first got him and he's doubled in size and still has them. I would be sure you leave him alone for at least a week or two to make sure he adjusts without getting stressed (I know, it's so hard!) Make sure you check if he starts soaking in his water dish or putting his head in the water, it can be a sign of mites if you didn't get him from a breeder, which even some of those come with mites. They are easily treated so don't freak out if you see them. At his weight he could have been hatched very early this season, or just be small from last season. My smallest girl was 105 grams from last season and she was tiny. Just make sure you check that his feces look normal, not runny or anything. Parasites would be my biggest worry but luckily you can usually take a sample to a vet for them to do a fecal test and in my area it's only $25.00. I found out my first snake had pinworms from his fecal, so if your not sure where he was bred or came from it's better to be safe than sorry.

[PghBall]

Welcome. Your BP is most likely a late 2010 baby, but depending on where you got him (Petco, Petsmart etc) they probably were feeding him pinkies. From what I have seen in my local Petco/Petsmart, their BPs are housed together in one tank, underweight, and usually have shedding issues. Yours looks healthy from the pics. I would definitely start him out on rat fuzzies though and once he gets around 300 gram range, move him to small rats. Also keep him on a 5 day feeding schedule til he gets to 300 g's and then go to a 7 day schedule. You'll see him put on weight in no time. Another thing I'm sure you've read is to give him 2 identical hides in his tank (just assuming you have a tank at this point). Also don't use heat lamps, but rather get a good under tank heat pad and a thermostat. If you've been reading up, adjust it to get your hot spot and ambient temps (ambient temp should be around 78-80 and hot spot around 90). If you have a screen lid, cover 3/4 of it with aluminum foil to keep your humidity at a good level (min of 50/60%).

Your BP will get darker as he ages most likely but will prob keep the white sides. He's a nice looking wildtype. Again, welcome to the addiction!

[dragonboy4578]

Welcome to BP.net.

Very nice looking bp.

[mues155]

Welcome to the BP.net forums!
Your new BP is a cutie pie for sure! Have fun and enjoy being a snake owner!

[Oneyoungman]

I got him from the Havre De Grace Reptile show, No petsmart or anything like that for me. I've had a variety of other types of reptiles, this is just my first ball.

Yep, he's got a perfect set up, a bunch of different places to hide, that being said he doesn't go in them much. He seems to prefer to hide in the fake plants, which I guess counts as good as a hide does to him haha.

When we first got home he stuck his head in the water, but I think he was just really thirsty from being in those acrylic containers all day. He hasnt soaked or anything, and Ive been crazy checking for mites. But so far I don't think he has any. Its possible the vendor already treated him, but who knows.

Im very happy with him. I went looking for a spider, but there were none to be found except a very very large female. So I decided rather than waiting for another reptile show to get him instead. I might go crazy with anticipation if I had to wait a couple more months lol

[DellaF]

Welcome! He's a cutie.