Adopting a BP, advice needed

[Lferg]

Hey guys, this is my first post. The situation is this, my deal. My wife works at a vet who is an exotic animal specialist. A guy brings in a ~2yr old albino ball python that is just stunning in color. He says he can afford to feed it anymore and it has to go. Be has everything in his truck, proceeds to unload it in the parking lot, places the snake in the aquarium and drives off.... Crazy, I know. Anyway the wife says we have a member of the family, maybe permeant maybe find it a home....
Ok so it's like 4.5ft or so. It NEEDS to eat for sure, the vet said it hasn't eating in probably a month and wasn't eating regularly anyway, it's needs to be fattened up and to get healthy. The cage is a ~40 long acrylic aquarium that to me is too narrow. There is a heat lamp and a hearing pad with a timer. A human heating pad not an under tank pad. So, I am going to build it a better bigger cage and I have been reading up on proper housing and heat requirements and such. My question really is about feeding him. I was told he probably won't eat until his stress level goes down. Can some one tell me how often to feed him, the best cheapest place for bulk frozen food ect. Thanks for the advice in advance.

[dr del]

Hi,

Do you know what he was eating in the past?

Just in case he was on live and resists F/T. No point in buying a freezer load of things he won't eat.

If he hasn't eaten in a while you will want to feed him smaller prey items than normal to gently restart the system.

Then, once he has had those you can move up to the normal feeding size - I'm going to say he should be on small rats at his size normally.

You might also want to read more about tub and tank sizes before deciding what to build him - too much space can actually be a bad thing for Ball pythons.

Have a read through the caresheet as well.


dr del

[Kymberli]

Looks like Dr. Del hit the most important topics. Great job on giving the poor snake a new home! It's a shame that people can live with themselves after dumping an animal off somewhere instead of properly finding it a new home. There's plenty of people who would take in an Albino BP no questions asked.

[Lferg]

Yea the guy said it has only eaten frozen and apparently that's why he can't afford it. Otherwise he would catch it wild living pray... Yes this guy was a genius I know. The Dr said to just go to Petsmart and get a few frozen rats for now.... After that do you recommend a vendor?
I'll read through the caresheet, thanks. This isn't how we like to do things. It would have been optimal to be able to get all this worked out BEFORE we brought something like this into our home, but it's a lot better than the alternative. I'll read through the care sheet and search the forum for relevant threads. I guess I'm kinda just panicking because I know this snake needs really good care.

[AkHerps]

I'd say dont worry about building a cage right now.

Go get these few things.
Sterilite tub
Heat pad
Lamp dimmer(lowes $10)
Accurite thermometer/hydrometer combo with probe(walmart $10)


You put some holes in the side of the tub with usually a soldering iron.

Tubs hold heat and humidity very well and help snakes feel safe.

You put the heat pad on one side on the bottom of the tub on the outside. Put the accurite probe inside the tub under the substrate, Paper towels, aspen, etc..then the part of the accurite that tells the temps, Put that on the cool side.

The heat pad gets plugged into the dimmer switch to control the heat output.

You want belly heat to be 90-92 and cool 78-80. This can take some fiddling with the dimmer to get it right.

Stick a water dish and two hides in it and you are good to go.

I also suggest getting a nice thermostat to replace the dimmer when you can.

Then leave him alone for a week and try feeding a mouse/rat witj feeding tongs. If he doesn't take it. Leave it in with him for a couple hours/overnight. To make f\t more appealing, heat up the head with a blow dryer.

[zues]

Can't believe no one has asked yet. We love pictures around here. Post a picture when you get a chance.

[Lferg]

Thanks for all the replies! The care sheet is a wealth of info! Thanks Dr. For pointing me to that. Doesn't seem like I need to panic too much. My passion is cigars so I have the digital Hygro/temp gauge and I am very well versed in maintaing temp and RH. easy enough. I think I will go with a tub to get him some security if nothing else for the time being. Again, thanks fir the help and for calming my nerves. I am definitely going to be sticking around here learning and sharing as much as I can....
Oh and I'll try to get some pics up this weekend! Thanks guys...
One last question, just to try to gauge the situation of the previous 'owner'. What IS an average cost of feeding an adult male BP?

[Kymberli]

Thanks for all the replies! The care sheet is a wealth of info! Thanks Dr. For pointing me to that. Doesn't seem like I need to panic too much. My passion is cigars so I have the digital Hygro/temp gauge and I am very well versed in maintaing temp and RH. easy enough. I think I will go with a tub to get him some security if nothing else for the time being. Again, thanks fir the help and for calming my nerves. I am definitely going to be sticking around here learning and sharing as much as I can....
Oh and I'll try to get some pics up this weekend! Thanks guys...
One last question, just to try to gauge the situation of the previous 'owner'. What IS an average cost of feeding an adult male BP?

Depends on where you purchase the frozen rodents from. I purchase mine from a local Ball Python and Rodent breeder who also owns a reptile store. The size of the prey depends on the size of the snake. My male and female normals are the same size right now, I feed them both small rats which are about $2.20 each. They eat about once a week, so for one of them I pay $8-10 a month.. really not very expensive, in my honest opinion.

Btw, I strongly recommend sticking with the tub setup to house him in. Display tanks are wonderful, but from experience they are a pain in the butt to maintain proper temperatures and humidity. Also a serious pain in the butt to clean! I switched to Sterilite tubs and never looked back!

[anatess]

Thanks for all the replies! The care sheet is a wealth of info! Thanks Dr. For pointing me to that. Doesn't seem like I need to panic too much. My passion is cigars so I have the digital Hygro/temp gauge and I am very well versed in maintaing temp and RH. easy enough. I think I will go with a tub to get him some security if nothing else for the time being. Again, thanks fir the help and for calming my nerves. I am definitely going to be sticking around here learning and sharing as much as I can....
Oh and I'll try to get some pics up this weekend! Thanks guys...
One last question, just to try to gauge the situation of the previous 'owner'. What IS an average cost of feeding an adult male BP?

Very cheap. REALLY.

I mean - even if you don't go the frozen route (cheaper)... you can get an appropriate rat at the reptile shop for about $3.99. Multiply that by 4 weeks in a month and you're out about $16 per month to feed a bp the expensive way.

My dog costs a lot more than that.

[Lferg]

about $16 per month to feed a bp the expensive way.

This makes me very sad for the person who gave this animal up.