New here and concerned about feeding/growth

[Kymberli]

Thanks for the quick replies. As for the humidity, yeah I think her dial broke last week. It was reading 70% though I can only imagine it isn't at that since she had a bad shed. It came off all in one piece except for the tip of the tail which is hanging on. I am going this weekend to buy a new (and better) humidity gauge for her. Our other ball's cage has a much better temp/humidity reader, so I am probably going to go and buy that one as he never has shedding issues.

As for the weight, she hasn't lost, somehow, but hasn't gained either. Our other guy is growing like a weed. She used to be the "big one", and now the size difference is amazing. Hopefully we can get her on a better pattern soon. She has really come out of her shell in the past few months (she is much more shy than the big guy), so I'm hoping better feeding is soon to follow.

I'll check for rats for the big guy. The reason I didn't try them yet is when I went to the reptile show, they said for his size rats were inappropriate and the extra large adult mice were the way to go. We feed him every weekend, and after one "appropriately sized mouse" (according to the keepers there), he is still starving. I feel so bad for the poor thing I give him another, but if that's not safe I'll definitely stop.

And I really need to come up with names and stop calling them "he" and "she" . I tried to name the little one Snickers but the hubby was not having it.

I thought it was unsafe to feed live mice due to risk of injury to the snake? That's what I have been told, maybe that's not true? They have both been on frozen mice since hatching. We have tried the tricks like warming them up and splitting them a bit so they are more obvious, and all of that. We haven't tried live yet though, I'll give it a try if she keeps eating sparsely. For the past few months it has been two mice per month for her.

Are you using dial gauges or digital hygrometers? The dial ones are only good for throwing at the person who sold them to you. Walmart has Accu-rite thermomter/hygrometers with a probe, so it reads two temperatures and the humidity. About $14, GREAT investment!

If she hasn't lost weight, that could possibly rule out parasites, but not completely. It would be best if you tracked her weight using a scale in grams because she could lose quite a bit of weight before it becomes apparent to the eyes.

As for feeding live, it's perfectly fine as long as the mouse or rat isn't too big and you don't leave it in for too long. There are many threads on here you can search for about feeding live. Many are against it, but for a picky eater live may be the only way to go! When they first come out of the egg they are fed live then sometimes switched to f/t. Think of big breeders with hundreds or thousands of snakes.. do you think they thaw out hundreds or thousands of mice/rats each time they feed? Heck no! They toss in live rodents but take them out if they aren't killed in a certain amount of time. If you're worried, keep an eye on it and if the snake seems scared of it, doesn't kill it, or doesn't pay attention to it go ahead and take it out after about 15mins. If the live rodent was properly fed it will likely not feed on the snake, may take a quick nip at it if the snake doesn't coil around it correctly, but that's a risk you have to take to get her eating regularly. If you're completely uncomfortable feeding live, rodent breeders often offer "pre-killed" rodents, rather than live or frozen. They humanely euthanize it right before you take it home. Fresh killed is better than frozen/thawed to some BPs.


And don't worry about names...I have three who are all nameless.