I want to know ABOUT ALICE. :)

[mues155]

Yes I have the UTH pad with a sticky bottom that she came with.I just figured it was ridiculously hot for that! I do see what you mean after reading the care sheet though. Basking hot spot is a must! We have a thermostat around her somewhere. I have the bf hunting through his electronics right now

I have never seen her soak in her dish, however she does enjoy drinking.I have seen her drink for a LONNNG time on several occasions . I'm glad I came here. I feel like an idiot about this stuff. I would have done the research prior, but it was not that type of situation.
She will teach me plenty I am sure. In the meantime all I can do is make her comfortable and admire her .

Ok good to hear about the thermostat and the UTH.

If your Alice is anything like my snakes you will see her soak lol. Of course i have 12 BPs so someone is always soaking at some point. Usually its around shedding time like i said.

Dont feel like an idot we all had to start like you are and we all had to ask these questions too. Thats how we learn! Im glad you feel informed, feel free to ask anything you are concerned about. We are more than happy to help.

[Tia Badger]

When I first moved to the area I lived in Austin with 3 roommates. One of them had 2 BPs in a nice/lg enclosure. However he fed his snakes once a month . I am just now learning that Alice can eat every 2 weeks if not weekly! I now feel bad for the snakes I used to live with.
I thought it was weird when he told me they eat once a month...who does that anyway? Im cranky when I am hungry.

Alice is very active tonight. I was holding her earlier, and letting her explore on the bed. I think she is sad that I put her away after all of that fun time. She will just have to wait til tomorrow! Not everyone is a party animal like herself and stays up late.

[mues155]

When I first moved to the area I lived in Austin with 3 roommates. One of them had 2 BPs in a nice/lg enclosure. However he fed his snakes once a month . I am just now learning that Alice can eat every 2 weeks if not weekly! I now feel bad for the snakes I used to live with.
I thought it was weird when he told me they eat once a month...who does that anyway? Im cranky when I am hungry.

Alice is very active tonight. I was holding her earlier, and letting her explore on the bed. I think she is sad that I put her away after all of that fun time. She will just have to wait til tomorrow! Not everyone is a party animal like herself and stays up late.

Once a month feeding isnt devastating to a BP, as long as it was an appropriate sized meal.
Most people on here are breeders and do feed once a week. Our snakes need to be at optimal health and weight for breeding.
Usually people swear by feeding more often and feeding smaller meals vs. less often and larger meals.

Well Alice seems to have fallen into nice hands. Im just glad your using what you've learned. Most people wouldnt even try and find a forum and ask the questions you did. So good for you! your already on your way to be a great snake owner!

[SilverDemon]

The fact that you're trying to find out how to give your girl the best care she can have speaks volumes. Trust me, everyone starts from somewhere, no one was born with this knowledge (well, I do wonder sometimes on some of the admins... ).

She looks to be in good hands. As big as she is, and since you don't plan to breed her, probably a meal every 7-10 days would suit her just fine. Give it time, you'll learn what she likes and doesn't like.

Just remember, if you're feeding live, do NOT leave her alone with the prey until it's dead and she's started swallowing. You'd be surprised how much damage a mouse or a rat can do to a snake in a short amount of time. You don't have to be breathing down her neck, just keep an eye on her and have some tongs or something nearby incase you need to intervene for her sake.

[Tia Badger]

The guy I got her from said she eats thawed rats. I LOVED that idea . I'm one of those people that can't witness something die. I mean of course I have SEEN it, I just prefer not to. I was thrilled to hear that my snake will happily scarf down a thawed rat. She has no issues at all eating. I was reading about feeding her in her enclosure vs. in a sep one.
I have a special tub that I feed her in, and she DOES get overly excited after eating 1 rat. I cannot get her out of the "feeding bin" for a good while. She will spend a few hours in there until she chills out! I think it's cute though.

She grabs the rat, i close the lid to give her privacy and go about my business.
When I see no more rat I try to put her back in her enclosure. Well Alice is not happy about that . She will strike at me when I open her "feeding bin" lid. That is why we are going to feed her 2 rats this time and see if there is a diff. in her behavior. Hell maybe she is just THAT hungry and wants more. Usually though if we give her a few hours she will let us put her back in her enclosure.

The bf wants to feed her a live mouse "just ONCE". Will that make her a crazy snake and make her want to eat our moving hands now?

[jbean7916]

Theres really no reason to feed in a separate enclosure, especially if shes striking afterwards. Try feeding in her cage next time. And I feed all mine live since they go back and forth on their acceptance of f/t and none of them are interested in eating my moving hands!

sent from my EVO

[pbjtime8908]

i usually feed mine in a seperate smaller container just because mice are stupid and like to run away so i figured it made it a bit easier for the little guy and he's never struck at me when i go to remove him. i have started just putting the mouse in his normal enclosure and even though the mice run away and it takes awhile, he seems to enjoy the hunt. but either way i go he's never tried to bite me.

[mjmendoza]

Alice is great looking normal.

[crepers86]

hey Tia congrats on your love for your new pet and friend. I can't really tell the size of your Ball, but Alice is very pretty, and does look like you have her in a 10 Gal and which it will grow out of pretty quickly. I would like to recommend Sterilite tubes they to me are the best and cheaper and easier to clean. I use news paper for my bedding so normally when I see a poo or pee, I can left the snake out, remove news paper, and wipe down, and once a month so much easier to drag out side and do a through was with the garden hose and a mild soup. I would recommend just getting 106 quart tube with a locking lid and putting a heavy brick or something on top of it. I am going to show you a picture of my tubes the 106 is the one with the blue lid the other will be just as good but is a 64 quart, depends on what you have as money wise 64 was $8 at Dollar General and the 106 was $12. I do recommend the seperate enclosure feeding, just because everytime you lift that lid the snake may start to think your hand is food and a strike, bit, latch, and coil is just really uncomfortable and annoying as heck. and they will associet the feeding "Din" with time to eat, in which I use a small show box size sterilite tube for mine.

the pros with these tubes is they hold heat and humidity really well. They are easier to clean, I can remove the heat pad and everything inside and move it because they are light. also if I need to transport my snakes somewhere, I can remove the heating pad and dump the water I can just take the whole tube with me, then there enclosures never really change so it seems less stressful on the snake.

the con is this, and about the only problem I have is getting the UTH to stick to the tube so I just electrical tape. It don't leave a miss and stays put to the tube

as far as what they meant by your BP being a normal, that its a normal, average, everyday Ball Python. its your most readily available petco petsmart BP. and at more mom and pop local owned stores are normely in the $25-$40 range, and ranging from $50 to $100 on your adult size. There are at least 500 differnt morphs (meaning genetic traits, and color paterns of these snakes) ranging from $100 to I've seen one going for almost $50,000. Your will be on the higher end of normal BP price range depending on its size and age, the older and larger the more the price and worth.

[crepers86]

The guy I got her from said she eats thawed rats. I LOVED that idea . I'm one of those people that can't witness something die. I mean of course I have SEEN it, I just prefer not to. I was thrilled to hear that my snake will happily scarf down a thawed rat. She has no issues at all eating. I was reading about feeding her in her enclosure vs. in a sep one.
I have a special tub that I feed her in, and she DOES get overly excited after eating 1 rat. I cannot get her out of the "feeding bin" for a good while. She will spend a few hours in there until she chills out! I think it's cute though.

She grabs the rat, i close the lid to give her privacy and go about my business.
When I see no more rat I try to put her back in her enclosure. Well Alice is not happy about that . She will strike at me when I open her "feeding bin" lid. That is why we are going to feed her 2 rats this time and see if there is a diff. in her behavior. Hell maybe she is just THAT hungry and wants more. Usually though if we give her a few hours she will let us put her back in her enclosure.

The bf wants to feed her a live mouse "just ONCE". Will that make her a crazy snake and make her want to eat our moving hands now?

if the rat is of the correct size (1.5 to 2 times the thickest part of your snakes body) I wouldn't feed your snake more then one but it looks almost like a your snake can take a small rat (again trying to judge size compared to what looks like 10 gal tank).

my baby Ball I normally have to let her settle for at least thirty minutes after she takes down her food, the rescue I have and my big girl I can pic up right as way as long as my hands don't have the smell of rats or mice on them.

my Big girl will only eat live med or large rats, however my baby will eat live and F/T the rescue I wont even aknowledge a live rodent. my Big girl eats only live like I said, and she is the calmest most docile sweetest snake I own. so you may just want to let Alice sit for about 30 min. you gotta remember they are more volnerable when eating and pushing down there food and can cause them to regurge and that ain't pretty at all so yeah you should do fine