Please, I need some help. (food, shedding)

[llovelace]

The shed issue is not a major prob, I would just monitor the humidity, and throw in some moist sea sponges when you see his belly turning pink (the beginning if impending shed).
I'm sure once he gets up to weight, all things will be well.

[Compher]

The shed issue is not a major prob, I would just monitor the humidity, and throw in some moist sea sponges when you see his belly turning pink (the beginning if impending shed).
I'm sure once he gets up to weight, all things will be well.

Ok will do. I'm still probably going to take it to the vet to check for parasites. I'm getting a scale tonight after work or tomorrow to check the weight. And one last question, if I make a humid hide with some moss/sea sponges, and keep him in there for like a week before shed, what are the chances of getting scale rot? or is that not an issue for only having him in there a week?

[llovelace]

No worries on the scale rot possibility, since your snake will move in and out of the hide as needed.

[Compher]

ok so I got a IR thermometer gun thingy, and I am now regulating temps better. Now a quick question, His shedding is not coming along all that well, is it definitely ok to keep him in a hide floored with very moist sphagnum moss? With a floor temp of around 85F?

[Compher]

Well I put the moss in (it's moist) in a hide to make a shedding chamber, but he refuses to stay in it.

[TheAnalogue]

I think that it probably has something to do with what he has ben eating. this shed might not go so well but if you feed him properly sized prey the next shed might be a good one. remember ball pythons can eat food items up to 15% of their body weight. I have a 6 month old female that weighs approx. 320 grams I feed her a 40-50 gram rat every 5 days

[Compher]

Should I wait for the shed to complete before feeding? or just feed tomorrow? i'm going to be feeding him 50 gram rats for awhile. Any around what age the food maxes in size and what size it is?

[TheAnalogue]

Should I wait for the shed to complete before feeding? or just feed tomorrow? i'm going to be feeding him 50 gram rats for awhile. Any around what age the food maxes in size and what size it is?

a ball python should eat prey items that are just slightly larger around than the snake is at its widest point. as I said in my previous post you can weigh your snake and then multiply its weight (in grams) by 0.15 (aka 15%) the number you get is the weight (in grams) of the food item that you should feed.

so using the example I had above a 320 gram snake:

320x0.15=48

so I feed my snake 40-50 gram rats.

once you know how many grams your snake can eat then you can go to a website: www.rodentpro.com this website sells frozen feeder rodents. you don't have to buy from them just look at what they have. They list their rodents by type length and weight (in grams)

As for feeding tomorrow you should at least offer the snake a meal. Worst case he won't take it. I would strongly suggest that it be pre killed if you don't normally do so anyway as the snake isn't at the top of its game at the moment.

[Compher]

So last night I put the moss in there and this morning I woke up to find that the rest of the shed actually came off in about 4 large peices. Going to weigh and feed when I get home

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[purplemuffin]

Awesome! Hopefully things will start looking good soon when your snake gets food!