new pair of BP

[Lonnie]

Ok,I purchased a pair of ball pythons last week at a local Petco,not sure if that was a good thing or not but wanted to get one for me and one for my step-son so there you have it. The one he chose started out kind of shy but came around after a couple of days.The one I chose was exploring in the tank and being more curious as to the new living arrangements. They were in the same enclosure together at the pet store and were the only BP there. We were told that they eat a pinky every Mon,no problem. Upon contacting the vet that they gave us a card for,I found out that these 2 snakes should have been eating adult mice. The store manager told me these snakes were approx. 5 months old.They are right around 2' in length,my problem is, my step-son's snake will eat,we fed it 2 pinkies on fri and it ate 1 last night.The other will not eat at all.We are feeding the same frozen mice that the store fed them,what should I do? They are in separate tanks now,would that be a problem? Temp is 85-90 with average around 84-85,humidity 50-70%. I also have it in a 55 gal tank with 2 hides and a water bowl.Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

[mattb]

Welcome. First how long ago did you get them? If it has been less than a a week I would let him settle for at least a week before you feed him or take him out so he can get used to his surrounding. Some don't need much time others do. Second my temps for my hot side is 92 and the cool side I keep at about 80 so IMO your cool side is a little warm. Some pics would be good to to see him and his enclosure. Thanks. And again welcome.

[Kylegep]

Wow, the snakes are 2 feet? They should not be eating pinkies at all!! Minimum they need to eat adult mice. I don't know what the pet store guy is talking about!! But to answer your question try a bigger prey next week. Trying to feed them when they don't want to can cause.stress. also a 55 aquarium is pretty big for a ball python. Other than that all your temps seem fine. Good luck!

[Annarose15]

They are in separate tanks now,would that be a problem? Temp is 85-90 with average around 84-85,humidity 50-70%. I also have it in a 55 gal tank with 2 hides and a water bowl.Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Separate tanks are actually ideal - pet stores house them together because they have limited space and don't plan to keep them for long. Make sure his hides fit him snugly, and definitely add a few more in there. 55gal is enormous for even an adult BP, but you can make it work if you have enough "stuff" in there to keep him from feeling exposed. If he doesn't eat after a couple of more weeks, I would set him up in a 6qt or 15qt tub until he is a more established eater. Make sure you feed in-tank to avoid stressing him by moving back and forth (not in a separate enclosure). Your average (aka ambient) temp should be ~80deg, with a hot spot on one end at ~90deg so he can choose what temp he prefers. Oh, and he can definitely go up in size for prey. Mouse pinkies are typically too small for the smallest new hatchlings. You can also increase feeding frequency to every 5 days until they hit ~500g or so, then drop down to weekly.

The easiest tool for caring for BPs that many people forget about is a digital kitchen scale. Monitoring weight (and writing it down) will let you know if there is a problem when they don't eat too long, as well as help indicate when to go up in prey size (10-15% of body weight).

This is a great resource on this site to check your setup and husbandry against:
http://ball-pythons.net/forums/showt...ius)-Caresheet

Good luck and welcome to BP.net!