ball python first feed tips please :)

[Willie76]

I would decide what you are going to feed him first, rats or mice, by what is readily available. I order my frozen rats online in bulk.

A little story...

A few months back I was at PetSmart getting some dog food when I came across their Ball Python enclosure. There was one lonely Normal BP left. As I looked at her (confirmed she was a she) I noticed she had a bad shed and seemed a little small. The temps and humidity were way wrong (20% and around 75 degrees-enclosure was just inside the front door about 20 feet and in the middle of Winter) in the enclosure. SO I took it upon myself to "rescue" this BP from the wicked PetSmart keepers. When I saw that she was 3 months old, I immediately knew she was in danger if I didn't buy her. So I did, took her home, weighed her and put her in quarantine. She, at only 3 months weighed a measly 100g. She was being fed ONE mouse fuzzy a week at PS. I kept her on the one mouse fuzzy for a couple of weeks, then moved her to two mouse fuzzies a week for about a month. Last month, I switched her to rat fuzzies and she is now onto rat pups...and she is thriving! She is currently 5 months old and weighs a little over 250g. She has come along so well and am glad I was able to rescue her from her PetSmart hell.

Long story short, I do use the 10%-15% rule right now in my two young-ins' and they are thriving very, very well.

[hovercroft]

Good on you! Some shops really don't know how to look after reptiles. I heard about a shop that had a baby corn snake and they were feeding it crickets! Well it had crickets bouncing round the tank obviously wasn't eating them but getting harassed. I bought 2 bearded dragons from a reptile shop. When i got home i noticed they had tons of mites! Thankfully acted fast to get rid of them and they are growing fast and eating well now anyway good news. I have got my thermostat so viv is set up correctly now the hot side is 90 but the cold side is 75 is this okay? There's 3 hides cold middle and hot side. So he can thermo regulate. Hopefully the cold end will rise a bit during the day. And I'm going to stick to mice as that's what he was fed on before i got him

[Willie76]

What type of enclosure do you have him in? Are you using belly heat (UTH), overhead heating lamps, radiant heat panels? How large is the enclosure? Most would probably say to try to get that cool end up a few degrees as it may lead to a respiratory infection, but my Normal seems to like the cooler temps. My Normal's hot spot is 90 (UTH on a thermostat), ambient on warm side is around 86 and my cool side is around 78-79. Surface (snake-level) temp right in the middle is at 80 degrees so she has a nice 8-12 degree gradient from the warm to the cool side. Works for her and I see her all over and she seems like a very happy snake.

[hovercroft]

Hes in a 2 foot wooden viv with a che. I did use a uth but wasn't heating the viv up enough. Any ideas on raising the cool temperature up a bit? Would a higher watt bulb increase the cool side even if it was still set to 90 on the hot side? Does that make sense or am i making that up ha

Edit: I've just checked and cool side is on 77 now

[Willie76]

Remember, the UTH is not really used for heating the cage, rather for belly heat to help with digestion and such. Screen top? I would make sure 2/3 of it is covered. Some use aluminum foil, some use plexiglass. I am finding that by using a hand towel wet down (not dripping wet...but saturated) covering my screen top 2/3 of the way (over the cool and middle) and placing my heat lamp over the warm side, it not only helps to keep heat in but also helps keep my humidity dead on around 55%. I just re-wet the towel every other day.

Summers where I live can get very humid so I plan on switching over to plexi then...

I am learning myself...but the above has worked for me.

[hovercroft]

No screen top. All wooden with 2 sliding glass doors. Cool end is about 78 now so happy with that. Humidity is good too. He seems to prefer the cool side as well. The temps are taken at surface level too think I've finally got the temp/humidity right after a week! can actually let him settle now

[Willie76]

No screen top. All wooden with 2 sliding glass doors. Cool end is about 78 now so happy with that. Humidity is good too. He seems to prefer the cool side as well. The temps are taken at surface level too think I've finally got the temp/humidity right after a week! can actually let him settle now

YOU da MAN or WOMAN (if the case may be).

[hovercroft]

Haha man! Although my woman is getting very grumpy because I'm always in my reptile room haha

[Willie76]

Haha man! Although my woman is getting very grumpy because I'm always in my reptile room haha

I hear ya! My wife says I call my snakes sweetheart more than I do her...I think she's right

[hovercroft]

Haha she says she gets neglected every time i get a reptile. Well, they are my babies after all and need looking after!