A few quick questions

[Naom9Anne]

7 days sounds good for a 360g BP in my opinion. I have snakes on either end of that scale. My pastel is around 260g empty and my het albino boy is around 550g empty and both are on a 7 day schedule. For a 360 I would be on small weanlings which vary in weight from around 26g to 50g. Are you planning on feeding Frozen thawed? If so you could ask the supplier to give you some of the larger small weanlings so that you're not feeding too little. I think (although I may be wrong) that a small rat is too big for a 360g BP. My 550g boy is only on large weanlings (between 51-80g according to a comparison site I found online)

Here is the link I got that information from, the weights of course aren't set in stone but give a good rough guideline:

http://www.frozenfeeder.com/sizing.html

As I said if you are feeding F/T you can ask the supplier to weigh the food and even ask what they might suggest if you are buying in hand and not online. If he is eating the small rat though I may be wrong, not sure if you are asking in advance or if this is what the BP is already eating?

Hope I've helped a little bit, this is just from my very short experience! Trust me you get used to it very quickly though and soon you will forget what it was like before you had your BP. Good luck

[Crazymonkee]

First find out what he is currently eating, then go from there. I might have missed it, is this from breeder?

Sent from my DROID RAZR using Tapatalk

[Phantomtip]

Remember go by the largest section or weight of your bp.how old is he? I am going to guess under a year. If I'm wrong sorry. You can also get rat hoppers as I call them if they are appropriate sized. They are just like mouse hopper just in rat size lol. I have hodes on BOTH sides of my cage. Plus the water dish in the center is a kind of hide. My girl goes on all of them or she will sit and look out her "window" area lol. She's been a lot more active last couple days so I need to get her some food. I personally would never house an adult bp in a 10 gallon. 20 long atleast and that is what I start hatchlings in with a lot of appropriately sized hides. I will also cover the outside completely for a while till it got acclimated and relaxed. Good luck in what ever you decide.

[RobertsKitty]

The guy I bought him from said one small rat every 7 days but he also said he would eat rats or mice and frozen or live which seems contradicting to the finicky eating I've heard so I'm not sure if he was just trying to make a sale. That's why I was wanting to ask. So pups or smalls?

[Naom9Anne]

I would suggest a small weanling rat, sounds right size and weight wise

[Garnet]

I am hoping to get my first ball python sometime soon and I had a few questions.

Hi! I just got my first, and probably only, ball python in September. I got a male normal who was born on June 11. Hubby and I named him Skull and we enjoy him thoroughly.

The first I'm just curious, about what time in the evening do your snakes become active. I know this is a highly variable question because each snake is different. I'm really hoping that by around 8 or 9 at night that it would start to wake up and move around just because that is when we are home and relaxing in the living room. This would also be the time I would hope to be able to handle the snake. I have read a lot of different info about rooming a snake that has been sleeping from its cage. Some say its a big no no and others say its fine. Ideas and opinions?

Skull tends to get active after I get home from work around 5 pm. He'll stay active anywhere from an hour to three hours except on the days we feed him. When we feed him, ZIP off he goes to his warm hide. He also gets active in the wee morning hours although we're not sure for how long or precisely when as hubby and I tend to be in bed. I just know that when I've gotten up to use the bathroom at 3 or 4 in the morning, Skull is sometimes out and about. When he's hungry, he tends to be active for longer periods of time. Right after he's fed, we don't see anything but his nose peeping out of his hide for right around 24 hours, sometimes a little longer.

Also I have gotten a LOT of varying information on what to feed and what size. What are, if any, the generally accepted guidelines for feeding?

As a new keeper myself, this is something that I've struggled with a bit. Due to my misunderstanding of what my boy's breeder was doing, I'd been under feeding Skull. I didn't understand that the breeder was feeding him rats from day one. I was feeding him mice which were much too small and I've been given to understand that rats are better for ball pythons than mice. We've recently remedied that and are now feeding him a rat pup every 5 days. We tend now to go by feeding a prey item that is just a little larger than his girth.

I have also seen a lot of varying info about enclosure size (from 10 to 75 gallons for an adult). I am assuming as with most things bigger is always better but what is the best average size without busting the bank?

Skull is in a 20-gallon tank that was previously used by a local pet store here to house a snake. We got the tank for $40. My husband spent a few days scouring and sterilizing it. Skull is about 20 - 22 inches long (our best guess, he doesn't hold still too well for measuring ) and as of a few days ago, weighs 129 grams. We have two hides, one warm and one cool. He uses both of them. We also have a sturdy water bowl and climbing tree of dried grape vine. When Skull is active, he spends quite a bit of time slithering around on the grape vine. He also has a tendency to ball up on the humidity sprayers we have at the top of his tank leading us to think that there may be a bit of tree boa in his ancestry.

Are there generally any personality differences in gender (females more or less friendly etc) or is it all pretty well the same?

Thanks for all the information!

As a first time keeper myself, I really don't know about gender personality differences. We picked Skull up at a reptile show. We got him because of all the breeders in the place, the breeder we bought from had the healthiest looking animals. The breeders were, and still are, completely awesome in answering our N00B questions. We picked our boy specifically because he looked healthy, lively and I loved his coloring. When we handled him at the show, he was alert, seemed curious but didn't seem the least bit stressed or agitated. I do recall that I did ask the breeder about size differences and only looked at males because we wanted a snake on the smaller end of the spectrum. Skull does tend to be more active than other ball pythons. The breeder told us that he was much more active than his clutch mates from day one.

I wish you luck in your quest to find a snake. I can tell you that my husband and I enjoy our Skull a great deal. I'm really happy that we decided to make the leap and get him.

[Crazymonkee]

The guy I bought him from said one small rat every 7 days but he also said he would eat rats or mice and frozen or live which seems contradicting to the finicky eating I've heard so I'm not sure if he was just trying to make a sale. That's why I was wanting to ask. So pups or smalls?

Some balls will eat anything so it probably wasn't a sales pitch, however the do get stressed from the move so I would first try the size the breeder is feeding as that is what he is used to. I would say for the first feeding go with a small, judge the size of the rat to be the same or a lil bigger than the widest part of the snake

Sent from my DROID RAZR using Tapatalk

[NH93]

Where have you read that it's good to house an adult in a 10 gallon tank???? That is what you said above.

Dude,BPs,just don't wake up and slither around..

But honestly,keeping a healthy enviroment for your snake is common sense and requires some effort and having $$ to be able to afford the utilites ( heating,bulbs,domes,UTHs,bedding etc) ,as well as the possibility of any vet bills. One thing I always say is ,If you are not financially stable,you shouldn't have a pet. They can be pricey. That is my opinion. Good luck

Disagree!

My ball actually DOES wake up and slither around! I have been noticing it more and more, even during the day light. 5pm is around the time he wakes up and starts checking out different hides, 8-10pm is when he's most active, as sometimes sits right under his red bulb - even though he's got a nice warm UTH. However I have been noticing him watching me during the middle of the day, or going to get a drink of water, etc.
Again, as the OP understands, all snakes are different.



Good luck OP! You sound like you are on the right track. Keep it up!

[NYHC4LIFE8899]

Disagree!

My ball actually DOES wake up and slither around! I have been noticing it more and more, even during the day light. 5pm is around the time he wakes up and starts checking out different hides, 8-10pm is when he's most active, as sometimes sits right under his red bulb - even though he's got a nice warm UTH. However I have been noticing him watching me during the middle of the day, or going to get a drink of water, etc.
Again, as the OP understands, all snakes are different.



Good luck OP! You sound like you are on the right track. Keep it up!

Mine use one hide only,both of them..they very rarely if ever explore out of there hides.once in a while in the middle of the night I'll catch them. They ever jus hang out of there hides and if so,I'd assume something is off in the enclosure ..yeah they all are different I guess...only reason I can assume they constantly come out and explore and change hides is cause there hot side is too hot and there hungry and under fed..in Africa,they don't have cool hides and hot hides or cool sides and warm sides..they reside in a single hide until whenever they decide to find another,in Africa it's just hot on average. This is just my opinion. I don't believe snakes need two hides if your temps are all good they will be happy and warm in just one..once again in my opinion and what I seen from my friends who have boas and ball pythons...to each there own.

[MJT_23]

Mine use one hide only,both of them..they very rarely if ever explore out of there hides.once in a while in the middle of the night I'll catch them. They ever jus hang out of there hides and if so,I'd assume something is off in the enclosure ..yeah they all are different I guess...only reason I can assume they constantly come out and explore and change hides is cause there hot side is too hot and there hungry and under fed..in Africa,they don't have cool hides and hot hides or cool sides and warm sides..they reside in a single hide until whenever they decide to find another,in Africa it's just hot on average. This is just my opinion. I don't believe snakes need two hides if your temps are all good they will be happy and warm in just one..once again in my opinion and what I seen from my friends who have boas and ball pythons...to each there own.

In Africa are they kept in a fish tank? Are they fed routinely on a 5-7 day schedule? Are they grabbed and handled by a owner? Ohh no they aren't cause this isn't Africa. Probably the most ignorant thing I keep reading you saying. Along with your all mighty common sense