"Muscle tone" in ball pythons...?

[SCWood]

Reinz, I always love to see your big kids' photos.

SCWood, I am in love with the idea of a snake named Boots. I'm inclined to name my next one Socks or something else that goes on feet

Isn't it adorable? :3 stems from an ongoing joke actually

[AKA Dave]

Don't think I'll ever get tired of seeing those big snakes stretch their legs....so to speak.

Dave

[nightwolfsnow]

I wondered about this a lot when I got Gwny. She literally felt like pudding, where my other two BP's feel very firm. I have read that a lot of that has to do with how comfortable the snake is. When she was in blue she felt more firm because she couldn't see and didn't know what was going on. She couldn't kill a rat pinkie by constriction, she actually gave up and started biting its neck really hard and shaking it. I wonder if her issues with constriction has to do with the spider wobble. Though the wrap was fine, just didn't seem to have any power behind it. She is also extremely inactive. Some days I don't think she even thermoregulates, she always feels cooler than the other two. I've been taking her out and letting her roam and climb, so hopefully she will develop more muscle tone.

[Reinz]

I wondered about this a lot when I got Gwny. She literally felt like pudding, where my other two BP's feel very firm. I have read that a lot of that has to do with how comfortable the snake is. When she was in blue she felt more firm because she couldn't see and didn't know what was going on. She couldn't kill a rat pinkie by constriction, she actually gave up and started biting its neck really hard and shaking it. I wonder if her issues with constriction has to do with the spider wobble. Though the wrap was fine, just didn't seem to have any power behind it. She is also extremely inactive. Some days I don't think she even thermoregulates, she always feels cooler than the other two. I've been taking her out and letting her roam and climb, so hopefully she will develop more muscle tone.

As long as you are watching where she can't get into danger, I think that it is only positive to let her out to play.





Mack hanging out with Dolly and Marbles.

[nightwolfsnow]

As long as you are watching where she can't get into danger, I think that it is only positive to let her out to play.





Mack hanging out with Dolly and Marbles.

I have a snake room that's off limits to the cats, and I just sit in there and watch her when I take her out. Neat that your dog and cat don't seem to care. Pretty sure my three demon kittens would think the snakes were toys.

[SCWood]

I have a snake room that's off limits to the cats, and I just sit in there and watch her when I take her out. Neat that your dog and cat don't seem to care. Pretty sure my three demon kittens would think the snakes were toys.

My cat does x.x

[AKA Dave]

As long as you are watching where she can't get into danger, I think that it is only positive to let her out to play.





Mack hanging out with Dolly and Marbles.

I forgot that you have a collie. Nice looking girl. I'll have to grab a pic of my two with a scale friend some time.

Dave

[treaux]

My only experience is with my two baby BPs, but they definitely have different strength levels.

My male who is about 3 months old and 100 grams doesn't have much strength and does almost no wrapping or gripping on me. This led me to dropping him a couple of times early on when he just slid right off my arm and one of those times him biting me for trying to catch him. I've since gotten much better at handling and making sure to keep him from a position that would let him fall. I feel too nervous to let him roam free as I'm worried he'll fall from a height. He doesn't seem unhealthy and does all his other business quite normally. I've watched him kill 4 rodents now quite efficiently (the last being his first crawler rat that he had to get two full coils around).

My new girl who is 2 months old and 91 grams seems like a muscle bound freak compared to my other BP. When she climbs on me she anchors herself with her tail and always give a good squeeze when there is any risk of falling. She did fall once when she scared herself with her own tail dropping down on the other side of my arm and her recoil sent her flying right off me. I have let her roam free in my bathroom and she went as high as she could before wedging herself into a the gap between my medicine cabinet and wall (and it took forever to get her to come out!). She is a great climber though and seems much more secure with stabilizing herself.

Maybe this is just baby stuff, but it's interesting the difference between the two of them.

[gaitedappy]

Thats so funny! My baby girl likes to climb too! But I just let my big boy crawl all over me and my bed. Of course the cats and dogs aren't allowed in the room when the snakes are out.

[distaff]

Any evidence that weakness in some is due to their genetics (like the spider wobble)?