Concerned about new Banana Ball

[Karyana]

Okay, so I don't know exactly how to stress this so it's understood.
I'm sorry to the people on here that we went ahead and assisted him in eating,
it was a decision that we made with his best interest in mind. We are also working
with a local breeder who knows the full situation and we moved forward with his feeding.
I 100% know that it's not something to take lightly and also that will ever be done frequently or
just on a whim because they don't eat. I'm not doubting anyone's knowledge here, I promise that,
and I am absorbing it. He's young and not a very good weight. Once again, we did NOT assist feed because
he struck the wrong way.

The larger hide is filled with bedding, and soon moss, to make it more "secure". He
spends a good amount of time in his hot hide. He also uses his cold side hide. He has an under-tank heater, the day time heat lamp, and the night time heat lamp.
There are gauges in there for the heat (hot and cool) and humidity. We are purchasing one of the infrared laser thermometers tomorrow so we can have even
more accurate readings on both of our snakes enclosures.

[Karyana]

Should we offer him food again in about 4-5 days, like we plan(ned) on?

Also, if he kills but doesn't eat, can we freeze the feeder?

Can we refreeze an already thawed frozen feeder?

We just disposed of the frozen mice that he didn't eat because we were under the impression that it wouldn't be safe to refreeze.

Since he has eaten his first meal with us now, at what point should we become
concerned again if he continues to refuse? When do we properly move forward with
any other techniques? I sincerely value y'alls advice and knowledge. Again, we did assist him
under what we sincerely thought and believed was his best interest and I can only stand by it now.
He ate and he's holding it down. (Fed yesterday) We can't take what has already been done back.
But, we can gain more wisdom for the future. Please don't think I was being argumentative at all, that's not the case.

I am a little hormonal right now since my estrogen increase, I'm still adjusting. =P

[LadyEnfinity]

Hey Lady,

Thank you! He definitely is a looker. =P Our other ball, Cassie, is on frozen. But, she has zero issues with either one. She'll eat both with no hesitation.
We are probably going to breed feeders for a while, for a few different reasons. We've also discussed keeping him on live until his weight is up.
Once he's in a healthier weight range and we feel like it's safe for him to be stubborn, we are going to try and switch him over to F/T. My partner is also telling
me I need to stop mentally stressing out about it, he's taken his first meal and he's holding it down. Even though we assisted him, which we only barely pushed it
in his mouth and attached it, he did the rest of the work. I feel like that's a step in the right direction, as far as getting his health/weight up!

I agree! Definitely a step in the right direction.

Oddly enough, while watching my daily episodes of Snakebytes, I saw this. I thought, aside from the Halloween bits, this would be helpful.



Again, best of luck!

[Karyana]

I agree! Definitely a step in the right direction.

Oddly enough, while watching my daily episodes of Snakebytes, I saw this. I thought, aside from the Halloween bits, this would be helpful.



Again, best of luck!

Thank you, again!

I'm going to watch this after I finish watching a video by HLH Reptiles. I never thought I would
love snakes as much as I do. After I met my partner and he introduced me to his Ball, it's like a whole
new world opened up to me. They're amazing. We have Cassie, Tidus, and a Bengal named Goku, it's a little exotic home. =P
But, I just want him to be okay, like any BP parent. I just have added anxiety issues. lol.

So, we're going to our first Reptile Expo (Repticon) next month. Anyone have experience with those?
Any tips on preparing? Maybe make sure to not come home with every snake/reptile I come across?!
Just kidding, I'll have enough self control to only get what's intended. We want to ensure that our animals are given quality
care and a loving home. We know that there's only so many that we can properly provide for at once, and we're at our personal limit right now (for now).

[chrid16371]

I'm sorry if I came off as rude as well, I wasn't trying to be. So many times people want to jump right on assist feeding when they have not taken other steps first but since you are working with a local breeder I will trust he told you to do this with good reasoning. Again my apologies.

Is your uth regulated by a thermostat or something? When you get the ir thermometer take the temp under the substrate on top of glass right where the uth is and if it is above 94 unplug it unless you have a thermostat or something to regulate temp then just drop it down. The reason you want to take the temp under substrate on top of uth is bc a snake can and will eventually burrow and can get burned. Since you have other heat sources you will be ok until you buy a thermostat. Those analog type thermometers are very inaccurate. Something good to use with your ir temp gun is an acurite 00891, it has a probe you can put under the substrate on top of glass over the uth and you can run the rest of the unit over to the cool side for cool temp and humidity. It's one device that will give you all of your temps and humidity at a glance and is very accurate and will be good to compare to the ir temp gun. You will want to take the temp of the heat bulb right where the middle of the beam hits the ground. You can use a regular lamp dimmer to lower the temp of the red bulb if needed. Remember you want your hot side to be around 88-90 and no higher then 94 under substrate on top of the glass that is directly over the uth and cool side 78-82.



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[JodanOrNoDan]

Two suggestions.....

Do not stress too much over ball pythons. As long as the husbandry is good they are on their own timelines. You will go nuts otherwise. Especially when it comes to feeding.

If you go to a reptile show, do not get anywhere near your animals when you get back. Your clothes should go into the washer and you should shower immediately.

[Karyana]

Chrid,

You're perfectly fine, I was just confused and felt like I made a mistake by posting at first.
I can understand everyone being concerned and being stern about it. Again, I can assure
everyone that it wasn't a rushed decision and we have been working with a breeder. He is also
pretty concerned with his weight. But, he thinks it's good that it didn't take much assistance
to get the ball (haha) rolling.

The UTH is kinda small, it's my boyfriends previous one for his ball. It doesn't have one that I've seen.
It's one of the Zoo Med ones, if that makes any difference. Thanks for that advice, by the way. I didn't
think of checking that and I most certainly don't want him getting burned. I bought the Night Heat Lamp
because I was concerned about it getting too cool at night since he's higher up and closer to the homes cooling systems. (I over worry)
The night one is the blue/purple one that kind of looks like moonlight. It's 75W.
I'm a perfectionist and I want everything to be perfect. It's a fault at times.

Thank you. (:








Jordan,
You sound like my partner. lol. I'm trying to calm down and not worry so much. Only reason I even
worry about his feeding is due to his size. I know older ones can go off feed for long period of time and
it shouldn't be too concerning.

[chrid16371]

I have owned all sizes of zoomed uth and they get well over 100 degrees even if don't think it would trust me they do. If you don't have the uth hooked up to the thermostat or dimmer I highly suggest you unplug it now before the snake gets burned. I'm sure no one even mentioned needing a thermostat to you until now so there was no way for you to really know. What watt is your night bulb? You can use that as your hot side heat source until you get a thermostat for the uth. You may have to raise the bulb a little bit to get it to proper temp or use a lamp dimmer. Idk what your budget would be for thermostats but here is a couple with prices....Spyder Robotics Herpstat 1 $140, VE-200 from reptile basics $115, VE-100 from reptile basics $85, inkbird itc-308 from amazon $40. The first 2 are proportional which means they hold a consistent temp, the last 2 are on/off which means once they get to temp they shut off and then drop a couple degrees and turn back on. The last 2 on/off styles I listed will only drop a degree before they start heating again. I listed them as the first one being the best choice and the last one being what your minimum choice should be IMO. Try to shoot for one of the first 2 on the list.

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[Coluber42]

One thing that might help make him feel more secure about eating is to cover the sides and even the front of the tank with something opaque paper or cardboard, SU that he can't see you. You can still peek around the edges to keep an eye on him while he eats, or just leave the room once you're sure the prey is dead. You can take the cardboard down the next day when you check to see if the rodent is gone.

[Karyana]

Chrid,

Whoa, thanks for the information. I will definitely go ahead and unplug the UTH. That's kind of scary that it gets hot enough
to burn them.... (With it being Zoo Med) I'll look into the thermostat or dimmer ASAP, should be getting my first
check from my new place of employment soon. His night bulb is 75W, and so is his day light. I'll have a more accurate
temperature reading once we get that new thermometer (which should be in the morning). I'll be shooting for the
first two on the list too then.

May I ask your opinion of the newer heat rocks that are built to shut off (fail off) or go cold VS getting
too hot that it will burn them? We don't have any of them, we still thought they could be risky. I also
plan on getting some coconut husk to add to his bedding and moss for different places, hides, for moisture.
We're thinking about doing a homemade mister/fogger. Not to keep on 24/7, just once/twice a day as the humidity
gauge says.

Thank you!!!!!!!


Coluber,

Yeah! Thanks for the tip!
That is actually something that we tried on the last feeding. We used a blanket, only after we knew for 19954154% that it was dead.

Thanks! xD