newbie questions - humidity and feeding

[skueppers]

First of all, thank you for the help about a month ago when I was getting ready to buy a ball python.

Now I have him, and I have a few questions.

I couldn't get the ambient temperature in the tub high enough without adding a lamp, so I have a UTH creating a 90 degree hot spot, and a lamp creating an ambient temperature of 80 degrees. The room temperature is around 70 degrees.

I'm having some humidity issues, because the room humidity varies. So I have two lids for the container, one with holes and one without holes, and I switch them depending on the humidity measurement in the tub. The problem is that there can be a swing of about 15% in the humidity depending on which lid I use, so I can find myself in a position of having to choose between 48% humidity and 63% humidity. Obviously I will try over time to find ways to always maintain humidity between 50% and 60%, but in the mean time, I have a question. Would it be better for my snake to have humidity slightly too high, or slightly too low? My gut tells me that slightly too high is better, so that is what I've been going with on the occasions when this issue is occurring.

The other question I have is about feeding. The first time I fed him, I offered a live mouse, which he ate without incident. The breeder always fed live. Today, a week later, I was unable to obtain a live mouse (the local independent pet store suddenly stopped carrying them), so I decided to try switching to f/t. My original plan had been to do two or three live feedings before trying to switch.

My only option on short notice was Petsmart, so I wound up with an "Arctic Mice" brand frozen mouse.

I was surprised that my snake took the f/t mouse without trouble. He was not interested when I wiggled it around the enclosure, but once I put it down, he started eating it within a couple of minutes.

So that leaves me wondering about two things.

1) In the future, should I bother to try to make the mouse seem alive, or should I just set it down?
2) If I were to place an order for feeders online, how do I decide what to buy? I have very little idea of how quickly he is likely to grow.

Thanks in advance for your help!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[SekiMoshu]

63% isn't super super high but another option for fixing your humidity issue could be to use the lid with holes, and half cover it with a wet towel, keeping a second dry towel on top of that. I actually have a similar set up for my ball python just to make sure he stays toasty without having to die of heat myself. So I also have an overhead heater as well as uth. The towel trick has always worked for me and he has a screen lid. Sure it's a bit more maintenance but I wet the towel when I wake up in the morning and change his water and then wet it before I go to bed. Sometimes I'll wet the towel a third time in the middle of the day if it's a rather dry one. But that's always worked for keeping his humidity in the 50-60% range for me. I know some other people use plastic wrap over part of the lid to help hold in humidity. Another option as well is to change substrate to something that holds humidity a bit better. Feeding wise, I'm not really sure about that, some balls have really particular feeding habits. I'm blessed with an aggressive eater, don't even need to wiggle the rat, can barely get it in the tank and he's striking for me so I'll let someone else give their two cents on that. Hope this helps a little.

[Meerna]

As far as feeding f/t I'd go ahead and wiggle it every time you feed at least at first, even if he doesn't strike it. I always do with mine, and sometimes they strike but sometimes they don't, but if I leave the rat they eat it. My older ones will occasionally leave the rat untouched, but it's also winter so I don't worry about it too much. My youngest bp is 1.5 years old but I bought her when she was 1 so I don't know how fast they will usually grow for that first year. According to the breeders feeding chart she hatched in September 2015, ate mice until December of that year, switched to hoppers at around 250 grams (her weight of course, not the rat) and ate those until August of 2016, and then he worked on switching to small rats when she hit about 650 grams but occasionally gave her a hopper still. She eats small rats with me. All snakes grow at their own rate of course, this is just what the breeder's records say for this specific snake.

[skueppers]

Thanks for your advice. I ordered rat pups, and have been feeding him the smaller ones (about 25g). I figure we'll work out way up to the biggest ones and then decide what to do next. He's going into his first shed since he's been with me, and ate yesterday even though his eyes were cloudy. He has struck every time after that first time.


Keeping the humidity in range has continued to be an issue (in that I have to fiddle with it all the time -- I have not yet found a solution that is stable without daily intervention), though right now it is no problem since I'm keeping it higher.

Thanks again, and I figured those of you who answered might enjoy an update.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Gc99]

First of all, thank you for the help about a month ago when I was getting ready to buy a ball python.

Now I have him, and I have a few questions.

I couldn't get the ambient temperature in the tub high enough without adding a lamp, so I have a UTH creating a 90 degree hot spot, and a lamp creating an ambient temperature of 80 degrees. The room temperature is around 70 degrees.

I'm having some humidity issues, because the room humidity varies. So I have two lids for the container, one with holes and one without holes, and I switch them depending on the humidity measurement in the tub. The problem is that there can be a swing of about 15% in the humidity depending on which lid I use, so I can find myself in a position of having to choose between 48% humidity and 63% humidity. Obviously I will try over time to find ways to always maintain humidity between 50% and 60%, but in the mean time, I have a question. Would it be better for my snake to have humidity slightly too high, or slightly too low? My gut tells me that slightly too high is better, so that is what I've been going with on the occasions when this issue is occurring.

The other question I have is about feeding. The first time I fed him, I offered a live mouse, which he ate without incident. The breeder always fed live. Today, a week later, I was unable to obtain a live mouse (the local independent pet store suddenly stopped carrying them), so I decided to try switching to f/t. My original plan had been to do two or three live feedings before trying to switch.

My only option on short notice was Petsmart, so I wound up with an "Arctic Mice" brand frozen mouse.

I was surprised that my snake took the f/t mouse without trouble. He was not interested when I wiggled it around the enclosure, but once I put it down, he started eating it within a couple of minutes.

So that leaves me wondering about two things.

1) In the future, should I bother to try to make the mouse seem alive, or should I just set it down?
2) If I were to place an order for feeders online, how do I decide what to buy? I have very little idea of how quickly he is likely to grow.

Thanks in advance for your help!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

If whatever you did worked for him to eat, then keep moving the mouse. If the prey item leaves a bump on the snake (not like he swallowed a football) then the size is fine

Sent from my HTC Desire 626s using Tapatalk

[Mike17]

At first I struggled with temp/humidity and followed the instructions with the foil paper on top... Nailed it, in my experience I would strongly recommend it.

1. cover all the top lid with foil and tape it from the outside.
2. cut a medium sized opening for ventilation
3. cut a hole for any illumination you've got.
And that's it!

For the feeding as recommended by Zincubus, (thanks a lot!) I always feed f/t, I let it though during the day on top of the viv, and at night I just warm it a little with a hair dryer. By the time I get the mouse inside the viv my kira is already waiting for it.

Hope it help, and good luck!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk