Hello, I joined this forum because this is the first time we have had a ball python in our family. We got him at Uncle Bills, a store in Indiana. The price was 3+ what they go for in other places, but we wanted to avoid the chain pet stores.
Sobek (as we named "him") seems to be doing great. Explores his exo terra, doesn't mind being picked up (no defensiveness or hissing...etc) We left him alone and let him settle in.
He is on live food and the pet store said we must feed him live because that is what they fed him and it will be almost impossible to switch him. We knew going in we might have to try and transition off live. They said 1 full grown mouse once a week. We tried feeding him on the schedule the pet store had him on and he ate with no problem whatsoever. It has been 48 since he ate and today is also the first day we've actually handled him since moving him into his exo terra. He was supper chill about it, coiled up at first, but then uncoiling and trying to explore all over me. He's back in the exo terra and went straight to the warm side.
I also weighed him today. He is 257 grams. The pet store said he was estimated to be 1 year old, also actual gender is unknown, so we're just calling him male for now.
We've done our research and believe he needs to be switched to rats and that he is possibly underweight. We are keeping some live mice at the moment for him, but really would like to have him on frozen if he will go for it. We've kept rats and mice as pets before, so it is hard to care for them with the sole purpose of being food. We understand the circle of life and won't starve him if he really does refuse frozen. The mice are being kept humanly as we would keep them if they were pets.
Also Uncle Bill said to keep his humidity between 40-60%. My research said 50-60%. What do experienced keepers say about this? Every thing I read have different recommendations for heat as well.
Oh and his exo terra is 40 gallons. It seems pretty big compared to his size. He has two hides and a water bowl. We're going to switch out for a bigger bowl, but do you suggest putting in more hides or something else to take up some of the space? He explores and doesn't seem to bothered by it, but then again, I probably project my human feelings on him.
Our family now consists of Sobek (Ball python!), 1 Syrian hamster (Mogget), 3 cats (Apollo, Phoebe & Hera), plus we have 4 feeder mice who are treated as if they were pets with the best care they need.
Here are some photos. I'm sorry that the light quality isn't the same in all photos. I'm guessing he's just a "normal" ball python.
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