Wiggles, the Children's Python

[Bogertophis]

Yeah, he loves it. Is it my imagination or is he going cloudy? That would explain him staying in there for a while, besides just feeling safe.

[Homebody]

Yeah, he loves it. Is it my imagination or is he going cloudy? That would explain him staying in there for a while, besides just feeling safe.

I've never been good at discerning the signs of an approaching shed, but it would be pretty early for him. It's only been 8 weeks since he last shed. He averages about 12. Long periods of inactivity are usually a sign, but I think it's more likely that he just likes it in there. He's due to feed in a couple days. That should bring him out, if only briefly.

[Bogertophis]

I've never been good at discerning the signs of an approaching shed, but it would be pretty early for him. It's only been 8 weeks since he last shed. He averages about 12. Long periods of inactivity are usually a sign, but I think it's more likely that he just likes it in there. He's due to feed in a couple days. That should bring him out, if only briefly.

The photos were too vague & distant for me to tell, it just crossed my mind, that's all. Mostly if not all it's about is him liking it. He's such a cool little snake.

[Homebody]

108 hours. He finally came out of his new hide after 108 hours. I guess he likes it. Good thing too because I had to remove his favorite hide, his sky hide, to fit it in there.

[Homebody]

Wiggles's weight rebounded nicely this quarter. He's back up to 307 g. I wasn't really worried about the dip last quarter, but I didn't want it repeated either.

I also have a new theory about Wiggles's feeding issues. I think I've been overfeeding him. I knew Reptilinks have more calories that a comparably sized rodent, but I recently learned that they may have double the calories. That's a big difference.

That said, I know that's not the whole issue. I use rodents to lure Wiggles out for his quarterly weighings because he responds to them better. I don't think Wiggles would leave the comfort of his enclosure for a Reptilink.

[Bogertophis]

Neither would I... (yikes, "double the calories" could really mess up the anticipated feeding schedule)

[Homebody]

I confess. I made a mistake. I was playing with Wiggles the other day when I decided the check his basking temp. I hadn't checked in a while because it's always between 88-95F. It was 77F. It was the middle of the day, so the RHP should have been on. It wasn't. I feared it had up and died on me. I checked the connections. They were fine. The problem turned out to be the timer.

When daylight savings time ended, I adjusted the time. Unfortunately, I reset it to turn off at 6:30 AM rather than PM. Poor Wiggles has been without basking temps for six weeks. He still had his heat mat which I keep on all the time, but at only 80F.

Curiously, Wiggles didn't miss a meal. I've read that Children's pythons can digest a meal perfectly well at 75F though it takes them longer. So, he seems no worse for it. Lesson learned: check your temps frequently even if you think you know what they are.

[Bogertophis]

I'm really glad he's okay. Nature sure doesn't provide perfect conditions, & tbh, we probably do a disservice to our animals' immune function to keep their conditions so steady.

[Homebody]

Like his weight, Wiggles's length also rebounded this quarter from 35.3 to 36.9 inches.


I'm still getting to know the new measuring tool, so I'm not sure how much faith to put into those numbers. Over time, I feel I'm get a better sense of how accurate it is.

[Homebody]

Wiggles weighed in at 296g this quarter; down from last quarter's 307g.



The 307g was up from 293g. This small weight loss doesn't concern me. It would take a trend of weight loss or gain to move me to action. For the past couple years, he's been alternating between loses and gains, but staying around 300g. I take that as I sign I'm feeding him right.