Feeding my baby Ball *help*

[DJCraziAce]

Hey everyone.

I recently bought a baby Ball. It's really spoiled, already riding in the rearview mirror with me.

I plan on buying mice from Rodent pro, but am unsure which to get.
I was thinking about going with 5-7 day old pinkies/peach fuzzies and see how he eats.

However, there are 100 of these lil suckers in a bag-- and I don't see myself needing that many.

I guess my question is if anyone here wants to do a 50/50 split (literally) or are there any other suggestions?

Thanks again!

[frankykeno]

Welcome to the forum and glad you joined us. If you haven't already noticed it, we have an excellent care sheet for ball pythons available to you.

http://www.ball-pythons.net/modules....warticle&id=52

Ball pythons, most especially young ball pythons, are very shy, secretive creatures. Allowing yours to travel loose in your vehicle may not be spoiling it so much as stressing it out and putting it at an un-needed risk should it manage to find it's way into your dashboard (an unfortunately not uncommon occurrence with snakes).

I hope you'll enjoy your participation in this forum. Please feel free to ask any questions, brag about your snake or just generally have fun meeting other herp minded folks.


~~Joanna~~

[rabernet]

I recently bought a baby Ball. It's really spoiled, already riding in the rearview mirror with me.

I don't need any frozen prey, as I feed live, but I was just wondering why your snake is riding on the rearview mirror, or even riding around in the car with you at all unless it's a visit to the vet?

[DJCraziAce]

Thanks for not answering my question, Rabernet.

Next.


And Joanna, thanks for the welcome.
This is the third I've owned. The first two were actually a long-time babysitting job.
I don't leave him by himself, he just didn't like to stay in the box on the transport home, so I let it on the rearview mirror. I drive an old-school Seville, with the flat dashboards-- there's NO way for him to get caught.

No signs of stress either, took him to the vet who said the snake was very content in that spot of the car.

[frankykeno]

Forgot to address your question regarding feeding sizes. What is the snake currently eating size wise? What did the supplier of this snake feed it on up to the time you purchased it? How big and old is your snake and how long have you had it?
I go by the biggest girth circumference of the snake and match the prey (at it's widest girth) to that, the prey being smaller and not exceeding the snake's girth. Since baby ball pythons can easily eat pinkie rats, pinkie mice are far too small for the average healthy ball python.


~~Jo~~

[DJCraziAce]

So sorry, forgot to address your question regarding feeding sizes. What is the snake currently eating size wise? What did the supplier of this snake feed it on up to the time you purchased it? How big and old is your snake and how long have you had it?

I go by the biggest girth circumference of the snake and match the prey (at it's widest girth) to that, the prey being smaller and not exceeding the snake's girth. Since baby ball pythons can easily eat pinkie rats, pinkie mice are far too small for the average healthy ball python.


~~Jo~~

I figured pinkies were too small for him-- BUT that is what he had his first meals. I've had him for a few days, and will probably wait till he is fully accustomed to his surroundings before I try feeding him.

Is there a different company who sells LESS than 100 per bag? I feel like there's a lot of wasted mice/rats there.

[frankykeno]

You could try www.themousefactory.com and check what their minimum order is as far as number per bag and shipping costs. They have an 800 number and Edna is very helpful and informative about her product.

Just a suggestion though, before ordering frozen. If you have access to a local supply through say a decent pet store, you might want to let the snake settle in, feed it for a few weeks to make sure what size is right and that the snake will eat it readily for you. Wouldn't want to see you stuck with a bag of stuff the snake is refusing to touch. From what I understand, fully frozen mice/rats are good for at least 6 months but do check with the supplier about that (I feed live so not sure on that myself).

There's a lot of great information here as far as settling in your new snake properly so that you up the odds of a healthy, stress free snake that has a great, consistent feeding response. Just have a wander through the forum....gotta love that search button LOL.


~~Joanna~~

[DJCraziAce]

~~Joanna~~

Thanks, Jo.

Feeding live will be a hard task as I raise mice (hobby) and I get sad at seeing a live one eaten.

A friend of mine who raises snakes has offered to let me bring my snake by her store and shell feed her, so I may take this route.

Thanks again!

[frankykeno]

No need to even consider live feeding really. It's just the method I chose. We raise our own feeder rats so it's very convenient for us. Live feeding, frozen/thawed or pre-killed are all good, acceptable methods of feeding ball pythons as is the choice of either mice or rats. Basically it's what works best for you, what you can get a good quality consistent supply of and what in the end the snake will take consistently with a good aggressive feed response.

Just another suggestion (hope you don't mind). Instead of transporting the snake to your friend's store for feeding and then taking it back home, perhaps your friend could drop over after the store closes, bring along "dinner" and help you get used to feeding your snake. Some snakes, if disturbed right after a meal will regurgitate and you really do not want to deal with that hassle. It's a mess and it's also damaging to your snake as they have very strong stomach acids that come up with their undisgested meal.


~~Jo~~

[DJCraziAce]

Yea, I completely forgot about regurgitation.
I'm not at all uncomfortable with feeding them, it's only when it's a live mouse that bothers me.