Low temps...

[jason221]

I have a question. I know it says in the care sheet that 75 or below is unhealthy, but I cannot control the heat in the room my BP is in at night! It averages around 76-78 daytime, but when I checked it a few minutes ago (at 8:15 AM), the temperature read 73-74. It goes back up during the day, but is this okay at night? I would have him in my room where ambient temps are approx 80 during the day, but he's in quarantine so that is not an option. There are no warmer rooms.

Also, a couple feeding questions. I am aware that the caresheet says that the mouse should be of equal girth to the snake, but where I get my mice, the sizes go pinky, fuzzy, small mouse (~8 grams), then all the way to an adult, 19 gram mouse. The small mouse is around 3/4 its girth... would it be okay to feed it two? And the second question: is it recommended to cut the back of the frozen/thawed mouse's back to aid in digestion to help them grow? I've seen it work for corn snakes, but I was wondering if it's the same thing with BPs.

Sorry for all the questions.

[sho220]

What type of enclosure is he in, and what type of heat source? Ambient room temp is not enough, you need to have some kind of additional heat source. (ie. Under Tank Heater, heat tape, heat cable, heating pad, etc.)

[JLC]

Get an additional heat source for an enclosure in a cold room. UTH on both sides (controlled by t-stats and/or rheostats). And/or maybe a night-time heat bulb (red or blue) or a Ceramic Heat Emitter. Those will dry out the humidity, so may make it extra work in a glass tank.


BP's do best with a prey item that is a little bit smaller than their girth, rather than bigger. They can eat bigger, but if you want to have consistent feeders (rather than those that refuse random meals) then stay a bit smaller on the prey item. If you think it's TOO small, it is fine to feed more than one. If you're feeding live, wait until the snake has completely finished the first prey before putting the second one in.

And so far as I know, it is not at all necessary to cut anything open in order to aid in digestion. They digest EVERYthing as it is, so I don't see why cutting anything open would make it "better."

[muddoc]

Nobody cuts it open for them in the wild, and they have been doing fine for tens of thousands of years.

[elevatethis]

And the second question: is it recommended to cut the back of the frozen/thawed mouse's back to aid in digestion to help them grow? I've seen it work for corn snakes, but I was wondering if it's the same thing with BPs.

That smells like one of those "old-school" concepts that are long outdated. You said you've seen it "work" in corn snakes as well- is there data to support that? Did you have a control group to compare to? Be careful about making those kinds of statements, this is a good example of how bad info gets spread around.

[jason221]

That smells like one of those "old-school" concepts that are long outdated. You said you've seen it "work" in corn snakes as well- is there data to support that? Did you have a control group to compare to? Be careful about making those kinds of statements, this is a good example of how bad info gets spread around.

Check out the cornsnakes.com forums. Go to the search function and type "cutting mice" or something similar.

Sho220 - I have an UTH set to 90ish on the warm side of his glass cage.

JLC - Alright, I'll keep that in mind.

[elevatethis]

I couldn't access the search function at that site. How about supplying us with some data on that. Just curious, because even with basic knowledge of how a snake's digestive system works, the practice doesn't make any sense.

[jason221]

It doesn't really make sense to me either, but people on that site have said that their snakes "grew faster" or whatever because of it. Here's a link. If you go to the 2nd page of the post, the user named Hurley has supplied a data table.

[Adam_Wysocki]

A couple of thoughts ...

1. Cornsnakes are not ball pythons ... ball pythons are natural 100% rodent predators, corns are not (hence the feeding trickery needed for corns) ... One mouse a week live, F/T, P/K is all most of them will ever need ... No cutting, poking, slicing, or braining is necessary ... ever.

2. Temps in the low to mid 70's are putting your snake on the fast track to a respiratory infection or worse.

3. 82-84 on one side, 92-94 on the other 24 hours a day 7 days a week for a ball python ... find a way, make it work.

-adam

[Grim91Z]

Never heard of that trick.