1) I posted a thread a few days ago about a bad shed and what to do. I tried the whole soaking my BP in water and so on. She still has patches on her head (one over her eye) and on her belly right beneath her head.. So, do I try the whole soaking thing again? I know the eye caps you should just let them come off on their own on the next shed, but it's almost all of her head.

You can soak once a day until the stuck shed comes off. Also, after a soak, try holding a warm, wet (wrung out) towel on your lap with the snake and let the snake slither through the towel while you are holding it. That will likely help rub most of the stuck stuff off, if not all of it.

And so long as the stuck shed isn't fully encircling the snake's body...if there's little bits left over that just won't come off...it'll be ok to leave them until the next shed.

2) Because I'm still trying to get these patchy spots off of her, do I keep my humidity high? I've been keeping it around 75-80%. Is that too high?

High humidity for a few days won't hurt anything, but if you can keep it in the 50%-60% range all the time, that'll be perfect for your snake, in shed or out.


3) Is there anyway of guessing a BP's age by just looking at her? I know weighing her would probably be a good help with determining an age, but I don't own a scale. I got her from the place I work (PetSmart. I know, I know.. Pet store pets = bad. Buuut I think even they deserve a good home), so I really don't know how old she is. I know she's still young, because she's small. I got her about a month ago.

With ball python ages, all you really need to know is what year they were hatched. If she's still a little baby, then you know she's an '07. (As are 99% of all PetSmart ball pythons) That's about as close as you'll ever know. Knowing her weight wouldn't narrow it down any.

4) How quickly do they grow? I mean, I'm not expecting to wake up one day and BAM! There's a huge snake. I'm just curious on how long it takes the to reach max. length/weight.

It really depends on the individual snake. Some never miss a meal...and some are picky eaters. Some grow fast regardless, and some grow slow. My own female BP is 2 years old and is just now hitting a solid 1000g of weight....which is about 1/2 to 1/3 of what I expect her fully mature weight to be. They just grow at their own pace....and probably never as fast as we want.


5) How do you know when to upgrade them to the next size f/t? Right now, she's been eating two pinkies once a week (Well, last week she would only eat one, but I just fed her and she definitely wanted two). When do I start feeding her fuzzies? And do I keep feeding her two, or just one?

What sort of pinkies are you feeding?? Rats or mice? Mice pinks would be WAY too small for her...she should be eating one small mouse each week, or one rat pup.

Hope this has helped some!