My First BP.... Please Help

[missi182]

And I do apologize to the original thread starter for arguing. I hope you do find the information you need to help set up your bp and give him everything he could need. There are very helpful people on this forum, it is just difficult to find a topic that will not cause debate.

[Spaniard]

Hello everyone, this is my first time posting here. I recently bought a baby ball python from Petco (on Valentine's Day). When I bought him he was in the middle of a shed cycle (his eyes were blue). He shed went pretty roughly, it was all in pieces, but I helped him through it, due to some useful posts I came across here. Now that he's got almost al of his old skin off, I tried to feed him, but he seemed afraid of the mouse. I think it was the first live one he's ever encountered. So I took the mouse out and tried offering him some thawed pinkies (I'm pretty sure that's what he got at Petco). So far he's just hiding in a corner of his enclosure and completely ignoring them. I have about 50% humidity, 93 degrees on the hot side. He's in a 20 Gallon Long glass aquarium. He's about 23 inches long. Any advice? Please? I really really really don't want my new baby to die! Also, I think he might be dehydrated? This is my first ball python, and my second snake (the first one died due to my own lack of knowledge =[ ). Thanks for reading this, and please help me out.

~Riya

Hey Riya,

Welcome to the site, nice to see another long islander!

Everyone has given you great advice but just wanted to welcome a fellow neighbor to the site. Best of luck with your little friend.

[Spaniard]

Isnt it illegal to feed live where your from? I may be wrong, or maybe its the uk.. I know it is one or the other though.

UK is not illegal but feeding live is a last resort after F/T. And I think , I'm not positive, that you need a vet to help you get the live feeders. Hopefully Derek can shed some light on this if he sees.

[GirDance]

Im seriously fed up with this forum. I appreciate EVERYONES opinion!!! and when a question is posted answers are OPINIONS! I give up, everytime I make a mistake I get ripped out. I am learning as well but at the same time I believe I have some knowlege that could help but I guess I dont. And for the record, every breeder I have spoken with in the peterborough, cavan and toronto area ( so like 11 breeders, not all of them every single one) has told me not to feed live. Girdance, where were you when I was asking for help from locals on this forum? I don't think it is worth me getting stressed out over it anymore, Im very tired of people being so aggressive with methods, which I do not disagree with , i just dont personally use.

I sent you a PM to not hijack this further... Either way, didn't mean to make you feel attacked, but wanted to correct what I see as a falsehood, and if that is what you were advised I'm sorry that you were and would love to know their reasons for it.

[West Coast Jungle]

Im seriously fed up with this forum. I appreciate EVERYONES opinion!!! and when a question is posted answers are OPINIONS! I give up, everytime I make a mistake I get ripped out. I am learning as well but at the same time I believe I have some knowlege that could help but I guess I dont. And for the record, every breeder I have spoken with in the peterborough, cavan and toronto area ( so like 11 breeders, not all of them every single one) has told me not to feed live. Girdance, where were you when I was asking for help from locals on this forum? I don't think it is worth me getting stressed out over it anymore, Im very tired of people being so aggressive with methods, which I do not disagree with , i just dont personally use.

Missi please dont be upset. I have nothing personel against you and hope you stay around and enjoy the site.

New people come to this site everyday when they have a problem with a snake and we want to help. Very often people who have had a snake for a month or two start giving advice about situations they have never encountered and are many times wrong and the problem worsens. When experienced keepers see this they chime in (usually loudly) and give proven cures that have worked for them before.

The reality is what's best for the snake comes first and stepping on toes second. I once saw a guy who hatched a snake that still had a large yolk sack attached, people were telling him to cull the animal because his organs were exposed and he would only die and suffer. Luckily an experienced keeper chimed in before the snake was put down. All the snake needed was to be on a damp paper towel untill it falls off.

You may think this isn't as serious but if that snake doesn't eat it will die.

My advice if you don't know a proven cure, don't confuse the issue

[dr del]

UK is not illegal but feeding live is a last resort after F/T. And I think , I'm not positive, that you need a vet to help you get the live feeders. Hopefully Derek can shed some light on this if he sees.

Hi,

It is definately not illegal in the U.K. as you say but you have to be able to justify it if asked I believe.

They obviously would not expect you to let our snake starve to death if it would not accept F/T (and indeed would prosecute you if you did) but equally may decide to prosecute you for cruelty to the prey animal if your responce was "cos it looks cool to see it die" or something equally vacuous.

They are sensible, reasonable people for the most part who share our love of animals at the end of the day.

On the getting the feeders part it is illegal to sell a live mammal under six weeks of age from what I can find out so some sizes of prey item will be difficult to get unless you breed them yourself.

This may only apply to pet shops however and I am far from a legal expert on any of this.


dr del

[littleindiangirl]

OK well i will agree to disagree I don't think leaving live mice regardless of size overnight is intelligent but I can understand why you would say it is o.k. Im just saying this to be sure that people who are new to ball-pythons are better off safe than sorry.
I apologize if I seemed rude but like I said, safer than sorry, its better to teach good habits right from the start than introduce bad ones(not that feeding live is a bad habit, I just don't agree with it, but no argument needed, my snake is not fussy and if he was Im sure I would need live eventually)

I understand the concern in this post and it is much appreciated. I do however have to point out that maybe some of your being fed up with this site is based on differences between the 11 breeders you've spoken with, and the general ideas of this online community.

The major one being that feeding live is comparable to a bad habit. You may have had a short disclaimer, but the way you worded it made it very well sound like the MOD was recommending a dangerous and bad habit of feeding. It's almost an insult, and I wasn't pleased to see it as we feed a majority of our snakes live with no problems.

No one is out to get you Missi, rather we are trying to help educate everyone on some very general accepted methods for keeping and breeding.

As always, we are all a very close group and welcome many new keepers to this site as well as old pro's, me being one of those rookies. We are passionate about these animals and I personally enjoy helping others on the road to successful acclimations and set the base for many years to come of herp keeping.

I would hope one thread doesn't sour this entire community for you. Instead allows you to embrace your hobby with a broader horizon than what you first came with.

[missi182]

I was silly enough not to read WHO had posted the the suggestion of feeding a live fuzzy or pinkie before I spoke. Besides that point, after discussion with a few members here privately, I can understand the error I have made. I have recieved some incorrect information from a number of 'breeders' in this area which infact are not likely to be actual breeders.

I have apologized to those I feel I may have insulted. I think I will hold my toungue (or fingers heh) in the future unless the advice I am giving has been proven to work for myself and others, in which case I am sure others will have the same advice.

I am lucky that my baby bp eats F/T and I have never been in a situation where he would not (with the exception to sitting next to his enclosure with a set on hemostats hoping a dead mouse around for half an hour before he is interested....thats always fun....) and I am sure if he stopped eating i would now feed him a live meal as compared to continously attempting a F/T meal. I learn every day on here and although at times it may feel a little irritating that I am wrong about something for the millionth time, that is the point of this forum. I will make mistakes and learn.

[starmom]

I was silly enough not to read WHO had posted the the suggestion of feeding a live fuzzy or pinkie before I spoke. Besides that point, after discussion with a few members here privately, I can understand the error I have made. I have recieved some incorrect information from a number of 'breeders' in this area which infact are not likely to be actual breeders.

I have apologized to those I feel I may have insulted. I think I will hold my toungue (or fingers heh) in the future unless the advice I am giving has been proven to work for myself and others, in which case I am sure others will have the same advice.

I am lucky that my baby bp eats F/T and I have never been in a situation where he would not (with the exception to sitting next to his enclosure with a set on hemostats hoping a dead mouse around for half an hour before he is interested....thats always fun....) and I am sure if he stopped eating i would now feed him a live meal as compared to continously attempting a F/T meal. I learn every day on here and although at times it may feel a little irritating that I am wrong about something for the millionth time, that is the point of this forum. I will make mistakes and learn.

Very cool Missi! We all blow it, or are misinformed, or type faster than our neural net is firing! It's always nice when we realize our error and then take steps to correct it! You rock!!