NEW ball owner

[MacBain]

Hey guys,

I`m new here and I gotta say this site is great! Lots of cool people here with lots of help. Now...i`m about to inherit a 4.5 yr old BP from my cousin. Its a male and hes about 4 ft long. I decided b4 I even consider taking on a snake that I should read EVERTHING I can get my hands on about these snakes. Now after asking my cousin questions about how he looks after his snake I noticed that some of the thing he does with him are different from what I read and watched on You Tube. From my understanding you should feed an adult BP once a week?? My cousin and his girlfriend said they feed him once every 4-5 weeks. Is this bad? They also don`t bathe him, they said he likes to swim in his water dish which is a decent size. I`m just wondering if I should continue this habits because the snake is probally set in his ways already or should I change things up. I know one thing i`m going to do is spend alot more time with him and that is their primary reason for selling him to me. If someone could give me some pointers on this situation that would be great.

Thanx all!

[FatBoy]

Not all youtube info is very accurate. You can learn a lot on here plus bp.net has very good care sheets. Do what is right for the animal, he needs to be offered food more than 4-5 weeks. He may not eat every week but you need to offer. You will be surprised how much better your bp will thrive when taken proper care of. Don't hesitate to ask questions on here.
Welcome to the site.

[puma]

The only time i give my BP a bath is during an incomplete shed, the bath will help to get the rest of the shed off.

[starmom]

I feed my larger snakes every 8-10 days and this seems to work well for them. I don't bathe my snakes

[mrmertz]

Snakes are like people, they are all different. Our BP eats about every 7 days or so. Our RTB eats less, more like every week and half to two weeks. Mr. Biggles would eat a jumbo rat every day if he could, but then he'd look like my uncle.

[Hapa_Haole]

For some reason youtube users love giving their snakes baths which really isn't necessary. From what I've read it can even be bad for the snake as it drains the natural oils from their skin. A good soak does do wonders for a bad shed though!

And I'm willing to bet an arm and a leg that this won't be your last BP (or snake). They are so addictive! Since you'll probably be getting a baby BP soon I'll give ya the specs on their feeding as well

Juveniles: Feed every 5-7 days
Adults: Feed every 7-10 days.
If they miss a feed don't offer the next day. Waiting until the next scheduled feeding time is more likely to get them to eat and a week without food won't do any harm.

And I almost forgot...welcome!

[norm]

As everyone has already said, 4-5 weeks is long. I don't want to say it is starving the snake, because of their high tolerance, but it's definitely longer than he should be going without food in captivity.

Snakes don't need baths, no one gives them a bath in the wild, they shed every so often anyway.