List off the biggest mistakes new ball python owners make?

[Bogertophis]

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Currently I'm feeding her rat pups; I feed her prey that's either the same size as the widest part of her body OR something slightly larger.

Is this a good way to decide prey size without a scale? Thank you all for answering my questions!

Also, would it be a good idea to give her more variety; chicks, quails, baby rabbits etc.

Obviously rats would be her main diet but I don't want her to have a deficiency in certain nutrients and or too much of another one.

I'd suggest feeding nothing wider than her mid-body- no need to push food, & sometimes when BPs are fed larger items than they need, they seem MORE likely to go on fasts, which is a pain.

Some snakes accept a wide variety of prey easily, but BPs are not known for that- they tend to be picky eaters, sometimes even to the point of wanting the same color rodent, so personally I'd stick with what works. If she's eating rats, stick with rats, & don't worry about it. Or, "if it ain't broke, don't fix it"!

If you feed something else now, she may then decide to refuse rats & insist on the new food. BPs can be quite finicky, perhaps because these are not their normal prey in the wild but rather domestic animals more readily available fed in substitution.

If you want to feed her natural diet, that would probably be ASFs (African soft-furred rodents) but they're harder to come by because they're harder to breed & therefore more expensive. Think carefully before you switch, & do some research- depending on where you live, they may not even be legal to buy. Check prices with online sources- & consider what you'd do if they went out of business or stopped shipping to your location for any reason. Personally, I'd stick with rats.

[Ruby]

Thanks!

[dakski]

First, mice and then rats are fine. I wouldn't feed ASF as BP's can imprint on those and they can be hard to get, as mentioned.

Don't feed too big a meal as explained. Try to get your snake on F/T for your sake, and more importantly, your BP's.

Mistakes people make:

1. Wrong temps or humidity. NOT getting a thermostat - which is a must. Also not properly checking temps. IR temp gun for ground temps is a must IMO.

2. Handling too much. Let your snake settle in. Get a few meals in. Then start gentle handling sessions - short ones. A few minutes every few days to start.

3. Anthropomorphizing. Your BP is a snake, not a human. Learn what makes snakes tick, not what you think your snake wants.

4. Not enough or proper sized hides.

5. Getting too many snakes too fast.

6. Not properly quarantining new additions. This must be done ALWAYS and for any new addition after your first.

7. Going for tank setups that humans think look cool, but are not best for your snake.

[Lawrencegmfu]

Ah, I see. I'll get a scale later down the line, I don't want to stress her out too much.
Not sure how to post pictures on here, but I've updated my profile to a picture of her.

Currently I'm feeding her rat pups; I feed her prey that's either the same size as the widest part of her body OR something slightly larger.

Is this a good way to decide prey size without a scale? Thank you all for answering my questions!

Also, would it be a good idea to give her more variety; chicks, quails, baby rabbits etc.

Obviously rats would be her main diet but I don't want her to have a deficiency in certain nutrients and or too much of another one.

The general rule of thumb for BPs is to not feed them something bigger than the widest part of their body, so you're doing great with that, unfortunately we cant tell how big she is off of her pic on your profile, you should be good with rat pups following the general rule of thumb like you already stated. Most breeders try to stick to just rats, but BPs can be picky eaters. Personally i have a few that went off food and i tried a whole bunch of different things but in the end they just wanted something else to eat besides rats. I started to feed them Mice and they instantly went for it. This isnt always the case when they go off of food but a good tip. As far as switching it up on your own, i think it would be a decent idea just to try and give them something else to eat vs constantly eating the same thing for their whole life, But just an FYI if they do take the new prey they can go off food if you tried to switch back to rats after so keep that in mind that once you give them something else they can become stuck on that new prey and wont go back to the previous. Out of my 3 that i had to switch to mice, ive only been able to get one of them so far back onto rats and the other two wont even look in the rats direction when i try to feed them even though theyve eaten rats the whole time ive had them up until that point they went off food.

[dakski]

The general rule of thumb for BPs is to not feed them something bigger than the widest part of their body, so you're doing great with that, unfortunately we cant tell how big she is off of her pic on your profile, you should be good with rat pups following the general rule of thumb like you already stated. Most breeders try to stick to just rats, but BPs can be picky eaters. Personally i have a few that went off food and i tried a whole bunch of different things but in the end they just wanted something else to eat besides rats. I started to feed them Mice and they instantly went for it. This isnt always the case when they go off of food but a good tip. As far as switching it up on your own, i think it would be a decent idea just to try and give them something else to eat vs constantly eating the same thing for their whole life, But just an FYI if they do take the new prey they can go off food if you tried to switch back to rats after so keep that in mind that once you give them something else they can become stuck on that new prey and wont go back to the previous. Out of my 3 that i had to switch to mice, ive only been able to get one of them so far back onto rats and the other two wont even look in the rats direction when i try to feed them even though theyve eaten rats the whole time ive had them up until that point they went off food.

#Lawrencegmfu. Good point on the how big the food should be. BP's can be picky, but the vast majority will switch to rats and for that matter, F/T food, given some time and patience. Some will stick with mice, but in general I think BP's get a bad reputation that isn't necessarily deserved.

Further, I wouldn't be switching food items because they can be picky. If/when you get your BP on rats, just stick with them. That's pretty much all BP's eat in the wild. Remember, snakes eat the entire rat. So they get fur, bones, muscle, organs, etc. This is a full diet. Rats are also good regarding fat content, etc. Could a BP eat other food sources, yes, but they aren't natural to them, could get them to stop eating food items you want them to eat, like rats, and there is no need.

Studies have been done on the nutritional content of different food items for snakes. In general, rats are awesome in terms of fat content, protein, size, etc.

I know a few people who supplement with vitamins, but I am old school and have snakes who live long and healthy lives on rats. What matters more is the source and health of the rats and what they have been fed. This is true for live especially, but also F/T.

[Zincubus]

Put loads of branches, bark pieces , hides and fake foliage in the viv / rub / tank

They love climbing in evenings plus they detest wide open spaces

Sure the negative is it’s slightly harder to do a clean up but you can rearrange everything then and that keeps life interesting for them ..


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[Bogertophis]

... What matters more is the source and health of the rats and what they have been fed. This is true for live especially, but also F/T.

That right there. You want to buy from reputable sources that feed their rodents properly- not on "junk food". The old saying "you are what you eat" applies to animals too.

And there are plenty of people that argue for one or the other (rats or mice) as being the "best nutrition", but they're very close in nutritional values when scientific studies have been done, so don't lose sleep over that.

The REAL reason rats are preferred for BPs is that when your snake gets larger, the appropriate "meal" size would be one small rat* or 2 adult mice, so which one do you think is more efficient & easier to provide? The single item (rat of correct size) of course! (Note: some snakes will only eat one item per meal, no matter what size it is. They instinctively get stressed & feel the need to hide after eating, as they would in the wild, where other predators are after them too & they're "exposed" when busy swallowing a meal.)

*A very large adult female BP might take up to a medium rat, but don't go above that size- & keep in mind that male BPs don't get as large as females, & if overfed, tend to go on fasts, which is a real pain (you'll keep wasting food, offering when they won't eat).

[Zincubus]

Make sure you buy a food eater / feeder !!


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[Bogertophis]

Make sure you buy a food eater / feeder !!


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Huh?

[Zincubus]

Huh?

Make sure you buy a GOOD feeder / eater



Predictive text glitch


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