An update on my new BP:

[froggsong]

So, I discovered that my BP not only did NOT eat when they said it did at the pet store (yes I know, I should have known better, but this particular fellow had always been very knowledgeable, seems to truly care about the animals, and seemed to be very honest), it had apparently not eaten for some time. This became clear to me after seeing and handling some healthy ones that some owners had brought into the other LPS. My snake is very thin, and has been quite skittish. I waited almost a week to feed him (just a general reference, I do not know the snake yet, I want him to be settled before anyone probes him), and he readily took the mouse, but ate it backwards (any reason behind this? or do I have a less than intelligent snake?). It kept getting hung up on the feet, spitting it out, and trying again. It always went for the back end though... Is that something they normally do? Once it finally got it past the feet, there was no trouble getting it down. I put the snake back into the habitat, and it went into it's hide to digest. Everything was fine, and the snake shed the next day (the shed was almost in one piece, there was one part towards the back that was just ripped a bit, and the part under the throat was a separate piece. there seem to be a few different looking scales on the head and some down the body, are these scales that didn't shed or is there something that might be wrong? It is individual scales, rather than pieces of skin, I'm new to this, and reading doesn't always help as much as asking questions). The day after that, the snake defecated. That all seems normal to me, based on my limited experience and what I have read (I know they don't shed every time they eat, I knew the snake was going to shed before I fed it because it's eyes got milky); the thing I don't understand is that my snake looked fatter BEFORE I fed it than it does now. I have a water dish that I change every day, and I mist every day or two to keep the humidity around 60%. Should my humidity be higher (I believe I have read 60 is appropriate)? I have done what I have read to do to check for dehydration, pinch the skin on the back and see if it tents up, and it doesn't seem to. I really don't understand why my snake looks thinner since it has eaten than it did beforehand. Should I feed it sooner than a week to try to get the weight up? Maybe after five days? I seem to remember reading that that was appropriate for underweight snakes. Should I offer more than one mouse? I don't have a scale at the house, so I can't post the weight, but he is about 30 inches long (I measured the shed skin, I can't get it to stretch out straight to measure it, and I'm not comfortable enough to try with a string yet.), how big around should a snake like that be? The snakes I handled at the pet store that the owners brought in were much shorter than my snake and definitely fatter.
I tried to prepare before I bought the snake, but I feel like I don't know what I am doing as much as I would like. Any help will be greatly appreciated. I'm also going to post this to the BP forum that I am a member of.

[Athen]

ok my first concern is that if he is a 30" BP that means he is most likely a yearling was that what they had him labelled as when you bought him? and what size mice are you feeding? my female BP is about that length and she eats 2 adult mice per week which i feel is a bit too small for her so next feeding im going to move her to 2 jumbo mice.. my male who is much younger and only about a foot maybe a foot and a half has generally been eating 2 hoppers a week but i have decided to step him up to adults. as far as his not having been fed a young BP CAN go weeks and even months without food although it is very highly unadvisable to do or allow this it is possible. and i have heard it said that an adult can go as long as a year with out food but again not advisable. his not having eaten could definately be a contributer to his skiddishness and the fact that he struck. as far as him eating it backwards i have seen mine do it a few times.. and after wards they realized it wasnt the best way to do it and now eat head first they will get into the hang of eating them just like if you live feed they have to learn how to wrap their prey to keep the mouth away from them. now as far as the shed a few random scales that didnt come off isnt too much of a concern you can soak him in a warm bath by warm i mean luke warm which would feel almost cold to you they are much more sensitive to temp than us =) and gently try to rub off his unshed scales other stuff you can do is when you notice him start to blue you can raise his humidity or give him baths that will aide in giving a full smooth shed =). but i would definately recommend feeding more and feeding more often if he is as skinny as you think he is it will not hurt to feed him 4 or 5 mice a week over a couple of days you just cannot handle him since it takes them a couple days to digest their food =) good luck and i hope i was of some assistance

[froggsong]

Yeah, I did raise the humidity when I notice him getting blueish. I figured it was time for a shed. I had it around 75-80% for a couple of days. The scales in question have a shinier appearance than the other scales, and are an iridescent blue/grey color (at least the ones on the head. the ones on the body are the color of the scale, but an iridescent greyish shade, compared to the other scales.). He was a perfect gentleman today when I took him out, and didn't strike at all. He seemed very content as well when I put him back in the tank, did not get scared when i moved the hide back in place or anything. I think one of the issues may be that I has the temps a little too low, due to a confusing care sheet. I covered the back and sides of the tank today, and I'm raising the temps about 3-5 degrees (unfortunately, the Navy doesn't believe we need climate control in our house, so the temps fluctuate throughout the day, and from day to day. I'll be getting a thermostat as soon as I am able).

So I should offer more than one mouse when he feeds? And go ahead and feed again tomorrow? I fed an adult mouse last time, and other than eating it backwards, he took it fine. It made quite a bulge because he is so thin, is that ok? Should I feed a smaller mouse? I was actually surprised that the snake ate when i offered it food the last time, I had had it less than a week at that point, but it did not really hesitate to take the mouse. Doesn't that mean the snake is comfortable?

As for how he was labeled, to be honest with you, I don't remember, but I am fairly certain that it was just labeled as a ball python, no age, no WC/CH/CB, nothing... I didn't think at the time to ask. It wasn't an impulse buy, per se, as I had been planning to get one anyway, but it was impulse in the timing aspect. I was excited and trying to convince my husband just to let me get him, I didn't take the time to carefully inspect the label, lol.

[Athen]

it couldnt hurt to offer him some food if he takes it that is good especially if there are concerns of him being underfed or skinny. when they are young there isnt too much worry about over feeding because just as any other critter when they are growing the energy is being used for that as opposed to an adult who is just storing it. And as far as the size of the prey a general rule of thumb is the prey should be about the same size as the thickest part of his body. as far as the off colored scales it sounds like it may just be some unshed scales especially if he is a bit dehydrated like i said go ahead and give him a warm bath nothing too warm just not cold and rub him gently with a soft cloth if he will allow you to if not just let him chill for a bit they actaually quite like to soak. but on a side note if you see him spending an abnormal amount of time soaking in his water bowl i would check him for mites generally alot of soaking on their own is a good indicator for mites.

[Athen]

i forgot to mention that if you do step up his feeding schedule dont do it for a long time as they do have a slow metabolism but a week or so should be fine and id say that when he resumes a once a week schedule 2 or 3 mice is good then when he gets older and adult status you can shift him into an every other week feeding of 2 or 3 mice =)

[froggsong]

sooooo, should I be feeding prey sized for how skinny he IS, or how fat he SHOULD be? I fed an adult mouse last time and he took it (backwards, I'm sure I said something about that, lol), should I try two this time? None of the pet stores had any hoppers, and I know fuzzies and pinkies are WAAAAY too small. I bout a three pack of adults (all they had other than pinkies and a couple of fuzzies, which felt small enough for my DRAGON to eat!!!), and I put two in the fridge to thaw. I guess I'll see what he does. I have been reading alot today on the BP forum, and I think I am going to just feed him in his enclosure, alot of people say that striking every time you put your hand in isn't an issue with BP's like it is for other snakes. Maybe he will be more comfortable and take the food easier that way. He does not spend much time in the water dish, in fact, I have never seen him in it other than once when I put him in myself (I saw him drink alot when I did that). I did not have the back and sides of the glass covered, so maybe he is scared to come out other than to move to the cool hide. My temps were also off by a couple of degrees. I got that taken care of today, wrapped the back and sides of the tank, and got the temps where they need to be. Tomorrow I will offer the mice, and hopefully we will be back on track a little better. I will definitely watch to make sure he is actually getting into the water bowl, or at least drinking from it. He really did do so much better when I had him out earlier today, wasn't nearly as skittish. I think he may be getting used to me a bit more now.

[froggsong]

Wow, I think the cage conditions are much better now. This is the first time I have ever seen the snake come out at night. He is in there just doing some night roaming. I have read about other people's BP, and they talk about the snake roaming around the enclosure at night, and I was like, I never SEE mine doing that. I think I had the tank too exposed, since the walls were all clear. Now that three of the walls are solid, the snake seems much more secure, plus the temps are perfect now. Maybe the snake actually wasn't coming out except to slither to the cool hide, and that is why it looks a little dehydrated.

[froggsong]

OMG... I fed him today... I was TOTALLY not expecting the kind of feeding response I got, lol... I did the little corpse dance with the mouse, not even for 15 secs, and he actually STRUCK! It scared me so bad I dropped both the mouse AND the tongs right on his head. I pre-scented the room last time, but I don't think I had the mouse warm enough, plus I removed the snake to a separate tank (I don't know WHERE I was reading that was necessary, but just about everything I was reading said to do it. Not removing them makes sense for these guys though, since they stay in the hide all time...). This time, I put the fridge thawed mouse in hot water for ten minutes, then set them on top of his tank while I went to go get the hair dryer, so he would smell them (I was offering two adults, just to see if he would take them), and let me tell you, he definitely smelled them, and he was definitely interested! He actually came out looking for the mouse. So I took them over to the side and used the blow dryer to warm the head of the mouse a little more than the the rest of the body, and then opened his cage to dangle the mouse. Like I said, less than 15 secs later (possibly less than 10!) He struck at the mouse and tried to wrap it (I must have fooled him good that it was alive! Or maybe he was just humoring me, lol), and it startled me so bad I dropped everything on top of him. After I picked it up (luckily the tongs did not fall down all the way, since my hands reeked of mouse) I dangled the mouse again and he struck again! That time he didn't get a good grip and dropped it himself. I moved it to a spot that he could get to it easily, and he started eating it right away, head first. Didn't take over half an hour for him to get it down THAT time! I offered the other mouse, and he seemed interested, but not enough to eat it, so I took it out. Since he is under weight, how soon should I offer the other mouse again? I want to get him up to where he should be. I didn't think to try for a pic before I fed him, but he was definitely triangular, and you could see the spine (even though I fed him five days ago). Do you have any idea how fat a snake that is 30" should be? (the label at the pet store says baby btw, I checked yesterday when I picked up the mice.) Right now, (if it will give you a better idea of his girth) there is a noticeable bulge when he eats an adult mouse, you can see it going all the way down the body. I tried to get hoppers this time to feed him so I could offer more smaller prey items, but no one had any, and he was supposedly eating adult mice at the PS (it is also what I fed him this past Friday. I would think if it was too big, he would not have been so eager to feed today).

Anyway, I am just sooooo happy and excited because he fed so well... WOOT!

[Athen]

grats on the successful feed and im happy for you that you are less concerned for your BP now i know i hate it when i think my animals are sick speaking of which today when i get home i have to bury our bunny lucy =( i got home yesterday and checked on her and she was dead we had to move her outside because she was making a horrible mess in the house i tried putting her in her pen that i built for her but i guess she figured out how to get on top of her hutch and jump over the fence to her pen and was getting out of the yard. i think she got bit by a brown recluse or a black widow at any rate its sad

[froggsong]

I'm sorry to hear about that... We had a wonderful rabbit named Boots years ago that just disappeared one night. We have no idea what happened to him, because the hutch was still securely closed, but the rabbit was gone. I think he may have been stolen. I really liked him alot. The other bunnies we have had in the past were not so tame and cuddly.

If you want some advice for if you decide to get another one: Rabbits seem to do best when kept outdoors if they are in a hutch that is part hide, part wire of some sort (we used chicken wire), the whole thing should be constructed off the ground and enclosed on top so that they can't get out (rabbits dig burrows, and are very good jumpers). A good inside cage that doesn't make much mess is a LARGE plastic bin. You can make a wire top for them easily. Don't let the mess they make or your past experience keep you from getting another, they are wonderful pets.