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My first ball

gnrfade2black May 29, 2007 09:02 PM

i just recently bought my first ball python(not my first reptile). I bought it from a petsmart...they said it was captive bred and only fed frozen mice...but it hadn't eaten since it came to the store three weeks ago. should i try continueing with frozen mice...because if it never has to kill anything it will severly decrease aggresion plus less chance of mites and disease. or should i try live pinkies? thanks in advance
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-Dustin

1 - Green Iguana
1 - Brown Basilisk
1 - Vietnamese Golden Gecko
1 - White-spotted Gecko
1 - Yellow-Spotted Night Lizard
1 - Western Red-Headed Agama
1 - Ribbon Snake
1 - Rough Green Snake
1 - Green Anole
1 - Green Tree Frog
1 - Emperor Scorpion
1 - Long Hair Hamster
1 - Feeder Mouse That My Girlfriend Made Me Keep
1 - Freshwater Fish Tank with Two Tiger Oscars, One Red Oscar, A Pleco, And A Goldfish

Replies (16)

melindaste May 29, 2007 09:36 PM

Congrats on your first ball. A pinky is kind of small for a ball even if it is a baby. Is it a baby? Did they give you a feed chart? If it is a baby I would try a fuzzy or hopper. then go to a small mouse you can switch it over to f/f in time.

gnrfade2black May 29, 2007 10:02 PM

he is a baby...i got a feed chart and they've tried to feed it every four days...none of the ones they had they said had eaten, but none of them looked malnourished
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-Dustin

1 - Green Iguana
1 - Brown Basilisk
1 - Vietnamese Golden Gecko
1 - White-spotted Gecko
1 - Yellow-Spotted Night Lizard
1 - Western Red-Headed Agama
1 - Ribbon Snake
1 - Rough Green Snake
1 - Green Anole
1 - Green Tree Frog
1 - Emperor Scorpion
1 - Long Hair Hamster
1 - Feeder Mouse That My Girlfriend Made Me Keep
1 - Freshwater Fish Tank with Two Tiger Oscars, One Red Oscar, A Pleco, And A Goldfish

gnrfade2black May 29, 2007 10:03 PM

oh and saying pinkie is just a habit...i intended fuzzies for right now
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-Dustin

1 - Green Iguana
1 - Brown Basilisk
1 - Vietnamese Golden Gecko
1 - White-spotted Gecko
1 - Yellow-Spotted Night Lizard
1 - Western Red-Headed Agama
1 - Ribbon Snake
1 - Rough Green Snake
1 - Green Anole
1 - Green Tree Frog
1 - Emperor Scorpion
1 - Long Hair Hamster
1 - Feeder Mouse That My Girlfriend Made Me Keep
1 - Freshwater Fish Tank with Two Tiger Oscars, One Red Oscar, A Pleco, And A Goldfish

pasnakeman May 30, 2007 05:43 AM

for first feedings of small snakes i always tryed a live fuzzy (if that is the right size) then the next feeding i went to fresh killed and then so on....

JenHarrison May 30, 2007 01:21 AM

That whole myth about ball pythons being less aggressive if they don't eat live is false. These are individual animals with individual personalities -- if it's going to be aggressive, then that's what it will be. If it's going to be docile, then that's what it will be. Whether you feed live vs. dead has no affect on this. Neither does feeding in the cage vs. feeding outside the cage.

The mites and diseases that affect ball pythons are species-specific, they won't come from rodents. The only thing I can think of being passed is an internal parasite, but if you have a healthy supplier of rodents, this should not be an issue.

Make sure you're warming the prey up enough (around 90 degrees in the middle). Try wiggling it using a pair of tongs. Try leaving it in the enclosure over night (sometimes they prefer to eat in pitch blackness with no one around). If it keeps refusing, you may need to offer live. You didn't specify whether you were referring to pinky rats or pinky mice, but in either case pinks do not appeal much to ball pythons. They don't have any fur so they don't retain natural oils that make them smell like prey, and they are too small to retain enough heat to make the ball python interested. They also don't move enough to really make the snake go into feeding mode. I would go with a hopper mouse or rat pup.

Also, this is why you shouldn't buy snakes from pet stores like PetCo and PetSmart. They're almost always farmed babies from Africa that aren't feeding. These stories rarely know how to properly care for snakes.
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~* Jen *~

Pink Lady Constrictors

dsreptiel May 30, 2007 03:13 AM

Well it dose not matter what you feed as for as aggression is concerned , But a live rodent CAN carry parasites that can cause a assortment of illness . You can switch to F/T at any time but if you start them on F/T it is easier than doing it later , plus feeding live rodents can allow your snake to be bitten and if you do feed live never leave any rodent that has its eyes open unattended .I am adding a pic of what can happen to a snake attacked by a mouse yes mouse not a rat

JenHarrison May 30, 2007 03:33 AM

That mouse was also left in the enclosure for a week with no food. Leaving a live rodent in with a snake for 5-10 minutes is highly unlikely to have this result. I've always fed live without a single issue, as have many other keepers/breeders. You just have to be smart about it. Like dsreptiel says, don't leave it unattended.
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~* Jen *~

Pink Lady Constrictors

reptilicus81 May 30, 2007 09:57 AM

If it is not eating, and you are worried, offer him a live hopper mouse/fuzzy rat(which can't hurt him). As the others said, don't leave the rodent in for more than 10 minutes! Also, I would feed him when the room is dark!

IMO..I'd rather try to feed him a live given that he may be more inclined to eat it...and worry about getting him onto f/t later! You don't want him to be off feed for too long being that he is a baby!
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Thanks,
Amy
www.myboids.4t.com
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1.14 Normal ball pythons
1.0 Pastel ball pythons
0.0.1 Sinaloan Milk Snake
0.0.1 Plains Garter
0.1 Normal Kenyan Sand Boa
2.0 Anery Kenyan Sand Boa
1.0 Mid-Baja Rosy Boa
0.1 Leucistic Texas Rat
1.2 Dumeril's Boa
1.2 BCI
That's Just The Snakes!

dsreptiel May 30, 2007 07:18 PM

Yes that is a extreme example of what can happen but it gets your attention , even a single bite can take out a eye or deform a mouth so that holding and eating a pray item is difficult , ha If you take all the precautions in the world it can still happen but not all snakes will eat F/T or P/K so to each his own . I just prefer to feed F/T and I haven’t always felt that way but with age and experience that is what I prefer and then P/K and as a last resort live . David of DS Reptile Rescue

-ryan- May 30, 2007 08:53 PM

Just a question, are you sure it wasn't petco? Because Petsmart doesn't sell ball pythons (never has). They only sell corn snakes and king snakes (according to their reptile price-tags book and order forms that I have thumbed through only a couple months ago).

Not a big deal, but it just struck me as weird, since I know petco sells BP's and petsmart (to my knowledge) does not.

Good luck with the snake.

shadow4108 May 30, 2007 10:00 PM

they may have changed their policy, but when I worked there several years ago, they didnt sell ball pythons or any snakes for that matter.. They had a very strict policy on where they got their animals from and their sources were screened.
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This is courage.. to bear unflinching what heaven sends. -unknown

2.1 chocolate labs and bassett (Harley, Barker and Capone)
1.0 leopard gecko (Nacho)

LKirkland May 30, 2007 10:53 PM

.....at PetSmart. I saw some there a few weeks ago. Must have had a policy change. $$$$$$$
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Louis Kirkland
Cornerstone Reptiles

gnrfade2black May 30, 2007 11:17 PM

trust me its petsmart...for one there are not any petcos in my area to confuse me...and two i used to work at this very store...not just the company but this exact store...sorry not to sound ignorant but come on i know where i am most of the time
-----
-Dustin

1 - Green Iguana
1 - Brown Basilisk
1 - Vietnamese Golden Gecko
1 - White-spotted Gecko
1 - Yellow-Spotted Night Lizard
1 - Western Red-Headed Agama
1 - Ribbon Snake
1 - Rough Green Snake
1 - Green Anole
1 - Green Tree Frog
1 - Emperor Scorpion
1 - Long Hair Hamster
1 - Feeder Mouse That My Girlfriend Made Me Keep
1 - Freshwater Fish Tank with Two Tiger Oscars, One Red Oscar, A Pleco, And A Goldfish

j3nnay May 31, 2007 12:28 PM

Are you 100% sure it was CB? I find it hard to believe a chain store is selling CB balls when CH are so much cheaper. I know Petco on the westcoast gets their balls from a vendor, who gets them from another vendor who imports CH babies. I would be surprised if Petsmart didn't have a similar system in place.

In any case, try a live, adult mouse. Anything smaller than a crawler isn't worth much to a ball python - even a hatchling. Baby mice are just too small. Chances of the snake getting mites from the *mouse* are slim to none - mouse mites and snake mites are two very different beasties. Mammalian mites aren't gonna latch onto a reptile. There's a greater chance that the snake gets mites from the ones that are usually crawling around the store.
Back to the mouse. Keep an eye on the two to make sure that the mouse doesn't hurt the snake, but if the snake is hungry it'll eat the mouse. Only offer a mouse once a week - more often tends to be stressful. If the snake doesn't eat it after 15-20 minutes, take the mouse out and wait til next week.

If it doesn't eat, don't touch it. Don't take it out to show your friends, don't handle it, don't try and tame it, nothin. This is the hardest part! The snake has to get the chance to settle in, realize it's in a safe place, and stop stressing. You'll know the snake has settled in and feels secure when it starts to eat regularly for you. This means it eats at least twice in a row, preferably 3 or 4 times.

Good luck! Enjoy your snake!

~jenny
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"The python has, and I fib no fibs,
318 pairs of ribs.
In stating this I place reliance
On a seance with one who died for science
This figure is sworn to and attested,
He counted them while being digested."
~Ogden Nash

jenny.thegreenes.org

"If you're happy and you know it,
Bomb Iraq!
If you cannot find Osama,
Bomb Iraq!
If the terrorists are frisky,
Pakistan is looking shifty,
North Korea is too risky,
Bomb Iraq!

dsreptiel May 31, 2007 12:11 AM

Petsmart I doing a controlled marketing trial selling Balls and some others that they normally don’t sell and they are doing it at only a select few stores . David of DS Reptile Rescue

eminart May 31, 2007 02:02 AM

Yep, I've seen some at both the petsmarts here in my city lately.
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0.10.0 Ball Pythons
0.1.0 Leopard Geckos
0.0.1 Egyptian Tortoise

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