Reptile & Amphibian Forums

So my roommate bought a BP thinking its a cool pet, I wanted an Iguana but thats another story. We bought her from Petsmart shes aprox. 3ft now. They feed her every 4 days and they said to continue that schedule. Shes always ate frozen I guess 45gm mice. Ive had her for 2 weeks now and feed her once last week. I read they can go a while with out eating, what about the schedule? i tried feeding tonight she didnt take. shes crawling around the tank and very active these past two days. Tips on feeding? Just tips in general is what im looking for. Day/night cage temps? Shes about 9 months old. Help me its his pet but i take care of it b/c hes in the navy and not here all the time.

3 ft and eating 45g. mice???????? I don't think so! That animal should be eating at least medium rats!

Well almost 3ft. I haven't measured just a guesstament little white mice. The pet store said to feed 2-3 per eating.

Read this. It's a pretty good care sheet. You might also try buying a book on them there are a lot of good ones out there.

http://www.kingsnake.com/ballpythonguide/index.html

I second that. This forum is good for specific questions about care, but if you want some overarching info, I would recommend care sheets and some books. Here are some resources I would suggest checking out:

The Complete Ball Python: A Comprehensive Guide to Care, Breeding and Genetic Mutations by Kevin McCurley
www.newenglandreptile.com/

Pythons of the World, Vol 2 by David G. Barker & Tracy M. Barker
www.vpi.com/

Care sheets:
www.newenglandreptile.com/CareBall.html
www.kingsnake.com/ballpythonguide/
www.vpi.com/publications/the_ball_python_care_sheet
www.anapsid.org/ball.html

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Lincoln, NE
0.1 Pastel, 1.0 Pastel het Pied, 0.1 Pied, 0.1 Cinn, 1.0 Black Pewter, 1.1 Normals, 1.0 Thayeri, 0.1 Thayeri X Alterna, 0.1 crazy cat, 1.0 husband

I feed mine every 1-2 weeks. Read-lots of help out there. Make sure you are addressing temps/humidity/substrate/and hides.

Stop taking husbandry advice from that pet shop, it is very poor.

You feed an appropriate sized prey item once a week. You should offer a mouse or rat that is approximately the same diameter as the snake at its widest point. For a 3 ft ball python, that is probably a medium rat. Once a week.

Check out our site for a Ball Python caresheet and lots more info in the FAQ.

Get a copy of McCurley's Ball Python book, the small version, available here on the classifieds for around 10 bucks. It covers all of the husbandry info you need, in detail, and is a great reference. If you want a more detailed and in depth book, get McCurley's Complete book, or the VPI book. Those are the three books I would recommend.

Best of luck.
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robyn@proexotics.com

ShipYourReptiles.com
Pro Exotics Reptiles

take it from someone that has an iguana and a ball python, a ball is much better if you are just starting off. Iguanas are the most pigheaded animal I have ever been around. It is like they know they survived the dinosaur age and they are the greatest creature on earth because of it. I think the only reason they didn't die out is because they just didn't want to!
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Bryan, Atlanta GA

0-1-0 Rescued Ball Python - Athena (formerly Apep)
0-0-1 Rescued Bearded Dragon - Zeus
0-0-1 Rescued Non-Alpha Green Iguana - Bud
2-3-0 Rescued Rats... no wait... ROTTEN Little Cats - Ra, Vader, Bastet, Isis, Angel
1-0-0 Horse... whoops... BIG Golden Retriever - Jake
0-1-0 Wife
2-0-0 Kids