Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hi all, I'm a first time snake owner learning with my new ball, Bongo. He/she is about two months old now and around 17", I've recently been feeding it either 2 mouse pinkies or one mouse fuzzy every week. Does that feeding schedule sound ok? I'd like he/she to be as healthy as possible.

Anyways, I noticed that it has been shedding very irregularly, sometimes once every 2-3 weeks. I'm not sure if this is normal... also, it takes forever for the skin to break off, even after I try to get it to soak. The scales around his neck are very loose and wrinkle when he turns, I'm not sure if he's skinny or if this is normal.

One other thing, I have a custom built habitat that he just moved into. Right now the only thing keeping him toasty is a few heating pads, but I really want to get him under a good UV tube. Any suggestions on what flouro works best to keep a Ball well-rounded?

How's that for a slew of questions! I read a few books and none of them addressed these things. Here's a pic of him, with one other viewable at http://216.228.165.50:81/ The pics aren't very good, he/she's a little camera shy and self consious

Aaron

your not feeding it enough. give it atleast 2 hoppers a week id say. and switch to young rats as soon as possible. its good to get your snake eating rats because thats what he will likely be mainly eating even when hes full grown. my snake had the same shedding problem but its the store's fault not mine. hes dehydrated probably, soak him in warm water once a week for 30-60minutes id say...and put a damp towel in his cage, and possibly a bigger surface area water dish anything to get him more hydrated. i dont have much experience but this is exactley what people told me when i had the same thing. id say in a couple weeks introduce your snake to pinkie rats or very young ones.

My opinion is that all shedding problems can be solved with out the potentially stressful forced soaking method. The damp (not wet) towel is the better solution. Good advice on all the other points.

Thanks! I'll switch him to the rats soon. I just moved him into this cage from a 20 gal about a week ago, I'm not sure if he even knew where the new water dish was... I just put his head in the water and he seemed to drink right there.

Are you sure he wouldn't benifit from a full-spectrum night light? I have the heating pads on one side so he does have a choice. I'm probably going to get a ceramic-based heat lamp to make it a little more well-rounded.

yeah im positive you dont need UV hehe, ask anyone on this site id say atleast 90% of them dont use UV lamps, a heat lamp would be good if the air temp is cool all around, keep the air tempature about 80º to 90ºF in the day and turn off the lamp at night and leave the heat pad on. its pretty simple. when you put a damp towel in the cage something that worked for me is put it inside his hide spot, i did that and my snake curled up in it right away

to help heat my ball's cage I run a 40w "moonlight" heat light. It gives off just enough light to illuminate the cage like a faint moon. Its great because the moonlight bulb can be on 24/7 because at night its not putting out daylight.
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Long Beach, CA
0.0.1 Ball Python

I've had this one for the past three years. I would agree with feeding it more. You would be amazed how large of a mouse or rat a ball can consume. I would also recomend getting temp/humidity guages if you haven't done so already. I have a 75 watt heat bulb directly above my water bowl. You have to add water more often but the evaporation will help with the humidity. Also you might try and spray the tank a little with a hand sprayer. I also have a elevated branch about 8 inches below the light. This also helps the snake to thermo-regulate it's temperatures. My snake eats a very large rat about once a month and then stops for a few months during the winter. If you have a heat rock I would take it out unless you want burns on the underside of the belly. The UV light would only make viewing the tank more pleasurable. Pythons don't need the light for processing vitamin D3 or anything like that. I wish you the best of luck and just be happy the snake is eating.

Another picture of Morpheus during a monthly feeding.

btw you dont need heat pads over the whole enclosure, only like 1/3 of it because you need a cool side too, and theres no use for a UV lamp because ball's are nocturnal

I do not see the loose folds of skin I would associate with dehydration, but s/he does need some more humidity
I saw someone had taken a pillow case and put the big half log in it, then stuffed the other end back into the hide so it wrapped the whole hide, then just damped down the pillow case, moisture on top and bottle, and the snake can still climb in and hide (so the hide supports the top of the tube of the pillow case)
it looked like it worked well
I have not used it as my daughters snake sheds VERY well (knock on wood)
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Elizabeth (ecb)

Make this world a better and more beautiful place that You have been in it
*Edward W Bok*

dehydrated. Humidity in the cage should be 60% or more. Frequent shedding also may be an indicator of injury, burn, or parasite problems. Up the humidity in the cage - mist with a spray bottle once or twice a day. If the animal keeps shedding that often, get it to a vet and let them know you're concerned.

Regards,

Neil