Reptile & Amphibian Forums

OK I have a ball python and its CB and everything from mark and kim bell. Its a baby eating adult mice. Tonight I heard it roar or grumble in its tank. I looked up and its mouth was wide open. Its been 2 days since i feed it and its in a 20 long and is on aspen bedding what should I DO PLEASE HELP. As soon as i heard it i took hm out put him in a dark rubbermaid with his hide and a bowl of water What else should i do and what could this be?
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JOSHUA

do you mean the mouth is "stuck" open? np

i never said it was stuck open. I said it was open as if it were relocatng its jaw so lets just say it was "renacting a yawn" so whle dong this it was grumbling and/or roaring. Whats the deal with that.
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1.1 Tangerine Honduran Milk Snakes
0.1 Mexican Milk Snake
1.1 Desert Banded California King Snakes
1.0 Okeetee County Corn Snake (Okeetee County Documented)
1.1 Sand Fire Bearded Dragons (Sunfire Ranch)
0.1 Ball Python (Mark And Kim Bell Line)
1.0 Ball Python (Jungle pattern WC)
1.2 Ferrets (Albino, sable, and cream)
JOSHUA

And was it acting as if it were choking?....twisting..squirming..flickering tongue rapidly?

My bps are on aspen too.......have witnessed this "behavior" a time or two.......it's as if they have gotten a piece of aspen in their mouths and are trying to work it down.

How's it doing today?

no not really it just had its mouth open as if it were relocating its jaw. While doing this it was making a roaring grumbling noise that was rather loud. I took my aspen out today and he is on news paper just to be safe.
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1.1 Tangerine Honduran Milk Snakes
0.1 Mexican Milk Snake
1.1 Desert Banded California King Snakes
1.0 Okeetee County Corn Snake (Okeetee County Documented)
1.1 Sand Fire Bearded Dragons (Sunfire Ranch)
0.1 Ball Python (Mark And Kim Bell Line)
1.0 Ball Python (Jungle pattern WC)
1.2 Ferrets (Albino, sable, and cream)
JOSHUA

keep an eye on it. if he's opening his mouth alot & you hear various clicking & popping noises that's the sign of a respiritory infection. Also if you notice that the prongs on the tongue look like there stuck together that could be another sign of an infection along with any fluid leaking from the mouth & nose or bubbles. I would just keep him in a rubbermaid with newspaper & see what happens.
Out of curiosity I have heard aspen to be a not so good choice for reptiles? have you guys seen any truth to this? I have never used it before. Now I use newspaper but before that I used coconut bark or bed a beast

I've not heard anything bad about aspen myself. I know there are quite a few who us it for their BPs.

If there is anything bad about it, I'd be interested in hearing what others have to say.
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thanks for clearing that up... i wasn't sure i just heard people here & there include aspen in the "bad" catagory..but since no one seems to agree with that it was prob just a fluke.

Hey,

As fars as Aspen beeding goes, I use it for my balls. The only drawback I have witnessed is during feeding times and this is occassional. While eating/striking sometimes a shaving will adhere to the snakes mouth. Typically after 30 seconds or so of realigning his/her jaw the aspen shaving is removed and no harm done. I must conclude in saying I am SERIOUSLY considering a switch to newspaper or craft paper. I do not like the look, but one more thing concerns me with aspen or other wood shaving based substrate - MITES! Recently, we ( my family ) lost my wife's college graduation present, a burmese python, after fighting a mite infestation for weeks. I do not think the mites killed her, however; I do acknowledge the likelyhood of mites lowering her immune system. In doing such the parasite unintentionally contributes by providing a means for other diseases to thrive.

One question for those of you using newspaper:

How do you like it? Does the ink from the paper not effect the snake?

Thanks and hope this helps. Also, keep us iniformed with your snakes behavior. There are a lot of good people here that can help.

Todd
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1.1 Balls - Male het/albino, Female 66% het/albino
***Fingers crossed for next season!!!***

Yaaa...ball pythons dont really roar. In fact, mine is pretty quiet. I would ask for my money back. it may be a hybrid.

(sorry i gots the sillies )
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