Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I have a question, I am trying to determine the age of a couple of baby BP I recently bought.
I was told these babies were at least two-three weeks old and eating well (2-3 feedings) before shipping.
They arrived at 45 to 55 grams. Two shed during shipping and two more shed the day after they arrived. They have not eaten since I got them 3 weeks ago.
I assumed that the post hatch shed would be at about 7-10 days, and they would be very unlikely to eat before that. Is that correct?

My questions -
At what age is the post hatch shed?
At what intervals are second and third sheds?
Is there any possibility that a 45g baby is sheding for the second time?
What is the possibility that these babies actually ate before their post hatch shed and are now refusing food?

Thanks,
Shari

>My questions -
>At what age is the post hatch shed?

Roughly 7-10 days.

>At what intervals are second and third sheds?

Depends on the feeding schedule, environment, etc. Roughly, one month to 6 weeks.

>Is there any possibility that a 45g baby is sheding for the second time?

This is a very small Ball Python. My smallest was in the mid 60s. Possible? Yes.

>What is the possibility that these babies actually ate before their post hatch shed and are now refusing food?

With a low weight, you might suspect these are fresh hatchlings. I never offer food before the first shed. I would just assume they have not eaten and allow them to settle in. How are you trying to feed them?
-----
Jay A. Martin

I suspected with the weights and shed cycle they were only a week old. The others in the batch are eating like crazy, they are shedding now and weigh about 100-120grams. They had shed before I got them and arrived weighing about 70g.

How am I feeding?
Trying everything possible!
Live, frozen thawed, brained.
During the day, at dusk, leaving all night.
In a small container, in a paper bag - in their cage and out.

I did assist feed (held the pinky in their mouth until they started to swallow) the littelest ones. They had dropped to 40g.

I am going to leave them alone for awhile now that I got something into them. I had been trying every 3-5 days. I'll leave them alone for a week and try again.
Thanks,
Shari