Ball Python ate for first time!

[chloe]

It seems silly to me to have gotten so excited about it, but at the same time I've never kept a snake before, so it was a real milestone for me. Especially with them being such infrequent eaters. Its just so different from my fishkeeping that I'm still adjusting to it.

lol yea but just as deadly. i now have 14 snakes lol.

yep i dont know y royals r suggested as first time snakes, when u really look at it they have to be kept spot on with everything, heat, humidity, hides, homes cant be too big or too small etc and all this just to get it to feed lol

im guna get slated for this but i think burms if u know what ur getting in to size wise are the best. they eat (although mine just missed a feed lol ) they adjust really well, they r soppy as anything when u spend the time with them, which u do with any snake u have.
its just the size thats an issue and that they can do this lol (sorry about the angle, but thats my calf and hed torn my muscle from trying to pull me in the viv)

 

[ExoticEctotherms]

Conner...can I ask why you feed your BP outside of his cage? With a lot of snakes this practice is ok, but since BP's are such finicky eaters it may add stress to the whole situation and make him go off feed. I know other people do feed their BP's in a separate enclosure with no issues...but that's just my 2 cents.

BTW...congrats and nice looking BP!

 

[Lepisosteus platyrhincus]

I didn't have too much reason to pop in here, other than to scold LepPlat for going so slow on his caiman build.

.

 

[snakeguy101]

cool. sometimes snakes will look gray and go into blue for a day or two and then will secrete an oil that makes them appear freshly shed. This oil is used to help lubricate the snake while it sheds so it still may shed.

Keep giving us updates!

 

[Conner]

I actually went ahead and lifted up her hide to see if it was a shed, and it is! A nice full shed, nothing left behind that I could see. I went ahead and wrote down in a journal what day she ate and shed. I'm going to keep track of that so that its harder to forget the last time.

I'm pretty sure she shed before she ate. I just didn't think to check in her hide when I saw her looking so shiny and clear eyed. When I put her back after her meal, she went straight into the hide, and must have accidentally pushed the shed up towards the entrance where I saw it.

As far as feeding outside of the cage, most of the care sheets I've read recommend doing this so that they won't associate your hand coming into their cage with food. This way they're less likely to strike at you in the cage (supposedly). Since she ate fine in a styrofoam container, that is probably where I'll feed her from now on, unless she gets picky and won't eat for a while.

 

[Conner]

Oh, and Chloe: OUCH! That's one reason I don't want to keep large snakes like burms and anaconda's. I think the burms are beautiful, but I don't want to keep a snake that could eat my kitties (and probably dogs) eventually. I think the biggest reptile I'm likely to get will be a red tail boa or an iguana, eventually. I would like to keep some monitors at some point.