new pet

[Mike O'Brien]

http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y157/Mike0101/newpet.jpg :)

[kratos3681]

Is that a ball python?

[Mike O'Brien]

Yep :)

I'm gonna try and feed it tomorrow.

[victor708]

Beautiful animal. Congratulations

[stevo4535]

its always a delight to see them eat :) you should make a video!

[Mike O'Brien]

I'm pretty happy, the snake ate today without a problem.

I don't know about a video, that's kind of sick. I got four mice today, and now my two younger sons have new pets too. I'm hoping they will just start to breed quick. I don't see a problem there.

[pnut]

Very cool Mike. So what do you have now....the snake, a dog and the tank? Anything else?

[Mike O'Brien]

Tanks, 2 dogs, 6 parakeets, 1 green cheek conure, snake, and now two mice. LOL

[pnut]

Wow you really are the zoo keeper. I have 1 dog, 2 cats and the tank....thats enough for me!

[Mike O'Brien]

I forgot about my cat. It's basically a tom cat and never ever comes in the house. I'm lucky if I see it around in the shrubs every now and then. Smart cat, best cat I ever had. :)

[GSELLERS1245]

mike i dont know if you know this or not but ill let you know just in case
dont use a heat rock try and use a heat pad unless you have an adjustable thermostat on the heat rock. ball pythons are pretty dumb when it comes to laying on the heat rock and will cook themselves to death. Also if this is going to be a family pet, it has been prooven that removing a snake from its home and feeding it in a separate tank would keep the sanke calm and docile.....i had a pretty mean ball python bacause of this i think. ummm.... The mice idea for the breeding for food is great but when they get busy the little basturds are escape artisits and before you know it a male and female get loose and i dont need to tell u the rest. I used to breed these guys also so if u need help pairing some up just let me know i know alot of herpitologists around the florida area.

Just some advice for ya
like i said if you know this its great
cuz i dont know your experience with balls :)

[GSELLERS1245]

also by the look of the pic he might be ready for small rats

[Mike O'Brien]

Thanks Glenn. I'll take any advice that I can get. I just know the basics really. I have an under tank heater for it. I just think I need a better hide box for it. I have the half log type thing, but it's still pretty open in there. I did take the snake out of the cage to feed it. I put it into a drawer and put the mouse in, after it consumed the mouse I just held the drawer into the cage and let the snake go in on it's own.

I'm not sure on the size of the snake, but it's small. in a few days I'll try to get a better pic and some measurements. I got small mice for it this time.

I'd like to sex it as well, but I'm not too comfortable squeezing it down there.

What do you recommend for frequency of feeding. That's one of the things nobody seems to agree on. I was thinking once every 5 to 7 days.

[Mike O'Brien]

Oh, that thing in the pic is the water dish.

[GSELLERS1245]

ok yep its small...i would do 2 mice every 1-2 weeks. depending on the activity of your little buddy. if he hadnt pooped yet from the previous week i would wait til he does so. And wait about 1 hour in between mice. This may sound mean but thump the mice on the head a couple of times pretty hard before you put it in the with the snake. if not the mouse is likely to injure the snakes mouth or skin......
i had a baby where i didnt thump it and when the snake struck it, he went jaws down on the head well the mouse freaked and went to town biting the inside of the snakes mouth so it went to the vet and got a checkup which is required before an analysis can be determined and $300 just to have the doc say "yep tissue damage....heres some steroid shots and some pills it should heal within a couple of weeks.

long story short lesson learned i thumped every time after that.
Also you might want to get a reptile heat lamp/bulb combo for on top of the cage.
he/she is almost too young to be sexed right now i would wait a couple of months to have solid evidence.
also maybe once a week or so fill the bath tub up with luke-warm water and let him/her exercise and bathe but use no soap...inspect for mites and ticks these will cause an unhappy buddy and could mess with apetite. also he will need some terrain to help with shedding its skin. You will see him/her sit in its water bowl and most of the time itll poop in it so it is imperative that it has fresh water to drink at all times. keep the water in the shade (evaporates less) thats about it for now
if you need anything at all mike just ask.....i will be more that happy to help out.

[Mike O'Brien]

Cool, thanks

[Am00re34]

i have a red tail phython, so a little different, but you will know when he is hungry. especially if you are going to have a constant supple of mice on hand. When i would go to feed him i would often take the mouse and dangle it by him and he would strike almost immediatly when he was hungry.

Also, i noticed he would disappear in the tank for days at a time (hiding in the wood chips on the bottom of the tank).
I have also heard that the more human contact the better. mine didnt do well w/ humans. he would also slither away from us when we had him out and on occassions would try and strike at me when removing him from his tank at times.

great buy though, they tend to always be a topic of conversation w/ guests. usually because they want to see him eat.

[GSELLERS1245]

do you mean a red tail boa?

[Am00re34]

oh your right... sorry! i was thinking python, but it was a boa. had to give him away, stupid apartment wouldnt let me have him anymore

[GSELLERS1245]

those are beautiful snakes also, i had 4 peruvian red tail boas and 6 columbian red tail boas and successfully bred both species. they sometimes can be tempermental but the ball python is alot less active.

[Mike O'Brien]

These mice just cost me another $40 in supplies.

http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y157/Mike0101/IMG_0382.jpg

http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y157/Mike0101/IMG_0383.jpg

[GSELLERS1245]

those are fat little buggers but escape artisit and can jump really high (cute though) :)
mike make sure the lid is on TIGHT~ they also can squeeze through spaces you wouldnt even imagine

[Mike O'Brien]

Good thing I have a rat eating dog :) Actually any small animal from mice to skunks have been taken out by my dog.

[GSELLERS1245]

maybe instead of dog and log we can have dog and mouse videos :)
i hope not :) :)

[GSELLERS1245]

so how is the mouse and the python doing?

[Mike O'Brien]

The snake has been eating well and shed it's skin last week. My kids love the mice, so I am still going and buying one at a time come feeding day. Darn mice stink though. :(

[GSELLERS1245]

they sure do.