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Happy & pretty relieved!-wanted to share(not corn-related) :)

My Izzy sometimes takes a while to shed after going into the clear post-blue phase. Her last shed it was about 5 days or so. I wouldn't start worrying yet. I would definitely follow Kathy's advice. I always use a humid hide for my ball pythons when they're in shed, and if it's taking them a while I also give them a brief mist daily. That way they have access to moisture without having to be handled daily.
 
I know both of my bps once they start to blue to the day they shed is about 7-9 days roughly some times a day or two sooner and sometimes a day or two later. I keep the humidity at about 70% and so far they all have shed perfectly but then again they are not in poor condition as this poor thing. I think Kathys idea of the moss in her favorite hide is a good idea.

Good luck, glad to hear she is doing better then before.
 
Glad she's starting to eat for you but it's typical of Petsmart. Most of their balls are imports and are kept in cages with multiple animals, leading to stress and failure to thrive. It's unfortunate since there are so many cbb animals readily available and now Petsmart will just get another animal to fill the void you vacated. works like puppy mills in a sense. You save it, but you just open it up for yet another poor animal to take it's place.
 
Well, I wouldn't say she just opened it up for a new one to take it's place. If it had died the spot would have been just as open, so all she did was gave it a fighting chance. But yeah, they'll keep getting more. The Petsmart where I used to live only ever had "captive hatched" babies, none captive bred. They always, always had feeding problems and looked to be not much better off than this poor girl.
 
Yes, if she had PAID for it, then they would be encouraged to just refill it for more profit. But as already said, the spot for that poor python was going to be open soon, whether from its death or giving it away. I think the important point is that the shop didn't profit from its poor condition,
 
My ball python is a retired breeder and the place we got him wasn't very nice. There are still private breeders who are not tip top with reptile management.

My bp has only had one good shed since we got him last year. He went blue when we left for a vacation and cleared by the time we came home so we didn't do anything for humidity or soaking.

Good job on getting her to eat, take it one feeding at a time, and keep her isolated until you know for sure that she is a fit snake.
 
Thanks for the advice everyone! We went out for the night & when we came home we saw that Beyonce had tried to start shedding,but it was a mess as we expected. I think she had issues because her skin is still pretty loose from being thin. Anyway,we wiped along her with a damp towel & that helped her get the rest off. Her scales look nice again! :) Hopefully now she will eat again,she was just starting to look thicker before she went in blue & wouldn't eat.

***I wouldn't have bought her from Petsmart in the condition she was in. I don't believe in financially rewarding the corporation for improper animal husbandry. But,we did keep an eye on her when we would go get crickets & let the employees know we were concerned about her. I know at many big chain pet stores including most Petsmarts,they don't give a crap about the reptiles they carry.From experience we know that most of the employees in the stores we've been to won't even touch the baby corns--but in the store we got her from they have 2 very good reptile dept. workers who genuinely love snakes-- Both of them have their own snakes at home & would talk to us about her & the things they would try with her to get her to eat. When we told 1 of the guys she ate on her own he was as excited as we were & couldn't believe it. They had tried everything we would've thought to try & she never would eat for them. I guess she just didn't like the store environment & balls are notoriously picky about eating. Anyway,I'm not defending all big chain stores 'cuz I have seen how bad they can be..of course,we've seen some small pet stores that were disgusting also...but,the store where we got her is always clean & I know they tried with her--we weren't even looking to get a Ball python,she was just such a sweetie we wanted to give her a chance. :)
 
Reality is though, if the animals don't survive, they don't profit. Once they don't profit, they don't get more....it doesn't make it financially a good proposition to keep buying animals you can't sell. So when you take one off their hands (whether bought at a discount or given), they will still buy more due to not having lost much at all with that one. Imports almost never do great in the feeding department (captive hatched means hatched in captivity and then imported here from farms oversees) and ball pythons are problematic feeders even under the best of circumstances. Add the stress of co-habitating and probably trying to feed it crickets for all I know-I've had several people contact me with problems feeding their cornsnakes with crickets that Petsmart told them to feed them with.......and you have a very bad combo.
 
She was by herself in the tank,& they do not feed crickets at the Petsmarts around here,Petco does though. I understand your feelings about the big chain stores,I have seen some pretty horrible things--they all happened to be at the Petcos around here instead the Petsmarts..from what I have read online I understand that the Petsmarts in alot of places are as bad as the Petcos around here(Houston area). But I am also in contact with a local reptile rescue & have seen what individuals can do to their reptiles. I have also been in small pet shops locally that had poor husbandry or animals with failure to thrive. Like I said-I was not defending big chain stores at all,but I know the guys that work there personally & they were not treating her like a commodity. The stores are all only as good as their individual employees,but the same can be said for small stores & individual breeders. You can meet small time breeders with only a few poorly kept snakes that consider their snakes as nothing more than money machines or big breeders with many snakes who love all of their snakes like children. Honestly,I understand where you are coming from,but I didn't start this thread for it to turn into a Petsmart bash,I just wanted to show the progress of this sweet girl.
 
MegF. said:
Imports almost never do great in the feeding department (captive hatched means hatched in captivity and then imported here from farms oversees) and ball pythons are problematic feeders even under the best of circumstances.
Click to expand...

I know, that's why I differentiated between captive hatched and captive bred.

She didn't pay for this ball python, so they did not profit from it. Financially to them it's no different than it dying. Hell, I wouldn't be suprised if the employees that care told the higher ups that it did die. Either way, the snake got a fresh start at no benefit to the store. I agree with you 100% - buying a sick snake helps that snake but encourages the stores to keep doing the same. I just don't think that's applicable in this particular case.

Also, unfortunately snakes dying in their care is usually not enough to get pet stores to stop buying them, especially a big chain. There was a Petco I used to go to for supplies. I watched many of their snakes wither away and die and did my best to give them advice on how to stop killing them. The employees were nice but the GM wouldn't listen, so I stopped shopping there altogether. Most of their profitable sales do not come from selling animals, it's from supplies. So losing money here and there on an animal they don't manage to sell to some unlucky customer before it dies doesn't stop them from placing their next order. In fact, this particular store kept ordering more exotic species - a Brazilian Rainbow Boa, pastel ball pythons, etc. I know the BRB died, and I have pictures of the pastels that look worse than the female in this thread.
 
Here's a couple of updated pics of Beyonce (8-21-11):
her muscles are strong enough now that she can ball up :)
1021505.jpg

she's starting to look much more plump & she's so shiny :)
1021510.jpg

that's my daughter,Chloe :)
1021513.jpg
 
Well, my husband & I have been assist feeding Beyonce since she shed 'cuz we kept leaving mice for her & she wouldn't eat them..I say 'assist' feed 'cuz we were just putting it in her mouth & she would take over from there now...but,I still hate to do this & I'm sure she doesn't appreciate it..so we decided to try a live hopper & I am happy to say she struck & constricted it with such speed we were shocked! :) she wouldn't have been able to do this when we first brought her home being that she could barely swallow & we had to force feed her with pinkies. Although my corns & king are happy to eat F/T,I am fine with feeding her live. I will try her again with F/T as she gets older,though she has never shown an interest like this before.
I need to pick up a gram scale..wish I would've gotten one when I first brought her home
 
You might have better luck getting her to eat f/t if you heat it well and offer with tongs. I never just drop it in a cage for a snake. I want them to think it's alive and they grab and constrict. The only exception is babies. I put the pinky in the tub with them and leave them alone, but all adults are fed on tongs. My snakes have massive feeding responses anyway so I need the tongs just to keep my fingers intact. Anyway, I'd try the tong method on a fresh killed animal for a few times and then a very hot f/t one. Balls are notoriously crappy feeders anyway so she may only take live, but I hate doing it due to the risk to the snake.
 
Yeah,I'm not too thrilled about the idea of her not switching to F/T by the time she's eating bigger mice,I'm prepared to have to watch the mice & take them out quickly if she doesn't show interest,but I'm hoping she will switch before that...we've tried using tongs with her 'cuz we feed all of our others using tongs,but she wouldn't take it those times..the only time she ate on her own was before her shed,she ate 1 pinky & 1 fuzzy that was left outside her hide..wouldn't do it again after the shed..I've tried heating them up & she showed more interest,but still wouldn't eat it..so far live is the only thing she has had a good response with....Balls are definately picky eaters :p
 
I use almost boiling water to heat the nose of the f/t prey before offering. then it gives a high heat signature. It won't matter if you take the mice out, the most dangerous moment is when they grab the mouse during a strike.If it's not just right, they will lose and eye or part of their nose. I've seen it more times than I can count. This is especially true of rats...and african soft furred rats (their preferred prey) is the worst.
 
Thanks for the tip! :) I went ahead & heated the water to almost boiling & let the mouse thaw that way..at first she wouldn't take it from the tongs,but when it slipped off the tongs & hit the ground she struck lightning quick lol I will be very happy if she keeps taking them that way-thanks again :)
 
NO problem. I wouldn't feed too often either. Every 10 days or so. None of my snakes are slow strikers unless they just aren't going to eat (breeding time or shed) because they are only fed once or twice a month, depending upon age. Boas and pythons are slow metabolisers and even if you're working on getting her weight up, she'll do better on slowly doing that. They aren't designed to have food in the belly all the time. It takes weeks for them to empty most of the contents. The poop you see today is the meal from two weeks ago, not the last meal.
 
Well,I have cool news to share! #1-ever since MegF. gave me the tip about the almost boiling water on the F/T,Beyonce has not refused a meal & strikes her mice within seconds of me showing it to her. :)

#2 we went to Petsmart for crickets tonight,our friends there always ask us how she's been doing, we had told them last time about the almost boiling water trick-they said they had never heard that & he owns Balls also--so tonight he tells us he tried it & it worked so well they wrote it down & now use it for all the Balls' feedings & said it works great-he was so happy! They also tried it on a non-feeding Rosy Boa & it worked also! :) - Thanks again,MegF. for sharing this valuable info! not only were we able to help Beyonce,this will help the snakes they get in the future--I know not all Petsmarts are that good,but I really do like this one,they have some great workers who really care :)
 
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