• Hello!

    Either you have not registered on this site yet, or you are registered but have not logged in. In either case, you will not be able to use the full functionality of this site until you have registered, and then logged in after your registration has been approved.

    Registration is FREE, so please register so you can participate instead of remaining a lurker....

    Please be certain that the location field is correctly filled out when you register. All registrations that appear to be bogus will be rejected. Which means that if your location field does NOT match the actual location of your registration IP address, then your registration will be rejected.

    Sorry about the strictness of this requirement, but it is necessary to block spammers and scammers at the door as much as possible.

Introducing Baloo my baby Ball Python

enchantress62

enchantress62

In love with Frank
Two weeks ago, while on a shopping trip to Petsmart, I stopped to look at the reptiles. While looking at all the cool pets, I caught movement out of the corner of my eye, it was a baby BP. When I looked her way she retreated, I turned away and she peaked out of her hide again. I turned to see her and she retreated. This went on for several minutes and of course I was completely charmed. Long story short... I bought her. lol Anyway, I have one cornsnake at home that is spoiled rotten and thriving but that is the extent of my experience with snakes. A week later, Mobi, the BP, died. I was heart broken and brought her back to the store hoping for an explaination.

Petsmart was very apologetic but could not tell me why she died. Instead, they gave me another baby BP. I left feeling sad and not interested in the new baby. That is until yesterday. I had bought her a 40L viv that sat in the corner for the last week. Yesterday I decided either I needed to return her or make a committment. I watched her for awhile and found out how commical she is. Her personality reminds me of the bear in Jungle Book so I named her Baloo and set up the new viv. When I placed her in the new home she wandered around for hours... No to be more correct she has been exploring for the last 24 hours. lol I took pictures, although they are blurry, I was wondering if anyone could tell me if they see anything I should be aware of, like if she's too thin, or if her funny character is an indication of a problem.
 

Attachments

  • 032 (800x599).jpg
    032 (800x599).jpg
    258 KB · Views: 73
Sorry I'm having trouble uploading pictures. Hopefully these come out. Okay, well here is one more anyway. lol
 

Attachments

  • 054.jpg
    054.jpg
    137.4 KB · Views: 70
She looks pretty good to me. With BPs, it really IS best to get them from a breeder, some of the pet store ones are fine and will thrive, hopefully this one will! But almost all the ones sold in the pet stores are WC or captive hatched from WC gravid females and then imported. Some of them get sent right after hatching and may never have eaten before they are bought. Good luck with Baloo!
 
Baloo looks good! Just make sure your temps stay stable and you keep your humidity up. We have found coconut husk works the best in our python's vivs. It helps hold humidity and they love to burrow through it!
But Tavia is right, the big chains usually get their balls in right after they hatch and some will never eat a meal and will pass away. Most the employees have no idea how to get them to eat either.

Sorry for your loss and Best of luck with Baloo... there is a great sight for balls... http://www.ball-pythons.net
 
Yes I hear breeders are the safest way to go but I had no intention of buying a pet that day. I went to Petsmart to buy more substrate for Frank and was captivated by Mobi, the bp that died. When I took her back I asked who their breeder is and what the process is for intake. The girl helping me said she didn't know who the breeder was but that Petsmart wont accept snakes unless they have been fed successfully twice and have been examined by their vet. Hmmm I wonder how they would know if feeding was successful.

Anyway, Baloo seems to be healthy. She is active and friendly and has eaten a f/t fuzzy once already. I keep the temp at 85F and the humidity between 40 and 50%. She has a very large water dish so the humidity is always a little on the high side.
 
Sounds like Baloo is doing good and temps and humidity seems awesome! We got HarleyQuinn in as a rescue... they lady that had her said she couldnt afford to feed her. She was skinny and wrinkly that was about 3 months ago... She is fat and happy and doing great! But hubby spoils her rotten. She is right next to his side fo the bed LOL
 
enchantress62 said:
Anyway, Baloo seems to be healthy. She is active and friendly and has eaten a f/t fuzzy once already. I keep the temp at 85F and the humidity between 40 and 50%. She has a very large water dish so the humidity is always a little on the high side.
Click to expand...

Remember that bps require different husbandry set ups than corns. You should have your hot side at 90, humidity 50-60. I'd also be feeding her hoppers or rat pups, a fuzzy mouse is quite a small meal, even for a hatchling.
 
Thanks a lot guys, really, I have made the suggested adjustments to Baloo's viv. I don't have rat pups or hopper's but I do have a few small adult mice in the freezer so I'll try to feed her one of them today. I tried to get advice from another site specific to python's but I got the impression that I was annoying them. The people who responded to my post seemed to be fixated on feeding live and I'm trying to stay away from that if I can. I don't want to cry the whole time she's eating. lol
 
I wouldnt feed her live! We feed our hatchling live pups cuz thats all we could get her to eat and we needed to put some weight on her. We are now trying to switch her over to f/t.

Hubby said small adult mice are about the size of a rat pup, so that should be fine, maybe a lil bigger, but they weigh the same and thats what is the most important with balls. You usual feed 10-15 % of the snakes weight.
 
Okay, she rejected the adult mouse, however, she seemed very curious about it. I dangled it for awhile and she showed interest by smelling it but then turned away so I left it in the viv for a few hours. I saw her smelling it again just before leaving her alone but she didn't eat it. Now I'm wondering if she's getting ready to shed. Her eyes are still clear but I have noticed that her skin is dulling and seems a little loose.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top