Finally got one! :) Help

Well...I went to Pet CO today and was a very bad girl. A bad girl because I fit the money in to buy him/her, and good because how could you not be good buying something you've dreamed of hard core for the past year. Yes.... I bought a Juvenile Ball Python. I had four to pick from. One was opaque, pretty, bright but only a few aliens. One was dark toned with stripes all the way down and a few spots. The other was shedding, and last but not least the one I felt very sorry for but didn't get because I could not afford major medical care IF it was sick. I'm not positive if bp's get wrinkles all down their necks when shedding?? I am surprised yet not surprised at Pet Co to. They are our favorite store. This one was pretty much shed except the lower head and down the neck. It looked fine except for a BUNCH of wrinkles. I thought it COULD be from shedding, but also remembered reading in a previous post here about wrinkles also meaning it is to skinny.

I none the less picked the one that was opaque. She has a big head, nice body bulk, and active and VERY docile for being opaque. I also liked her pattern. Not the prettiest I know but I still think shes gorgeous! I guess you always do with your first one. I bought for her 6 adult mice. The Pet Store said she was eating these once a week on Friday, but she won't be getting any this Friday. I bought a BIG log for her and a BIG water dish. The water is stone and green. Pretty! OH! By the way I named it Lickity! Monty's used to much. I had the name picked out before I bought him. For her/him I know, but for her house I bought a 28 qt. rubbermaid container. Its big enough for the baby for now, probably for a few months.

My MAIN question about these though is HOW do I heat it????? I knew I could stick her in a rubbermaid because tons of people here do. Its not a rack system though just the container. How do you guys heat these though?? I was thinking heat tape but don't know much about it. Shes got 70% humidity right now, and 75-80 temps. My other question is since shes opaque and about to shed. Well, I know they shed in pieces but how long does it take?? I am not sure when and if I will need to intercede. I am not used to these sheds. I suppose I will be walking you guys through Lickitys shed while I'm going through it so you can walk me through it. I am prepared for soakings though. I have my moss and a humid hide ready!!! Soaker girl to the rescue! Well I'm going to go for now. Phillycheesesteaks are calling me! Your info is VALUED! Thank You so much for your help with the new Baby!!! I'm very glad to officially be apart of the BP club!

actually a ball python shouldnt shed in pieces at all. if the humidity is correct, and the animal is also soaked every other day during the shed cycle for 15 minutes at a time, it will come off in one whole piece.

As for the rubbermaid, lots of people keep them in them true, and theyre great for keeping the humidity up. your best bet is to get a heating pad for it and set it on a thermostat as well. set the temp for the thermostat at the mid Eighties or so and place the heating pad on a bit of cut glass UNDER the tank in one corner. Make sure there is enough of a gradient for your animal to thermoregulate too.

Good luck with your new BP! Lets see some pics of your snake and her new setup!

Not to sound rude...but IMO you should have gotten the setup and care completely figured out and ready BEFORE you impulse-bought a ball python. It also sounds as though the 4 snakes at your PetCo weren't in great condition and if I were you, I wouldn't have bought any of them. If one of them looked sick, then there's a high chance that all 4 are since they were housed together. PetCo is notorious for having underfed, sick, mite/parasite infested ball pythons...and they're imported. Plus they do NOT know how to care for them properly (evident by the lack of heat, lack of humidity, and keeping them all in one tank). Not worth the amount they charge when you could have gotten a healthy, feeding, properly-sexed ball python baby from a breeder for the same price.

BUT, you already bought it and it's home with you now, so you have to dedicate yourself to making sure it has the correct husbandry.

A ball python should not shed in pieces...as stated above, if the humidity is correct they should be shedding in one solid piece -- similar to rolling a sock off. Misting and proper substrate will help this. As for heating, you'll need a heat pad, a thermostat, and a digital indoor/outdoor thermometer with probe to measure the temps and humidity. The warm side of the tub should be 90-92, the cool side should be 80-82. The thermostat will keep the heat pad set to the correct temp. To keep humidity at 60% (75% during shed, like right now) I recommend using aspen, cypress, or coconut and misting every few days. Make sure you drill a few ventilation holes into the sides of the tub. Make sure your baby has at least 2 hiding places, one on each end of the tub.

I wish you all the best with it and hope it does well for you!

snakse should not have wrinkles on their bodies when they shed, this can mean that they are too thin when they aren't shedding, but it probably means they are dehydrated when they get it during a shed.
I would recommend soaking your snake for about an hour while she is blue or opaque if she doesn't use her humidity hide. If she is shedding in pieces, you need to soak her when she in shed so that she can shed it one piece.

I would advise buying a few books about Ball pythons, petco should have a few. It's a good idea to research about a pet before you buy it, but it still won't hurt to read up on basic care for her. There are a couple helpful books you can find online, here is a link to books I know are good:

http://exoticpets.about.com/cs/snake...ythonbooks.htm

best of luck with your new friend!

Originally Posted by JenHarrison

[color=deeppink] you could have gotten a healthy, feeding, properly-sexed ball python baby from a breeder for the same price.

... To keep humidity at 60% (75% during shed, like right now) I recommend using aspen, cypress, or coconut and misting every few days. [COLOR]

Just for future refernce, she is right about the price. petco is notoriuos for killing snakes through mismanagement.
also if you have a substrate, be sure to feed her in a separate container. If you feed her live, I recommend getting a big paper bag and putting her in it, then dropping in the prey for her to chomp. If she eats some of the bark with her food, it can get stuck in her guts and kill her. This is a highly unlikely situation, but especially if you don't have experience with snakes, you shouldn't risk it if you don't have to.
again, good luck and buy yourself a little ball python library-it has helped me out more than i ever thought it could!

Actually shredded coconut husk is safe to feed on. It's 100% natural and if swallowed during feeding, it breaks down like food and digests. I used to use that stuff and loved it. It's just impractical if you have a growing collection like I'm beginning to.

I highly disagree about the paper bag. Forcing a snake to be inside a closed paper bag with a live mouse or rat doesn't allow it an escape route and leaves a bigger window for being bitten. Plus you can't watch to intervene if things go bad. If you feed live, feed it in the enclosure or in a separate plastic tub or cardboard box.

Both of my Snakes have Aspen, both get feed and will be getting feed in card board boxes, and the heat will be taken care of with two weeks. If she has one fussy shed ok, next one WILL be better, and all the rest. Now I'm feeling kind of bad don't know if I should. I mean I should but my one problem will be fixed within two weeks. I just can't wait until everythings actually perfectly set up and I don't have to worry anymore. Lickity eats pre frozen adult mice and I will keep it that way for now. I understand the statements about the pet store to but their not Satan at least in any of the two cases I've been there except for today. They are one of the better ones and I am still calling them tommorrow. I want to try and help. I don't think their sick and dying they just looked like they needed some humid hides, the one needed food but what are they to do if it doesn't want to eat? I know get their husbandry right. I believe I got a good baby there, and I sure hope so! Thank You.

Kristin, I would be VERY nervous that if your Ball doesn't have the proper heating, it will not even have a desire to eat, more less be able to digest its food properly. If it does eat, and can't digest, it is going to regurge, which can open up a whole new can of worms. Ball Pythons can be notoriously finicky eaters, even when the conditions are correct. Imagine if you were forced to live in a box at 40 degrees with no ability to warm yourself for 2 weeks, and that's what the snake is going to feel like. They also need overall humidity, not just a "humid hide" like you would give to a Leopard Gecko. I would somehow use that UTH you just got to get that poor ball some heat and humidity NOW.

You also have to keep in mind that Petco 99% of the time is selling bush babies, which could very well be harboring parasites, which can put an even larger stress load on them. I would get a fecal done ASAP.

Not to sound too rude but...

You should have bought from a breeder. You would have got a snake that is in better shape, not to mention a person whom you could ask any question you had. Instead you went to a big chain and bought a snake in poor shape from someone who probably knows nothing about reptiles.

I wish you luck with your new snake, next time try to stay away from impulse buys and Pet Co/Petsmart.

Not to sound rude but this thread was five some pages ago. I bought Lickity September 26th, and I believe I posted this that day. To buy from a Breeder or not to buy? Well here are my thoughts on that. If I don't know your name from here I'm not buying anything off of you. I like seeing the animal before purchasing. I don't know anything about Laws or internet policies. This is all over the internet. I would definitely buy from a Local Breeder if I knew one. So what happens when you buy a critter from a Breeder and all goes bad. Refunds? Maybe. Do you think you could or would want to take the time to go to court? Send the animal back shipped in the middle of winter? No, no, no I just don't want to go through all that, and it is more expensive to buy something shipped so if you get screwed your out of what is it 80.00 or something for a BP, all the hassle you go through just to make a post on here saying don't go to this guy. Maybe I'm just kind of anal about my money and critters being shipped and so on and so forth. The only people I would buy off of from here would be HHMoore, Cat72, TripleMoonsExotics, John Apple, Bill an Amy. Wow thats a short list. Rick from the Boa section and Rich Z, ok thats it.

The BP I bought (Lickity) if you would of read on is perfectly healthy. Maybe you wouldn't believe me because she came from a Pet Store? I thought she was sick and after much thinking and many phone calls for a week they said to take her to their Vet and they'd pay for it. I did and found out shes a girl with a great looking mouth, no mites, no scale damage, no eye damage, nothing. She was a little under weight and she eats very viciously now that I got that fixed. Her whole feeding problem was as simple as me not knowing what size mouse to give her so we can't label her a finicky eater.

As for impulse buy yes and no, kinda. Alright ok, yes. I'll admit it. Will I ever do it again NO! I don't even need to make promises over the internet to a bunch of people that don't know me because theres proof. I wouldn't still be here if I didn't care about my animals. Since I care about my animals WHY in the blue world would I want to put a new addition or especially myself through all the stress again!?

I kinda knew about the heating equipment and was pretty darn sure I could get all hooked up very quickly. I had done research but obviously not enough that and half the time you feel like your reading rocket instructions or something until you've got the device or the situation sitting right in front of you. She went without any heat for 24 hours exactly and then I manipulated the heat mat for two weeks then I bought the Thermostat, but the same day she got the heat mat she got the Thermometer to Thanks to Jen which helped me immensely! That and since I already had Reptiles the room shes in was very warm as is. I wasn't scared to turn the heat up.

Also about the Pet Stores I don't care what anybody says I think its all wrong. There are pros and cons to the Pet Store and to Breeders. Pet Stores only really hurt the uneducated. If you are educated, if somebody with the education of say HHMoore walked into a Pet Store to buy a BP then how is that bad. You still have to take BPs you buy from a Breeder to a Vet. He could pick out the best one or one that has stuck shed or whatever and give it a great home. If Lickity is healthy and she was in the same tank with three others, then are they healthy? If so the worst looking one could of gotten the attention needed. A good soak and a good few meals. Theres nothing wrong with that. I remember through this whole ordeal somebody told me to sell my animals but I couldn't GIVE them away because most people look down on normals, or injured creatures. At least thats the way it seems. Seriously who wants buy my Normal little Corn Snake with a dent in his back?

You know what I love about the fact they came from Pet Stores??? Pet Stores are evil and I certainly ain't the best but I gave these guys a decent home. What educated person would of wanted that stupid Snake? My Tarantula was starving when we bought him, thats it. No other health problems just dehydrated. Hes doing great now. While other people set their goals on stupid pastels that were captive created, don't want anything to do with an injured or ill looking creature I still like them. People talk about heartbreak money, thats not always the case. It seems like the educated people wouldn't of wanted my Jakers, but an uneducated person picked him and have you heard the horror stories? The uneducated people buy the poor critters cause they don't know or a healthy one a don't care and make it worse and animals are dying man. I just heard a horror story yesterday from a customer. She said her friend had a Tarantula she didn't want anymore so she starved it to death, just let it wither away. A couple months ago she told me about how her ex had an Iguana and for some reason or another he got mad and purposely smashed its back, literally broke it. Theres a shortage of people who care out there, a shortage of updated books and resources, and the normal injured boring ones get the short end of the stick I think. People say don't buy from the Pet Store, don't support them but realistically unless all three million of us stopped buying anything from Pet Stores were not closing them down, there not going anywhere.

I tell you what PetCo would be awesome if I worked there. It doesn't matter if I buy from there or not and Lickity is proof not all animals from Pet Stores are junk. I absolutely don't regret buying her at all because she was my kick in the butt to learn about what I was doing wrong with all my heating. I have learned SO much just because of her. As for the choice of buying from a Breeder or a Pet Store neither are bad or at least can be bad. Next critter I buy will be from a Pet Store because I can help them more. You know Breeders sell to Pet Stores to right? An whoever breed that scaleless Snake your worse then all Pet Stores combined and I hope I never meet you. Just another evil of some breeders! Anybody wants to post their thoughts and opinions feel free. Hate me Love me have an opinion but don't turn your heads on the creatures sitting at the Pet Store!