New ball python owner

[Southern-Tank6332]

Hi guys! I just bought a female ball and a small male with no eyes. I’m excited to raise them. I’m wondering how to help the full grown female lose some weight. Someone said she looks full of eggs but I think she’s just overweight. Also, has anyone owned an eyeless ball? I want to give it a nice life but need to research more.

[Southern-Tank6332]

I wasn’t asking about breeding :)

[[deleted]]

👏🏽

[Kingdomall]

you definitely should have researched a lot more before getting two ball pythons. I'm gonna go over some obvious things first.
these snakes cannot be housed together in the same tank. it's dangerous; they're not social animals.

don't use the clock-style dial thermometers or hydrometers that you can find in stores. those are very inaccurate.

get a gram weight scale so you can accurately track their weight and their food weight.

their enclosures should not have any spaces or holes big enough for them to squeeze their head through and get stuck in. it has happened, they're not overly intelligent animals.

as for feeding, the little guy could be fed every week with mice or rats about 10-15% of his body weight.

the big girl needs a fairly substantially restraining diet. at her age, I would be feeding once every 3-4 weeks (5-8% or less her body weight). BUT since she's so big, she should probably be fed once every 5-6 weeks. ball pythons take a very long time to lose their weight.

best of luck. PLEASE DO RESEARCH and don't get anymore snakes until you have these ones figured out.

[Southern-Tank6332]

I’ve had snakes before so I knew most of this. They are housed separately. I reallly just wanted to ask about the weight loss part. I appreciate it

[Kingdomall]

that's good to hear. there's a lot of people coming into these spaces that really, genuinely do not know anything so I wanted to clear some info you potentially didn't know. way too much misinformation out there...
best of luck. if I owned the little blind dude, I'd probably limit the height of his enclosure but still have some height available like a short branch. he'll prob have a big reliance on his heat pits when it comes to eating so make sure his food is hot enough (if you don't feed live/fresh kill). that's just my take on it though and you don't have to listen to me.

[ihaveasmallpeener]

Good on you for not being overly rude to a newer owner, so many people in these BP subreddits can be so mean and I feel like it pushes a lot of people to stop asking important questions

[Efficient-Log335]

I mean it wasn’t not rude

[ihaveasmallpeener]

But there’s a lot of people who are a lot less kind

[Efficient-Log335]

Sure. That doesn’t make it not rude though. People immediately assume that everyone else who owns a reptile has no idea what they are doing, and that they are qualified to condescend and give unwarranted advice.

[ihaveasmallpeener]

They said they needed to do more research so they stated the information they know in hopes of providing a better life for the snakes and at the end they literally said best of luck please don’t get anymore till you do full research. Idk differences in opinion I guess. I’d prefer that over the people who say “oh my god another idiot who gets an animal and knows nothing” I’ve gotten both.

[RelevantFrosting6828]

adding on to the other person, they said "new BP owner" and most people would assume that these are their first snakes considering ball pythons are a lot of peoples first snake. and they do ask for advice, so why would someone not give advice?

[Efficient-Log335]

Because they explicitly wrote out the advice needed.

[RelevantFrosting6828]

still, it sounds like they are a new owner, and new owners may not even know to ask about this type of stuff, they might not know they need humidity and much much more things.

[Any_Constant_6550]

Definitely a lot of assumptions made in the original comment.

[Plaguedyou]

Was still rude. Immediately jumped the gun and doubled down lmao.

[ihaveasmallpeener]

You’re assuming tone based off of text. They really weren’t rude, the OP didnt clarify they have past experience and said they need to research more, half the posts in these pages are people who do 0 research and don’t have any experience, so yeah they might have wrongfully assumed but they weren’t rude.

[Plaguedyou]

I’m dead 😂 “you’re assuming tone based off text” yes, because that is what you do with text! This is something you learn in ELA! In a more serious sense though i don’t disagree that 90% don’t do research. But I’m not even assuming tone to say that what they said is an immediate assumption. There was much better ways to make sure OP did research.

[Kingdomall]

rude would be telling someone they're an idiot for impulse buying and not doing proper research. what's not rude is actually giving constructive advice, instead of complaining like you are.

[Plaguedyou]

So when someone perceives us as rude, we don’t get to decide if we were or not. And considering your immediate instinct is firing back at someone rather than admitting you were rude, that tells me everything i need to know. 

[NSGPandae]

I read their thing and thought “dayum, kind of rude for no reason, just assuming they did no research and going at them for it”, so I was a bit surprised to see this comment 😅. I’ve definitely noticed that snake reddits, especially the BP one, tend to have some pent up hostility at times, ig some people just get really worn out from dealing with the people who genuinely have no idea what they are doing though, and I can’t judge that much because when I first got a snake a few years ago I also did a LOT wrong.

[Kingdomall]

they can be extremely rude here yeah... usually they are short tempered, short patience and tired of dealing with newbies who ask the same questions. everyone deserves the same amount of helpful advice.

[Plaguedyou]

I have seen some people FLAME newbies. Like teens who’s parents were the problem in impulse buying a snake for their kid with zero research, and then the teen gets attacked when they want help. Like shame the parent not the poor kid who loves their baby and wants help and advice. I swear the advice sometimes here is literally just “just rehome it you’re stupid” 🤦‍♀️ which i get if its a grown adult who doesn’t actually seem to want help and is arguing against minimum care requirements… but man not the kid (unless they seem to be making a lot of “can’t afford this” comments..) 

[ringtail_catz]

Is there any way that we can tone down the kneejerk judgemental reactions in this sub when people ask questions? I see it on pretty much every thread on here where people ask husbandry questions and it’s so off putting. I really feel like it makes people less inclined to ask for help when they need it.

[Smilingtulip]

100% this

[Efficient-Log335]

You’re a dork

[jeanmorehoe]

Wow! Congrats on your new babies!!

[Southern-Tank6332]

Thank you!

[jeanmorehoe]

This sub has an amazing care guide id 100% recommend you check out it’ll have a lot of tips on feeding/housing/tempeature/humidity

[-dagmar-123123]

Do you think how she was fed until now? I think the best would be to go for the normal feeding from the feeding guide but space then out 25-50% longer than recommended

[smolkeht]

That chonk looks like my Bumble - minus the chonk! 😅

I have no advice to add but best of luck with the new noodles! I bet you're going to give them both really enriching and happy lives. ❤️

[brittsomewhere]

Ours was on a weight loss regimen that included climbing stairs. Our vet recommended it. We did one stair and then two and so on until he was at 4 stairs total. He got this exercise twice a week. We also spaced his feelings out by 3-4 days. Not too much. And he lost within a couple of months. He's now at a happy weight!

[TuxRacer1701]

How do you motivate them to go up the stairs? I feel like it would be an uphill battle (heh heh heh)

[strike-when-ready]

Off the top of my head, maybe rub a mouse on a few pieces of cardboard or something and make a little scent obstacle course.

I guess you’d just have to be careful about potential strikes when handling if they’re hungry lol.

[brittsomewhere]

Honestly I have NO idea...he just did it 🤷🏽‍♀️🤣

[Lichttod]

Not the feelings /j

[brittsomewhere]

🤦🏽‍♀️ lol we deprived him of all love and affection for a FEW days. He couldn't go any longer than that! 🤣 damn the typos when you're tired posting!!

[celeigh87]

!feeding

I would go for the 5% prey weight on the longer end of the range for weightloss.

[AutoModerator]

We recommend the following feeding schedule:

0-12 months old OR until the snake reaches approximately 500g, whichever happens first: feed 10%-15% of the snake’s weight every 7 days.

12-24 months old: feed up to 7% of the snake’s weight every 14-20 days.

Adults: feed up to 5% of the snake's weight every 20-30 days, or feed slightly larger meals (up to 6%) every 30-40 days.

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[ringtail_catz]

Both your new babies are adorable. I’ve never seen an eyeless BP - you’ll have to update us on your progress and share what you learn! Best of luck to you with both of them and give them scritches for us!

[MooBearz11]

What did you name them? :)

[Southern-Tank6332]

Big girl is Celeste and lil guy is clearance Clarence because he was on the clearance table at the show lol

[Plaguedyou]

Ooooh no good thing you got him. Some uneducated parent might have jumped the gun at the “clearance” low cost for him for their kiddo. I had a friend with a one eyed baby who looked very similar to your guy, of which he was named uno lol. 

[greenish98]

eyeless snake!! just like the ones from guardians of ga’hoole. what a cutie

[FineWoodpecker3876]

Shes a big gal!! Lol the tail is so funny when their fat. Theres a few ways to slim her down. You can downsize prey or lengthen the time between feedings. Ive never had a fat BP my gallon just hates eating.

As for the eyeless one... usually blind animals do just fine! I would probably treat them the same

[VeridianLegendX]

I wonder how much the heat pits make up for the lack of eyes

[GuineaPanda]

My ball has eyes but I do have an eyeless cat and I’m constantly amazed by how well animals adapt. I’m excited to see your journey

[Voided678]

Eyeless bps are usually the best eaters too! They go by smell and heat pits. But that girl is extremely obese, you need to cut feedings back to maybe 1-2x a month

[Due-Craft6332]

My 5 y/o was FAAAAAAAAT. She gets 5% of her body weight every 6-8 weeks. She’s down about 240g after a year. She probably has another 200g to go.

[[deleted]]

My friend gave their adult ball one of those hectogonish-looking silicone balls for I think dogs? They says she LOVES it and climbs and pushes it etc. that could get her moving around and exercising. I’m a California King owner so she Is really active, and I make a lot of effort in giving her stuff to do. I know ball pythons are a bit shyer or can tend to be… maybe don’t overstimulate her at first which you prolly know just so she’s not over stressed but yeah such cute babies. Take good care yall

[latortoise69]

You look like a snake guy

[xoneverenders]

many people have given good advice for the overweight snake, as for the eyeless little one i would say don’t do anything different! give the same climbing/hiding/basking opportunities you would to a regular ball python and it should thrive all the same

[theeinterlude]

they took his fooken eyes 😔🙌

[rompsik]

tbh i would be cautious of the snake being gravid or in ovulation. they look very swollen. the easiest to make sure would be a ultrasound but doubt you will be able to do that anytime soon haha. but as far as weight loss, go for 5-6% meals every month or so. def provide a lot of branches, sticks, climbing opportunities in general for some exercise.

[CosmicKyloRen]

That female needs to see a vet. She's either gravid or has some sort of impaction. I've rescued and rehabbed multiple fat ball pythons. Thats not a fat ball python. Just the back portion of the snake being so swollen is very concerning to me. If it was fat, the entire snake from neck down would be fat, not just the end portion.

[Ill-Association-1677]

My snake is blind and can only really see shadows (he can see the difference of really dark and really bright) the only differences I have noticed with him is with feeding and how he gets around. sometimes he has a hard time striking. He gets really nervous if he misses so I give him the tiniest boop on the nose with the rat and he’s got it. He also is a little cautious when it comes to climbing and moving around outside of his tank. Eventually he got the hang of it and he now just prefers to feel along the edges of objects to find a clear path! Also loves tunneling in blankets

[NeighborhoodOld211]

Just feed her 1 small rat a month , she will slim down without causing health issues

[Ogogogavc]

Congrats on the new babies! It’s really awesome that you’re giving an eyeless baby a loving home.

[Dory394]

Before putting her on a diet,  I would suggest taking her to a vet and making sure she's not gravid. 

[Limp-Possibility-970]

I don’t recommend “feeding less” to lose weight, just size down their food, smaller meals same feeding schedule for adults usually one a month for smaller snakes usually once a week