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Originally posted by keinplan

I will be posting a lot of questions to you guys on here, and some of them will be stupid questions but this is the first snake I have ever had. I have had friends with snakes, but never had one of my own.
My first questions:
how often do snakes shed?
how long is the shedding process from start to finish.
how can I find out how old my snake is?
is there a way to tell if it's a male or female?

I am going to measure here and weight her and post some pics of my aquarium that I have her in right now to make sure I am on the right track. Thanks guys for all the info, help and please be patient with me! :)

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quote:

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Originally posted by keinplan

I will be posting a lot of questions to you guys on here, and some of them will be stupid questions but this is the first snake I have ever had. I have had friends with snakes, but never had one of my own.
My first questions:
how often do snakes shed?
how long is the shedding process from start to finish.
how can I find out how old my snake is?
is there a way to tell if it's a male or female?

I am going to measure here and weight her and post some pics of my aquarium that I have her in right now to make sure I am on the right track. Thanks guys for all the info, help and please be patient with me! :)

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Originally posted by karl

to give you an idea on shedding, my 1yr old sheds in 1 week, from blue eyes to shed, my approx 2-3 yr old Royal shed for the first time the other night with me, took two and a half weeks from blue eyes to shed.

age is the hard one, most of us can give an educated guess, but without knowing when it was born it will always be guess-work, length and weight are good indicators (obviously harder the older the snake is)

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Originally posted by Dazzetski

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Originally posted by keinplan

I will be posting a lot of questions to you guys on here, and some of them will be stupid questions but this is the first snake I have ever had. I have had friends with snakes, but never had one of my own.
My first questions:
how often do snakes shed?
how long is the shedding process from start to finish.
how can I find out how old my snake is?
is there a way to tell if it's a male or female?

I am going to measure here and weight her and post some pics of my aquarium that I have her in right now to make sure I am on the right track. Thanks guys for all the info, help and please be patient with me! :)

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Ask away, sheding frequency depends on how old the snake is, it's more frequent when their young. Length of the shedding process varies. Determining age is a bit sketchy, my royal is 2 & about 2' 10" long but they can vary. The best way to sex a snake, as i understand it is to get your snake probed by an expert.

I hope this helps

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Originally posted by MissCat

sorry i have no advice to give that's different to dazzetski's post.....
put pictures up now please :D
*dribbles like hungry puppy*

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Originally posted by keinplan

I will get some pics up today, but I did weight her this morning, and she weights 70g.
Can anyone tell from her weight how old she is?
Thanks.

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Originally posted by keinplan

So I got some more questions for you guys.
1) How many hours of light should a snake get per day? By that I mean, I bought 2 bulbs from the pet store, both 60W, one white and one red. They told me to use the white one for the day and the red for night. Now, I have read that some people just use the red light for day and night and some use "natural" sunlight for the day and just the red bulb for night time. I also read that your only suppose to give your snake, I think it was, 14hrs for light during summer days, and 8-10 during winter. Is this right?

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Originally posted by keinplan

2) How long can I take a snake out of the aquarium? What I mean by this is, how long can I actually keep it out and running around without it I guess getting cold.

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Originally posted by keinplan

3) What is the humidity suppose to be? I was reading that is suppose to be between 50-55% and this other website is telling me 60-65% and slight higher when the snake is shedding.

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Originally posted by keinplan

4) What are the temps suppose to be during the day and night? Hot side between 80-90F correct?

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Originally posted by keinplan

5) I read somewhere that your not even suppose to pick a royal python up?!?!? Is this true. I am going to find the actual statement and post it in here.
Statement: Are you handling your royal? Stop that straight away, to a royal you are huge and you are scary and you are picking it up in the air which is just not meant to happen and never would in the wild so instinct says it’s a predator and it’s being attacked. Also royals may seem like they enjoy a ‘stroll’ around your living room – they’re not strolling they’re trying to get away from you to a safe spot where they can curl up.

Royals are not snakes which will tolerate being mucked around with, if you want a snake to handle and show to your friend and family you’re better off with a corn snake as they tolerate a lot more.

Handling is the biggest cause of stress in a royal, and stress is the biggest cause of non-feeding royals. The key here is to just leave it alone.

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Originally posted by keinplan

6) How about picking up the snake out of the aquarium while she is sleeping in the morning? Is this ok to do? Or should it only be picked up at dawn/night time?
Thanks again guys for all the info!

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Originally posted by anatess

YEHEAAAYYYY!!! MY COUNTRYMAN! I'm from the USA too! Florida, as a matter of fact. Now, we can start ganging up on these Brits...

Viv and temps:
You mentioned aquarium, so I'll give you this link that shows how I set up my own aquarium. It has temperature suggestions and how to measure it and everything.
http://www.theroyalpython.co.uk/forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=1165

Humidity and Shed:
Ball pythons (yeay! I can call them balls now instead of royals!) need humidity around 50-55%. 60-65 is on the high side but would be okay, anything higher than that could cause respiratory infections if kept high for too long. Bumping up the humidity to 75% is okay to help shed but shouldn't be kept that way permanently. You will notice the first sign of shed by looking at the belly. It starts to get opaque-looking - like my pastel ball python has a white belly, during shed, it turns a bit creamy in color. Then the eyes will turn opaque-looking (blueish) and the body turns dull looking. Then about a few days later, the eyes will clear up. Then 2-3 days later it will shed. This whole process takes about a week for a young snake and longer the older the snake gets. The babies tend to shed more often as well, so yeah, about once a month.

Age:
Your snake is probably an early '09 clutch - so probably born in early March.

Sex:
It's not easy to tell a snake's sex visually. Experienced owners can sometimes "pop" the snake to reveal the hemipenes. This has to be done by somebody who has experience though because you can easily injure the snake this way. You probably should just take it to vet to get it probed. If you're in Florida, I can recommend a really excellent herp vet!

Light:
Ball Pythons are nocturnal. So, they don't need any special light requirements. You don't have to put any kind of special lighting really if your snake room has a window. A lot of us use lighting so we can see our snakes. During the day, this tend to just stay in their hides the entire time. They would come out at night, so we put a "night light" on the viv so we can see them when they are out and about. And then a lot of us use ceramic lamps to increase the ambient temperature in the viv. Most houses are kept at 72F which is too cold for the ball python that needs an ambient temp of around 80F. The viv set-up I linked above shows the day and night lamps that I use during winter months to increase temperatures. Note, if these lamps are in use, you will need to move the Accurite thermometer to the cool end of the viv.

Handling:
It is recommended to leave the ball python alone for the first week after you get it. This gives the snake a chance to acclimate to its new surroundings and get used to the new scents. This move can be really stressful to the snake. A lot of people even recommend to minimize handling to just the basic husbandry requirements (cleaning water bowls, etc.) until his first successful feeding. After that, you can handle the snake as befits its temperament. Some ball pythons don't mind being held, some get stressed too quickly, some are okay for the first 15 minutes and starts stressing out after that. After a while you'll learn what your snake tolerates. I have a pastel ball python that is prissy. She doesn't like to be out too long. We have a spider ball python who doesn't mind being held at all. But, try not to handle the snake the day before and the day after a feeding. The snake needs to be relaxed to be ready to feed and it needs a day or two to process its food. We tend to leave the ball pythons alone during the day as everybody is at work or in school. Which works out great because the ball pythons are resting during this time anyway. Night-time is when they get handled.

Feeding:
I know you didn't ask about feeding, but I'm just going to add it here. Since your ball python is still 70g, you can feed it a rat pup every 5 days. The rat should be as big around as the biggest part of your snake's body.

Ask us more questions! We'd love to answer them!

CONGRATULATIONS ON YOUR NEW PET!!!

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Originally posted by keinplan

Another question,
I was reading that if your royal is sneezing/yawning/clicking or bubbling, it could mean that it has a respiratory infection. I have seen my royal yawn maybe 5 times since I have bought it on Monday the 18th. Is it normal for it to yawn, or should I get my snake checked out? Thanks

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Originally posted by keinplan
Hey thank you very much for the information and glad to see another American in here :P
I am from South Carolina, so too bad we are so close, but so far at the same time :)!
All this info has helped me out a lot! Now I just need to get my aquarium set-up right. I want to buy a cork background like you have, I really like that, and also a AccuRite meter like yours. Where did you get yours from? I was looking at some at Wal-Mart for about 15-25bucks. Is this ok to buy? Is this the best way to measure the temp and humidity in the aquarium? Also, do I need a heating mat? As of right now I only have a red bulb and it's keeping the aquarium at a pretty good temperature. I am going to buy a dimmer for the bulb to keep the temperature more accurate in there, or do u think a heating mat is better?
And the lady at the pet store also said she is about 2 month old, so I guess she really is about 2 month old.

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Originally posted by anatess

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Originally posted by keinplan

Another question,
I was reading that if your royal is sneezing/yawning/clicking or bubbling, it could mean that it has a respiratory infection. I have seen my royal yawn maybe 5 times since I have bought it on Monday the 18th. Is it normal for it to yawn, or should I get my snake checked out? Thanks

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Oh yawning is alright as long as there are no other signs like the bubbling, mouth rot, or clicking sounds. Just trying to stretch/realign that jaw.

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Originally posted by anatess

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Originally posted by keinplan
Hey thank you very much for the information and glad to see another American in here :P
I am from South Carolina, so too bad we are so close, but so far at the same time :)!
All this info has helped me out a lot! Now I just need to get my aquarium set-up right. I want to buy a cork background like you have, I really like that, and also a AccuRite meter like yours. Where did you get yours from? I was looking at some at Wal-Mart for about 15-25bucks. Is this ok to buy? Is this the best way to measure the temp and humidity in the aquarium? Also, do I need a heating mat? As of right now I only have a red bulb and it's keeping the aquarium at a pretty good temperature. I am going to buy a dimmer for the bulb to keep the temperature more accurate in there, or do u think a heating mat is better?
And the lady at the pet store also said she is about 2 month old, so I guess she really is about 2 month old.

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I got my Accurite from Wal-mart for about $12. Make sure it's the indoor/outdoor thermometer with probe and hygrometer. It's not really the best way to measure temps - but it's alright. The best way to measure temperature is with a temp gun. Then you can measure each and every inch of the viv and all the temperature gradients.

A heat lamp is sufficient depending on your situation. Florida weather is crazy though. Sometimes humidity gets so low that there is no way I can use a ceramic heat lamp and keep humidity at 50%. The heat lamps tend to lower humidity. So, I use the heat mat to provide the hot spot temp so I can use the heat lamp only to maintain ambient temperatures. And since in the summer, the room temperature is already at around 80F, I don't use the heat lamp anymore. Then my humidity is spot on at 50-55% without additional help.

Yeah, one thing I envy about the Brits... they got humidity in spades!

The best heating element in my opinion is the radiant heat panel... overhead heat without the humidity issues. It costs an arm and a leg though.

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