Hola again peeps, thought I'd share some pics of my ball pythons.

This is my big boy Dammit, he was named for his uncanny ability to escape any enclosure he was in and was a rescue from an animal shelter. He's five foot even and a healthy, chunky snake.

Here he is hiding in the laundry basket.


This is Pythagoras, a.k.a. Theo. He was also a rescue though from a single person. This person didn't know what snakes ate and at one point tried to get him to eat potato chips. My veterinarian believes he may be stunted from his ill treatment early in life. Theo is 42 inches and not very large in girth.


Next up is Vorenus, he and his sister were bought from a home that didn't know how to properly care for snakes. The vivarium had no heat source of any kind and both he and his sister, Shy were very underweight. After inquiring from the owner I found that they would toss up to six live mice into the vivarium once a month with both snakes. Vorenus ate most of the food and his sister became fearful of people and prey. Vorenus is 46 1/2 inches and large around for his size.


As said above, Shy is Vorenus' sister. Though you wouldn't guess it with the size difference. She is only 35 inches long and not very large around. She had extensive live food scaring and poor motor skills when I took her home. I was afraid she was going to die at a few points as she was highly aggressive and refused food for well over six months.

After months of rehabilitation, proper heating, and a few bites later, she finally ate and slowly gained back muscle. Shy is still terrified of people but will sit with me for extended periods of time calmly. But if anyone walks by she freaks out and coils into a ball.

This picture was taken in the middle of the night the day I brought her home.

great pics they are stunning snakes

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Awww good on you for getting the poorly ones back to good health - I think alot of times people dont realise the skills, time, and commitment required when getting pets

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Jo, Nelly, Bhu and Molly
Some people talk alot.................and say nowt

too true, mans. People just think snakes are cool and don't require much care... which really is a joke. They need just as much care as any other pet and daily handling to check them out and keep them (or get them) used to people.

People who feed live also disgust me... a ton of American herpers feed live, which is bad for the snake and the prey item. Ball pythons especially are notorious for grabbing the wrong end of rats, which leaves them open for some nasty bites and scratches. Not to mention the extreame terror and pain this puts the rat in. As a past owner of pet rats... I just couldn't do it... rats are intelligent little buggers.

I do have a picture of a snake attacked by a rat... I rarely post it unless there is a hard core live feeder to disuade though, as it is very sad and slightly sickening to see.

lovely snake you got

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Stryder the Utonagan


www.carolscaninecare.co.uk

http://www.nuadalseurope.co.uk/

Really sorry to see someone who doesn't understand that a snakes natural food in most cases are live rodents. Snakes need the ability to hunt for their food and this is something that captive born snakes in the U.K. lose the ability to do. England is also the only country in the world that does not permit the feeding of live food to reptiles. How many snakes have you seen hunting for frozen food? Do snakes get attacked by live prey? of course they do - just like any other animal that has to catch it's food. Remember that you are priviledged to have a reptile in captivity, and while I do not agree with the frozen food only policy of this idiotic island, it is the law and has to be obeyed. I am in the reptile trade and would lose the license immediately if we ever broke this law regardless of my / our opinion of it. Don't slag off the Yanks either - they are light years ahead when it comes to keeping reptiles.

Captive snakes are just that, my friend, captive. It is your job as a keeper to make certain of their upkeep. Snakes in the wild also have parasites... would you let your snake live with them, no. It is a simple problem about space; in captivity, snakes (along with most reptiles) are kept in relatively small vivariums. This is why the feeding of dead prey is a necessity rather than a choice.

In the wild, a predatory reptile would flee from attacking prey. Where exactly are they supposed to go while in a vivarium? Even if they go the furthest corner of the tank, the terrified and dangerous mouse, rat, rabbit, what have you, may and often will defend itself by dispatching the predator.

And by the way, I am American and I can tell you anyone who feeds live is just risking the life of his or her animal needlessly. If the possibility of disease and life threatening wounds don’t deter you on it own, maybe you should just admire reptiles in the wild.

I believe England is quite forward thinking with the policy of feeding only frozen prey to reptiles. My own snakes are fed prekilled rats from a reputable reptile store. All registered zoos feed prekilled or frozen/thawed here. Any good breeder feeds dead prey. There seems to be a trend here, no? But… sure, if you came out here you could join all the ignorant people in feeding live prey.

That picture is digusting!
I would never feed my snake live prey!
He has 2 pinkies every 5 days at the moment and i certanily cant imagine watchin those run round every 5 days

Yes, the picture is a disturbing account of what can happnen with live food and your snake. This guy was sadly still alive when the picture was taken... and was euthanized soon after. I have never in my years of keeping snakes have ever fed live. Most of the animals I've come across are psychologically damaged in some way as well... I don't think I need to add the stress of plopping a rat in their enclosures every week.

If it is so important for captive bred snakes to eat live food, then surely so should your dogs and yourselves.
Get in some chickens and rabbits and do it properly.

I think live feeding is fine, from the snakes point of view, if you have a very large feeding area (so that if the snake isn't interested the mouse doesn't have to stay close to it) and that feeding is closely monitored and the mouse is removed after 5 minutes if no interest is show, or of course sooner if the rodent becomes agressive towards the snake.

Personally i would find live feeding very difficult and my snake is very happy to eat them dead.


Anywaym those are some really stunning snakes! I envy you, wish i had room for a python or two.