Reader Feeding Question (INCLUDES PHOTO OF FROZEN RODENT)

"Hi Caitlin, iam a huge fan of u by the way in instagram iam @adal240 well my question is my male ball python is about to turn 1year old and idont know if its still to early to feed small rats he is currently eating large mice idk if I should start feeding him small rats ??"

The best way to figure out what to feed your snake is to look at them.. most snakes can handle prey items that are as wide as the largest part of their body or a bit larger.. Personally, I recommend getting a ball python onto rats as soon as they are large enough to safely ingest them. Every time I have switched a bp from mice to rats, they have gone through a growth spurt shortly after switching. I honestly think rats are better for them nutrient wise.. 

Some snakes prefer one larger rodent, while others prefer multiple smaller rodents (i.e. one mouse fuzzie or two pinkies, one weaned rat or two weaned mice, etc.)

Approximate Prey Sizes:

mouse pinkie- 0.5-3 grams

mouse fuzzie- 3-6 grams (can be exchanged for a rat pinkie)

mouse hopper- 7-12 grams (can be exchanged for a rat fuzzie)

weaned mice- 13-18 grams (can be exchanged for a rat fuzzie)

large mice- 19-25 grams (can be exchanged for a rat pup)

XL mice- 30 grams + (can be exchanged for a weaned rat)

large rat = 1/2 lb. rabbit
XL rat = 1.5lb rabbit

Wobbles currently has a full stomach (he ate two XL mice on saturday night and a third on sunday morning... i offered him the first two which he snatched up right away then left the third in with him overnight incase he wanted it and i caught him eating it early sunday morning)

This is an extra large mouse (so he ate two of these in a row saturday night, and a third the next morning)

He weighed 507g before eating, and now weighs 629g with a full stomach.. so each XL mouse was about 40g

Creature Feature

Species of the week:
Savannah Monitor (Varanus exanthematicus)

• Known as Bosc's Monitor in Europe (first described in scientific literature by French scientist Louis Bosc)
• Native to Africa

"Bosc's or Savannah Monitor lizards are a stoutly built species with relatively short limbs and toes, and a skull and dentition adapted to feed on hard shelled prey. Maximum size is usually between 3.5 to 5 feet in length, females are considerably smaller. The pattern and coloration of the skin vary according to the local habitat substrate. The body scales are large, usually less than 100 scales around midbody, a partly laterally compressed tail with a double dorsal ridge and a nostril situation equidistant from the eye and the tip of the snout.

Defense-

The main predators of juvenile Savannah Monitors are snakes and birds. It protects itself through camouflage and prefers to flee or play dead when in danger. If cornered, it defends itself with tail lashes and if need be, a powerful, vise-like bite. When confronted by a predator, the monitor sometimes rolls onto its back and grasps a hind leg in its mouth, forming a ring with its body and making itself harder for the animal to swallow whole while playing dead. Other common defenses for Savannah Monitors are hissing, tail whipping, "puffing up", and biting.

Diet-

In Senegal Iulusmillipedes were the most common prey of adults, in Ghana small crickets formed the bulk of the diet of animals less than two months old, orthopterans (especially Brachytrupes), scorpions and amphibians were the most common prey of animals 6–7 months old ." - Wikipedia

Bosc, a feisty 5 month old male owned by instagram's "jesthereptileguy"

Awesome Animal Companion of the Week

This week's Awesome Animal Companion is from Las Vegas, Nevada.

Joe Joe is a Capybara. He is an accomplished pianist, superior to all other piano playing rodents in the world!

Native to South America, the capybara is the largest rodent in the world. It's closest living relatives are guinea pigs and rock cavies, and more distantly related to the agouti, chinchillas, and the coypu. The capybara has a barrel-like, heavy body and a short head. They have reddish-brown fur on the upper part of their bodies and a more yellowy-brown shade underneath. Their feet are slightly webbed as they are semi aquatic vegetarians who swim in the water to find plants. Adults grow to about 3-4ft long, 20-25 inches tall at the withers, and weigh 77 to 150lbs.

Well little Joe Joe still has a lot of growing to do!

I first saw Joe Joe on his instagram page "joejoe_the_capybara" and fell in love with him. The page includes photos and video clips of "Joes", and actively comments on other ig users' pages from the point of view of the little guy. Some of the best conversations I've had on ig are with Joe Joe and his "daddybara" (who's regular ig account is "crazycodykadunk").


To see little Joe Joe grow up before your very eyes, follow him on instagram "joejoe_the_capybara", on facebook , and his hilarious youtube page.

Morph of the Day 9/10/13

Morph of the Day

Chocolate Chip Cookie
Firefly Chocolate Pinstripe

This morph is the combination of the dominant pinstripe gene, and the co-dominant chocolate, fire, and pastel genes.

First produced by Deb Northern in 2012

Wobbles the Ball Python

Wobbles is a male Bumblebee morph (pastel x spider) ball python. Before his last meal he weighed about 510 grams, he is about 3 feet long. With ball pythons, the females tend to be much larger than the males. He is from a 2012 clutch, I purchased him from Outback Reptiles at the Northern Virginia Reptile Expo in Manassas, VA on December 8 2012. Outback had received him as a trade in from another breeder so I don't know his lineage.

Wobble's is currently living in a 55 gallon screen top terrarium. I use shredded/ground cocoanut fiber bedding in his tank. It is less likely to become impacted than other beddings if accidentally ingested, though it tends to stick to prey if the prey is wet (from defrosting or from snake saliva) so I feed Wobbles in a separate bedding-free tank to avoid all chance of accidental ingestion and impaction.
He's eating 2, occasionally 3, large retired breeder sized mice every 5-7 days. Normally he would be eating 1 small rat every 5-7 days but I ran out of rats and had a bag of 25 large mice.. I definitely recommend switching to rats as soon as your snake can handle them, they typically have a lot more nutrients than mice (which can sometimes be just skin and bones) as well as a better meat-fat ratio. In my experience, ball pythons tend to hit a growth spurt shortly after they make the switch from mice to rats.

Wobbles on the day I got him

Wobbles at about 8 or 9 months old

So here's the inaugural post...

Today I was told I should make a blog and "share my wisdom".. well like any reptile owner, I'm still learning new things everyday as I go along.

My plans for this blog include but are not limited to the following...

• Basic Care Info Pages
• Posts about reptile related news stories
• features on people touched by the reptile community (i.e. faced fears, changed minds and ideas)
• viewer submitted entries including
• home made setup/habitat of the week
• pet profiles (pics of a viewer's pet and the animals story)
• pics from herping trips
• rescued animal stories
• crazy animal escape stories
• weekly creature feature polls- viewers get to vote on a reptile species/subspecies to have a featured post with pics and info on that animal
• morph of the day posts
• breeder contact info