A bit of advice for a novice please.

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Philimac

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Hello All,

We have just bought our first snake, a nice little spotted hatchling.
In just under a week, it has the family smitten.

We have left it alone now for three nights, and it seems happy.
Sleeping all day, and a bit of activity at dusk.
We are not going to handle till we hit the week mark, but we are thinking that we may feed.
Our breeder told us that we could feed it in a couple of days, and we’re thinking it’s hungry.
When active, it’s exploring the click clack in a relaxed but active manner.
Also noticed a pink belly, and I have read that this can be a precursor to hunger.

Therefore, we are thinking of feeding tomorrow.
My main question is, should we feed it in the click clack?
Just not sure about moving it to another container for feeding just yet.
We don’t want to handle yet, but want it to be handled all the time in the future.
Will feeding it in the click clack make it house defensive?

Thanks for any advice given.
Cheers.
 
Also noticed a pink belly, and I have read that this can be a precursor to hunger.
Never heard that one before o_O Where'd you read that?
Feeding in the click clack is just fine, it will be no more defensive when fed in a different container than its click clack. Congrats on your first snake and welcome!
Just a note that I have heard of people saying snakes will associate feeding with their enclosures when fed in them and therefor will bite you, but I have yet to see any evidence for this. I have had no issues when feeding my snakes in their enclosures. Even if they do, once the snake is out of the enclosure it will be fine.
 
Thanks for your reply.

I saw some threads about pink belly, and we are feeling our way.
Could just be because it did shed on it’s first night.

I read heaps of different material, and have seen some say to move to another container for feeding.
We just want him to settle in, so we may just move forward with feeding in it’s click clack.
If it becomes a problem, we can try an alternative.

Thanks again.
 
Any pics of the pink belly? I'm curious. Any chance it could be an organ?
 
I haven’t got any pics, but it is not as pink today.
What do you mean by organ? Seemed to be from the neck down.
Wasn’t like red or that extreme.
 
I would make its first experience with the click-clack being opened, a handling experience. That way it relates both the handling and feeding to the click-clack being opened not just feeding. It won't hurt to leave the feeding for a couple more days. You could handle it and then feed when you put it back.
 
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I haven’t got any pics, but it is not as pink today.
What do you mean by organ? Seemed to be from the neck down.
Wasn’t like red or that extreme.
An organ like an intestine or something showing through? Just curious because I've never heard of this happening before, but I'm no expert.
 
Ohh no, it is just light pink all over.
I have read some say that can happen before sloughing.
Was also said that can be when blood is moved to the muscles in preparation for feeding.
Could just be it’s colour.
 
I haven’t got any pics, but it is not as pink today.
What do you mean by organ? Seemed to be from the neck down.
Wasn’t like red or that extreme.
Some pythons show pink belly when they are feeding but not usually before feeding, it's very noticeable with some Diamonds but I have no experience with spotteds, it's from increased blood flow to the area.
 
Pink belly is a marker in many snakes as they are heading into a shed cycle.

Some young snakes carry a pink 'hue' when they are young, (normally in area's where you expect them to be white). That I would expect the animal to lose over the first month or 2. Is it a really young animal maybe?
 
Pink belly is a marker in many snakes as they are heading into a shed cycle.

Some young snakes carry a pink 'hue' when they are young, (normally in area's where you expect them to be white). That I would expect the animal to lose over the first month or 2. Is it a really young animal maybe?

Yes, it is only seven weeks.
 
Spotted pythons as well as other pythons show a pinkish tinged underbelly due to increased blood flow in the muscles during preparation for shedding.


Thanks for the reply, the snake did shed on Saturday night.
Do you think that it was just from that maybe?
 
It most definitely sound like it.
As Pauls_Pythons and SpottedPythons pointed out, it is related to shedding and caused by increased blood flow to the skin as part of that process. To slough, snakes first need to remove as much of the usable material from the outer skin layer as possible, which sees them increase blood flow to this area. Once that is complete they use fluid from the blood stream (essentially lymph) to hydraulically separate the dead cells being shed, from the underlying new outer skin cells. The presence of this fluid is visible through the transparent eye spectacle and what produces the "blue eyes” effect shortly before shedding. Lastly, the snake needs to reabsorb as much of this fluid as possible back into the blood stream before it sheds. This explains why snakes that are not sufficiently hydrated have problems with retained areas of shed when sloughing.

As a generalisation, as snakes grow, the skin, and pigmentation in it, gets thicker. Consequently increased blood flow to the skin becomes less noticeable in larger/older snakes.
 
Antaresias, especially very young ones, are fairly transparent when viewed from underneath, and may have a fleshy pink tinge. You may even see the gall bladder through the belly skin - a small darkish shape about half-way down the body. This is normal.

Carpet Pythons, including Diamonds, will often flush pink around the lower jaw and throat when anticipating food (this is different from just being constantly hungry, when there is no pink flush), and when actually swallowing their meal. It's the smell of food or the expectation of being fed that causes the flushing, much the same way as we salivate. It may be preparing for the meal by producing large amounts of saliva in preparation for swallowing a dry furry or feathered food item.

Very often the first sign that a Carpet or Diamond is going to shed is a hazy pink flush on the belly towards the tail, and any darker pigmented areas underneath can look a bit milky. This is often seen a few days before the rest of the animal goes dull.

I would feed the snake in its normal home, at least fro the first few weeks/months, to allow you both to get used to each other. I don't believe there is any benefit whatsoever in removing a snake from its home to feed it. Some are fine with it, but more sensitive animals can be stressed by moving them and it might distract from feeding.

Jamie
 
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