First time Stimmie owner, concerns and questions

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Boss76

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Hi guys, this is our first time owning a snake, we done as much research as we could prior to getting our stimmie, but arnt too sure about her size, which is our main priority at this time, we've had her a week, shes approx 4 yrs old and according to pic's and other stimmies we've seen shes tiny, she came with her enclosure and was fed approx once a month, shes really placid, and have purchased a thermostat which should arrive shortly, as we really want to ensure her temps are correct. She took her first feed well, and have been advised to double her feed at once a week. Im hoping to learn more from this forum to ensure we do everything correctly to maintain a healthy environment for her... Thanks
 
What's tiny mate? Measurement or even better a picture would help get a solid answer. But sounds like it's under fed, adult mouse once I week should see her put on size. though coming into winter you may have troubles with regular feedings depending on the animal.
 
Sounds to me as if you're doing everything correctly, kudos on getting a thermostat too. And I agree with Burgo89 that pics would defiantly help, but as it stands the reason she is so tiny i'm putting down to being majorly underfed. Do you know what size rat/mouse she was being fed previously? Either way, once a month (with the exception of it being a huge meal for her size) is way too little, as size does correspond with food intake.
Once a week right now is the way to go, however whether she will reach her full growing potential, (as snakes do a majority of growing in their first 3-4 years) will be unlikely.
hope this helped, good luck!
 
Hi thanks for your replies she has only ever been on pinkies, her light was always on never turned off it thats anything to go by, but we have been advised to follow normal daylight times, but apart from her size she is really lovely to handle. ill try and attach some picks shes approx 70 cm long and the her width thickest part A perm marker.
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Pinkies are way too small and don't offer much nutrition (snakes really need the fur/bone of their prey too), pinkies are usually what hatchies (baby snakes) are on, so I'd be upping the food size (gradually) start off with a hopper mouse, if that goes down well, up it to a weaner the following week. and keep upping the size until she is taking something a little bigger than her body width, you should see a visible lump after she's eaten. :D

I feed once a fortnight for my adult snakes, probably once every 3 weeks during winter, but they are at a healthy size, so it's up to you if you want to feed weekly/fortnightly, but probably once a week if you want to increase her size.

When you say her "light is on all the time" do you mean for heat? It's much better for snakes to have a day/night cycle, as we do. 12 hours of daylight, then lights out. As long as the temps don't get too low at night, you can leave the heat off at night as she's an adult, though some people do heat their snakes 24/7, I prefer a natural drop in temps so I turn my heat off when I turn their lights off.
Do you have a thermometer probe to tell the temp in the enclosure? That's really handy, and good on you for getting a thermostat, you don't want to cook you snake.
 
Thanks for your advice, we have just given her 2 pinkies and she took them with no issues, it is really noticable after shes eaten, and next week we will try her on a hopper, we really want to offer her as much as she will take to ensure shes right for winter.

We went into see a reptile guy (really nice and knowledgable) and he said she looked pretty underweight..Her light in her enclosure was never turned off but we have stuck to the normal day/light cycle, we should recieve our thermostat within the next few days.

We dont actually know what the temp is in her enclosure,we have just stuck with what shes had for the last 4 years, so Ill feel alot better knowing her enclosure is at an appropriate and correct temp.

Yes we turn her heatlamp off during the warmer days and back on at night, in the winter, we have also looked at a heat pad and have ordered that also. Thanks again for your advice..????????????
 
Great stuff mate you are doing a good job. Keep it up! Enjoy it, these snakes are absolutely gorgeous! I miss mine everyday!
You can get a thermometer probe from any pet shop they are usually around 20 bucks. That should tell you what the temp is (wherever the probe is placed).
I had mine housed with just a heatpad and thermostat. No heatlamp or uvb.
 
Hi, my girl is 5.5yrs now and 1.2mtr approx. 1.3kgs but she tends to bulk up prior to winter as wont eat regularly for 5mths from now though will not loose much condition - she has constant heat from heat mat normally sits at 34 degrees and her cool side is about 24-26, She has been a real gem to have last 5yrs and once you get used to them going off food over winter they are a great python :)
 
Hi guys, we just weighed her and she is 36gm at 70cm long, we took her to the reptile shop to get advice on feeding her hoppers and when we told her she was almost 5 years old she almost cryed lol, she advised us she was severley underweight and tiny for her age but said hoppers would be great start for her, she showed us there 2 year old stimmie who looked enormous compared to her, we fed her her first hopper when we got home and she was unsure where to start, let go a few times to find the head and it was all go from there So we will feed her every 5 days for as long as she'll take it .. thanks for all your advice Here a few pics.
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Sad story for your beautiful stimmie. Good on you for trying hard to turn things around, good luck with her and great pics.
 
Wow with that mouse for reference really gives a good indication of her size (or lack of)
keep doing what your doing and she will be healthy size in no time.
 
She is a beautiful snake, keep up the feeds and she will fine mate. This forum is the best for advice and information ;)
 
Hi Boss, just read this thread. Good work on showing concern for her size and health and getting her on the road to recovery. All my yearling stimmies are between 80 and 150 grams, all now on weaner mice, just as a comparison for you. I have 2 that were hard work to get feeding that have only really taken off since January, now weighing 25 and 40 grams, but shorter than yours at only about 35 and 45cm. The smaller is coming off pinkies in the next month onto velvets.
You're doing a great job and I'm sure she really appreciates the increase in food.
I can't remember who I got it from, but I remember while ago a post about feed size by weight as a guide for pythons. Generally the range should be 5-20% of the snakes weight. For growing pythons 10-15% weekly is healthy without rushing their growth with 5% really just being enough to sustain.
Just something I found very useful when I was starting out and struggling to judge on appearance and worrying if they were getting enough food.
Keep us posted on her progress, best of luck
 
She is gorgeous. I'm so glad you got hold of her from her previous owners! If it's anything to go by, our 5 Month old Children's python weighs 42 grams and gobbles down 1 fuzzie every 5 days. Your girl will be healthy and happy in no time - I bet she wishes she could thank you properly :)
 
wow you done a good job on her, i am glade you have rescued her so she can survive... sadly people feed them less to keep them small; not realizing there are making them sick...
 
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