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New Childrens Python owner, looking for sound care advice
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<blockquote data-quote="Jonesy1103" data-source="post: 2540519" data-attributes="member: 52060"><p>Hello everybody, I have been using google to learn as much as I can about my python and more often than not it leads me here anyway, so I thought I would come straight to the source.</p><p></p><p>I've got a 'rescue' python, Childrens Python, I was given an estimated age of "about a year and a half" at end of Feb, so about 20 months now. And I have got a heap of questions about care etc, I have done a heap of reading but I wanted to hear it direct from you all. Any advice welcome inc. links to threads I should have read first</p><p></p><p>1) Age and size stuff.</p><p>20 months old, is that still a Juvenile? I have read its 2.5 to 3 years to maturity is this correct?</p><p>Its done 2 sheds while I have had "her" (see sex stuff later), one a couple of weeks after we bought her, the other was 5 weeks after that. So she is doing ok eh?</p><p>I cant really measure the snake so I measured the shed skin and it is 54cm. So do you reckon its about 20 months old based off that? And at that size what would a healthy snake weigh.</p><p></p><p>2) sex stuff</p><p>Can someone send a photo of a male tail and a female tail for this species. I think mine is a female as it has that nice smooth taper but again at this age would I even be able to see if it had hemipenes?</p><p>Doing the Probing (I would take her to a vet of course) does this cause the animal distress or pain?</p><p></p><p>3) Feeding stuff</p><p>So we were told "give it a gecko every coupla weeks" but pretty much everywhere else (online) said 7-10 days (if it's a juvie). Based off of head size the pet shop recommended Fuzzie mice which go down the hatch with moderate stretching of the gullet and leave a noticable lump in the belly. Ive attached a photo of her eating one (she untied the knot after, it worked out ok). Do you all reckon I am feeding her big enough stuff, and am I doing it often enough? Am I supposed to be putting vitamins on the Fuzzie or something?</p><p></p><p>4) Behavioural stuff</p><p>So when we got her she mainly hid all day, coiled up tight under a rock or the timber house, and at night if I went past the tank she would be snaking around, doing scaly stuff you know, usually if she saw movement she would hide ASAP. So that all seemed normal for a nocturnal snake. But lately, especially since the most recent shed, she seems to be awake for a much larger part of the day, body in the hide but with her head sticking out watching, or moving hide to hide many times a day, in full view of us, climbing in daylight, sleeping in the open etc. And as soon as the light goes off she's exploring, all 4 corners of the tank, climbing, having staring comps with the cat, going through all the hides like a commando course. We took this to probably mean hunting behaviour? So this period I have given her an extra feed which she snapped up (see photo). But is this extra activity a sign of hunger, or stress, or is this a snake that feels safe and secure and is loving life, or is the enclosure too small maybe? (Im building a bigger one already to suit the corner location).</p><p></p><p>5) Habitat stuff</p><p> Current tank is an exo terra 450 x 450 x 600h, thats what she came in, so I made some furniture so she has about 5 different places to hide, all of which she uses. She can go under stuff, inside stuff, on top of stuff, climb on the plants, hang off the heatlamp shroud etc.</p><p></p><p>The new one will be 800 x 600 but triangular floorplan (its a corner wall), 1200mm high with many levels in it (she loves climbing) is it too soon for her to go in this bigger enclosure? She will have heaps of places to hide, and climb, so she should feel safe. I've seen several mentions of waiting till they "outgrow" their first viv but how does one define "outgrown". And others have suggested that too big an enclosure messes with their minds? What happens to the snake in that instance, do they stress? Or just hide more.</p><p></p><p>Anyway thanks for reading and I appreciate any advice and feedback, I really hope I am looking after this specimen correctly, if I need to be corrected feel free to do so in an instructional manner. Looking forward to your replies, I guess you will probably have questions, I will do my best to answer</p><p></p><p>Cheers</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Jonesy1103, post: 2540519, member: 52060"] Hello everybody, I have been using google to learn as much as I can about my python and more often than not it leads me here anyway, so I thought I would come straight to the source. I've got a 'rescue' python, Childrens Python, I was given an estimated age of "about a year and a half" at end of Feb, so about 20 months now. And I have got a heap of questions about care etc, I have done a heap of reading but I wanted to hear it direct from you all. Any advice welcome inc. links to threads I should have read first 1) Age and size stuff. 20 months old, is that still a Juvenile? I have read its 2.5 to 3 years to maturity is this correct? Its done 2 sheds while I have had "her" (see sex stuff later), one a couple of weeks after we bought her, the other was 5 weeks after that. So she is doing ok eh? I cant really measure the snake so I measured the shed skin and it is 54cm. So do you reckon its about 20 months old based off that? And at that size what would a healthy snake weigh. 2) sex stuff Can someone send a photo of a male tail and a female tail for this species. I think mine is a female as it has that nice smooth taper but again at this age would I even be able to see if it had hemipenes? Doing the Probing (I would take her to a vet of course) does this cause the animal distress or pain? 3) Feeding stuff So we were told "give it a gecko every coupla weeks" but pretty much everywhere else (online) said 7-10 days (if it's a juvie). Based off of head size the pet shop recommended Fuzzie mice which go down the hatch with moderate stretching of the gullet and leave a noticable lump in the belly. Ive attached a photo of her eating one (she untied the knot after, it worked out ok). Do you all reckon I am feeding her big enough stuff, and am I doing it often enough? Am I supposed to be putting vitamins on the Fuzzie or something? 4) Behavioural stuff So when we got her she mainly hid all day, coiled up tight under a rock or the timber house, and at night if I went past the tank she would be snaking around, doing scaly stuff you know, usually if she saw movement she would hide ASAP. So that all seemed normal for a nocturnal snake. But lately, especially since the most recent shed, she seems to be awake for a much larger part of the day, body in the hide but with her head sticking out watching, or moving hide to hide many times a day, in full view of us, climbing in daylight, sleeping in the open etc. And as soon as the light goes off she's exploring, all 4 corners of the tank, climbing, having staring comps with the cat, going through all the hides like a commando course. We took this to probably mean hunting behaviour? So this period I have given her an extra feed which she snapped up (see photo). But is this extra activity a sign of hunger, or stress, or is this a snake that feels safe and secure and is loving life, or is the enclosure too small maybe? (Im building a bigger one already to suit the corner location). 5) Habitat stuff Current tank is an exo terra 450 x 450 x 600h, thats what she came in, so I made some furniture so she has about 5 different places to hide, all of which she uses. She can go under stuff, inside stuff, on top of stuff, climb on the plants, hang off the heatlamp shroud etc. The new one will be 800 x 600 but triangular floorplan (its a corner wall), 1200mm high with many levels in it (she loves climbing) is it too soon for her to go in this bigger enclosure? She will have heaps of places to hide, and climb, so she should feel safe. I've seen several mentions of waiting till they "outgrow" their first viv but how does one define "outgrown". And others have suggested that too big an enclosure messes with their minds? What happens to the snake in that instance, do they stress? Or just hide more. Anyway thanks for reading and I appreciate any advice and feedback, I really hope I am looking after this specimen correctly, if I need to be corrected feel free to do so in an instructional manner. Looking forward to your replies, I guess you will probably have questions, I will do my best to answer Cheers [/QUOTE]
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