Monty the Python

So tomorrow I am heading to Petersburg to pick up the newest addition to my household. His name is Monty and he is a CL rescue. He is less than a year old. I am quite excited to get him and settle him into his new home. I will do my best to take some pics and post them on here.

Congrats & good luck!

Congrats. Now you have to get him a water bowl like this:

!!!

But of course! I even have a little shrub plant (fake) that I am going to put into his tank. I did think this through.

Well there is good news and bad news... bad news is when I went to pick up the python this evening he had already passed. Poor little guy. He was gorgeous too. The guy felt bad about it. I think he was more upset about not making any money. So I offered him a bit of money for the tank. (Very nice tank, practically a full set up) I was quite upset at the fact I wasn't getting my Monty. We happened to be going by Off The Ark and decided to stop in to say hi and see what was going on. I fell in love with one of the pythons there and brought him home! He is all set up but a bit camera shy so I am giving him a bit to adjust. Will post pics soon.

sorry to hear but glad you got something in the end anyway... cant wait for pictures

Was Monty sick? What happened?

I love Off The Ark. I've gotten most of my Afrocks from them and they are all puppy dogs.

The guy I was going to get the snake from said that it hadn't been eating. He had been trying to feed it frozen/thawed and it just wasn't taking. I think the snake died due to a combination of inexperience and bad luck. I was sad to see the little guy go.

As for the snake we have now. He is a wonderful little guy! He has really taken to me and my wife and seems to be happy as a clam.

Hey I actually posted a pic properly!!!

He is currently in a shed.

Nice pick up

Cute! Gotta love the face on a baby BP c:

Thanks He is a great little guy.

he is so cute. just love the babys

Such a cute face! Congrats.

Thanks! This is my first time having reptiles on my own so I am over analyzing and stressing over ever little thing. He didn't want to eat the other day and I was getting worried. Then I had to make myself remember that pythons can be picky eaters and sometimes they just don't eat. And the fact I moved him to a whole new location probably threw him off of his eating habits. And he hasn't shed all of his skin off yet and I have made sure the temp (85-90) and humidity (60-70) is right. I feel like an obsessive dad.

I'd make sure his hot side is sitting at least 90 at all times as 85 on a hot side is too chilly, especially for a baby. Make sure to give him lots of hiding spots and leave him alone for a week. As tempting as it is, don't pick him up. Don't touch him. Don't remove his hiding places to look at him. Only go into that cage to refresh his water. After a week, try to feed him. If he doesn't take it, leave him alone for another week. After that week, try him on a live hopper mouse.

His hot side is right at 90. I got him a UTH with a thermostat. He has plenty of hides. One on hot side, cool side, and one near his water bowl. Thank you for the advice. Any and all tips, tricks, or pointers are greatly appreciated.

Now I heard some people say that baby bps will only eat live. I don't mind feeding him live while the mice/rats are small and can't harm him. But ultimately I would like to have him on frozen/thawed.

Should be no problem converting him over. I do it with all of our babies. The first feeding or two, I offer live to make sure they have a good feeding response, then try a f/t rat pinky. If that doesn't work, try a f/t mouse hopper. Usually, within a week or two they are converted to at least mouse hoppers f/t. Then if I will convert them over to f/t rats.

I hope you thoroughly and completely disinfected, cleaned and scoured that enclosure before putting your new snake in it. Even though you might think the last snake died of miss care, it could have died from a disease that you do not want your new snake getting.

Don: Absolutely! I didn't want to take any chances. I threw away all of the bedding. And thoroughly cleaned the cage and accessories. I didn't want to take any chances with him.

Like the pose it says who me.

So I offered Monty a f/t hopper and he took it without delay! I think I even heard a burp as he finished it off. Will get rat pups when I head to the store this time. Shouldn't be an issue getting him to eat those.

Just finished his shed.

'es so cute (;

He is so cute. I was worried when I got my first one that it wouldn't eat because of all the stories I had heard. So I just did what I do with anything that usually eats live and strung it up and danced it around the feeding bin. He take f/t no problem just like my other snakes.

Mhmm I was so happy that he took the f/t without any problems. Not that I have something against feeding live. I just prefer to do it f/t. Makes things a lot easier for both parties.

I am against feeding live because of my Snow corn. Last time I fed him live I had to go in and hold the the head so it wouldn't bite the snake because the snake struck to low on it. That is not pleasant to have to go in after. It was a bad reaction for me to do that I know but there was no way I was letting the mouse sink its teeth into my snake. >.>

I am glad that nothing bad happened to your corn. I have seen some pretty nasty scars from snakes feeding live. But in the same regard I have seen snakes that have eaten live their whole lives. I suppose its just the luck of the draw.

So I picked up a frozen rat pup for Monty Saturday morning for his feeding later in the day. This would be the first time he would be eating rats so I was a little nervous to see if he would be really picky about it or I would have to use some sort of ploy to get him to eat it. Well I got him into his feeding tank and warmed up his rat. Got it on the tongs and like he had been doing it his whole life he striked, nailed it, and wrapped his body around it. I was so pleased when he released it and gobbled it up. He is one fat and happy snake. As soon as I put him back into his cage he went into his warm hide and fell into a coma. A very snaky coma.

So had a very productive weekend and I am proud of my little guy.

Yay! Glad he took a rat! Feeding mice gets tiresome when BPs get big lol