Hi Lanea,
I've been following this and your other thread and agree that you've got some nice looking critters there.
Can I please offer a little bit of advice? Snakes don't like being handled, they tolerate it so don't be fooled and think that they love it...unfortunately they don't. They'll get used to it and put up with it once they do but they don't like it. Basically they're a "look at and admire me animal'. I know how hard it can be to not play with them when you first get them but for the welfare of the snake(s) you're better off to leave them be to get to know their new surroundings before handling them on a regular basis.
Disturbing them to clean their enclosure and change the water is not required or needed on a daily basis, in fact it can cause the critter to get a bit stressed. It can actually cause them to go off feeding. You only need to change or top up the water once a week and change the lining if it gets soiled.
Hatching Carpets are capable of eating and will take fuzzy mice from the word go. Pinkies provide no nutrition whatsoever and best avoided if possible. I get a lot of wild hatchling Carpets visiting my place who like to help themselves to my feeder mice and can assure you they are capable of eating a full grown adult mouse not long after they hatch.
Also that mark you refer to on the albino's head is nothing, don't play around with it, it will sort itself out more and more after each shed.
Cheers,
George.
Thanks for your reply. I grew up across the road from Brian and Lani who own Herp shop and they'd drape them all over me every time I went over to see the reptiles, which was often. I'd sit there for hours having coffee with them with all sorts of reptiles crawling all over me. Now with my own first pythons, I do have to admit, that I am probably a little over confident in handling them because I have been around them in a 'casual manner' for too long and not as an owner/caretaker. But I do realise that they are a not a novelty and the more I stuff around with them, the less happy they are. Definitely letting them all be. They are all in quiet spots in separate rooms.
Most of the pics I have posted on the forum though, I took on day one of bringing the python home or photographed during a time I had to take it out of the enclosure for another reason (Initial set up, or like that time GTP knocked over my humidity sensor and it fell into the back of the exo terrain, and I had to pull the whole thing apart to retrieve it) So if I had to get the python out, of course, I had to hold and have a quick hug and picky too.
Other than that though, we don't really get them out, except I have held the coastal a fair few times (I'll explain in a sec below)
The GTP pics I have of me in the dress, were when I first met her from the breeder when I was in QLD two weeks ago. The other pics of when I invited the kids over was actually because I decided to change his perch from PVC to natural. That's why you can see the little girl holding him on his perch. I text them to say com over and meet him, as It was during the time I was exchanging his perch. (See other thread, if you don't know what I'm referring to) But since I changed his perch to natural branch, I have def left him alone except to spray him daily and check his temp with RF thermometer.
The coastal, admittedly, I have over handled because he is so placid. I literally open the glass door and he slides out and approaches me and lands on my shoulder to hang out. This was the one I referring to when I was explaining the 'rescue python from pet shop' story at the beginning of other thread. He definitely has been handled (too much probably) by his previous owners on a semi daily basis since he was a Hatchie and now he is 3. So he is very comfortable around humans because of the way he was raised. (He is the one I have introduced to my friends) I need to be careful here to not exploit that (even unintentionally) So last night I moved him out of our main lounge room where we have children, TV on, High traffic etc and into my office where no one really enters unless its to grab something and it is very quiet in there. I wan't him to have peace esp bc he has slowed right down this time of the year and has stopped eating (A problem I knew he had before I bought him) But we obviously want him to eat again when he is ready, so I have moved him into what I call his 'respite room' for security, quiet, less movement from us all walking past him, etc etc.
Regarding the Albino. The reason I was changing his newspaper terrain regularly is because his water bowl is so tiny, and the water evaporates somewhat. So instead of taking lid off and putting hand in and taking bowl out and refilling daily, causing stress, I just started opening the hatch and getting a glass of water and pouring it into the hatch, often missing and wetting all the newspaper underneath her. Not wanting to leave her on a wet newspaper underlay, I then had to change it. I def agree with you about little handling of them. So I have bought myself a huge turkey baster this morning, which I fill with water and can squirt directly into little bowl now via hatch, so that I don't have to open lid, use a glass, remove water bowl or replace newspaper terrain bc it gets wet. Therefore she will now get as little interruption as possible.
I agree with you re: the pinkies not being enough. I could tell that from the first feed that she wasn't satisfied even though the breeder at the pet store told me to feed her pinkies. I bought her some mice today.
Really appreciate the advice everyone is offering and the time it takes to reply.
*Thank you*
Even though I am comfortable around pythons, I am humble enough to accept that I still have my L plates on and have a lot to learn and am therefore open to well intended advice.
NB: Yes, I def don't feel comfortable rubbing those dry scales off my albinos head. I figure if it is from previous shed it'll sort itself out.
