hi guys newbie here

dsharples · 19th May 2010, 03:48 PM

firstly hi to all you guys and thanks for the very informative site
im new to snakes only ever had iguanas and chinese water dragons
me an the misses went to look at a royal python last night an the misses fell in love so we got him there and then brought him home an he is absolutely amazing such a nice temprament and loves being handled although we have been advised not to handle him to much as they are easily stressed out
the guy we got him off says he is 10yrs old but he is only approx 3ft long and not much girth to him he was feeding him on large mice 1 times a week
my next plan of action is to build him a nice new vivarium obv not to big as they prefer a smaller viv than a larger one but i would like him to grow a bit more and add some girth although he does look really healthy i just expected him to be a bit bigger if he is 10 yrs old
if anyone would like to offer me some advise then it would be much appreciated
the misses has had snakes in the past so she knows what shes doing but im a relative noobie lol
many thanks in advance guys
darren sharples

Tom · 19th May 2010, 03:58 PM

hi mate and welcome!

if it was me, i would be looking to either try and get him onto rats, if not, X2 ex breeder mice, or jumbo mice.

a royal will eat a medium rat if given the chance, so compare that to the weight/size of a mouse, you can see why he may be a little thinner than normall, i would just offer him x2 mice, the biggest you can find, and he will soon bulk up.

after 10 years, he will be a sod to try and transfer to rats, so maybe the eaiser option is to not stress him out, and just double what his been having, maybe do X2 jumbo mice, over 10 ten days, rather than 7.
or try 1 small rat, and rub a mouse over it!, he may just take it.

All the best.
Tom.

dsharples · 19th May 2010, 04:02 PM

im likin that idea of rubbin a mouse onto the rat we just ordered some weaner rats of the net
thanks for the advice tom

Tom · 19th May 2010, 04:09 PM

awesome!

let us know how he does, if that does not get him intrested, run the mouse over the rat, then get a hairdryer, and heat the crap out of the rat, make it really warm!, this will also bring off more of the "mouse smell" meaning he will be more onto what the smell is, plus the warm sense, he should be bang on it.

dsharples · 19th May 2010, 04:18 PM

were gonna try an feed him tonight with a large mouse an hopefully the rats shud be here by his next feed
we think in order to build him up a bit to feed him 1 mouse every 4-6 days as the mice we were given are about the same size as his head if not bigger but not by much
thanks again for all the help m8

dsharples · 20th May 2010, 09:59 AM

hi m8 we fed him last night no problems at all he ate 2 large mice an was still sniffing round for more we got some pics of him eating and even got a lil video of him finshing his 2nd mouse was an awesome experience to watch

why have i not had snakes before im asking myself now

bluejen · 20th May 2010, 10:30 AM

hi there

welcome to the forum =)

jen

dsharples · 20th May 2010, 12:05 PM

hi and thanks jen

Snippy · 21st May 2010, 08:16 PM

welcome fella the royle wont get any longer really just fatter if you try and fat it up its not going to get to the size that rats are a must if it only eats mice its not a prob just keep up the two at a time although it would be cheaper to feed a larger rat than two mice i would not reckermend feeding it every 4 days thats a bit much if it was me i would stick to once a week or every 10 days and just give it the two mice you dont want to power feed it also a royle can go a very long time with out eatting there has been cases of up to a year tho thats unlikly

dsharples · 21st May 2010, 09:26 PM

cheers for that snippy m8 we fed him on wednesday and soon as he had ate the 2 mice there was no sign of him eating no lumps or anything in him they just disappeared we ordered weaner rats on thurs and they came on fri so were gonna change him to them rats as supposed to be more nutritious for him although i reckon a mouse is just a small rat lol
he is quite aggressive as he's bitten me twice now but im just putting that down to the move and everything is strange for him new home and family
cheers for all the welcoming guys and most of all the help and info