eat

Watched Jempi swallow a rat for the first time. So far I have always left him alone after he took the rat/mouse I offered him to make sure he eats it and doesn't bring the food back up. Interesting to see how the snake sort of stands up and lets the rat slowly go down.

it's been a while

A few months down the line, and things are going pretty well with Jempi. He eats pretty much everything I serve him - baby rates, mice, frozen/thawed or live, it doesn't make any difference. He eats it all.

I have been feeding him on a more or less regular schedule, every 7-10 days. Earlier this week though I had a conversation with one of the guys who runs Urban Jungle, and asked his opinion on how often and how much I should feed my snake. The guy has been in the business for 22 years so he must have some experience, and he recommended to feed up to four times a week at this point, to really boost the snake's growth. Once it hits the thousand grammes mark I should start to be more careful to make sure it doesn't get overweight, but until then I shouldn't worry about overfeeding.

Will take his advice and start feeding more often, he should grow faster than he does. I bought the snake in July and it hasn't shed its skin once, and that doesn't seem right.

Jempi

Strike!

Two days ago I bought a fresh new pinkie mouse. Took it home. Opened the snake cage and the snake quickly moved towards the door. It slowly moved around the mouse for a second or two and then... strike! Took the mouse, coiled up around it, and that was that. Very happy that he has discovered his instincts.

Now what I am noticing is that when I open the cage to refresh the water or mist the tank, the snake comes towards me with the same curiosity. I feel it will strike at my hand again soon - watch this space.

Bite me.

Two weeks ago I first assisted the snake in eating its first pinkie mouse since it started living with me. Youtube turned out to be a great source of information, there are videos out there that show exactly how the assist feeding is done and what you should look out for. So I gave it a try. The snake tried to withdraw, but as soon as the head of the mouse was in its mouth it didn't take long before it first started to relax, and then coiled around my wrist. At that point I put it down in its box where it curled all around its food. Turned off the light, closed the door and waited for a good 15 minutes before checking. Mouse gone. I put the plastic box into a large brown paer bag so the snake wouldn't get distracted. It all worked very well, a few days later the snake came out of its hiding box and I put it back into its normal cage.

One week later I tried to feed it another mouse. Still no strike reflex, so I assisted again. That was on Tuesday, it is now Friday and the snake came out of hiding again.

When I opened the box (still inside the paper bag) the snake came out and tried to climb out of the bag. This is too high though, so I put my arm in to give it something to climb on, with the intention of then putting it back into its cage. When i did this before the snake first hesitated a bit but after a few moments got onto my arm. This time was different. It slowly circles around my hand for a few seconds, moved toward it as to slide onto my hand... and then it bit my finger and started to coil up around my hand. I sort of expected it as its behaviour was a bit different, but I'm wondering what set it off. I washed my hands right before handling the snake but used the same (slightly scented) soap as before I fed it. Wonder if it is now associating the scent of that soap with food. I'll try a different soap next time, see if that has any effect.

The bite itself was not really painful - bit like when you get stung by the thorn of a rose. I gently uncoiled the snake from around my hand, tail first, and then gently took turned by hand upside down. The snake loosened its grip straight away. Washed my hands and disinfected the two little skin punctures just to make sure. I'm actually pleased that it developed a reflex to strike, hopefully it reserves it for food though.

That ain't a toy you silly worm

Since it has been a few weeks and the snake still has not eaten, I decided to follow the advice Mike Willbanks posted on his site. I had transfered the snake from the larger cage into a smaller box so I could easily find the mouse back in case the snake hadn't eaten it. Bought a live mouse, still quite little. Waited until late evening. Put mouse in cage. Switched off light and left the apartment.

Came back about two hours later. The mouse was nowhere to be seen and the snake was curled up inside the shelter. All looked fine until about ten minutes later the snake started moving around again and that was not supposed to happen. After the feed the snakes normally stay rolled up inside the shelter for a few days while they digest the food. So I opened the box, lifted the shelter and there it was: a little pink mouse, quietly asleep. I mean, seriously... You're not suppsed to play with it, it's your food!!

Gonna stick to Mike's advice and wait five days before I repeat the procedure.

The best product designed by Apple

For as far as I'm concerned the best product Apple has designed so far is the box of the iPod Classic. Sure, the music player itself does what it;s designed to do but the box has turned out to be an absolute hit - with my ball python.

When I first got my python I was looking around te house for something that I could use for shelter and this was the only container compact enough to make sure the snake could curl up inside and feel nicely enclosed. I cut one of the short sides away to create an entrance. Turns out the snake loves it - as a matter of fact it has refused to go into any other shelter I tried to use so far.

I'm not entirely sure what I will do when it gets soiled eventually, guess I'll have to ask all my friends to give me their iPhone and iPod boxes.

A couple of pics

Still not hungry

Went to Singapore for a week on a business trip, thinking that when I got back the snake might have settled down enough to eat. Allowed it out of the cage onto my arm, gently transfered it into a large plastic container with clip-on lid, placed inside a large brown paper bag. I put it in the bag to give it a more enclosed feeling, and to prevent the snake getting stressed by anything moving outside the enclosure. Took a mouse out of the freezer, thawed it in warm water and held it in front of the snake. It sniffed the mouse for a while, went around it, then left it. I left the mouse inside the box, put the lid on and left the snake with the mouse overnight. Checked again in the morning - mouse still there, with the snake resting its head on top. Is he taking the piss??

I'm now going to follow the instructions Mike posted on his site: get a live mouse, put it in the cage with the snake, switch off the light and leave. Return an hour later, check whether snake has eaten the mouse.

Will post about the progress on here.

A mouse a day... well not really

Tried to feed my ball python gyesterday for the first time but didn't succeed. Left the thawed mouse in the cage overnight but it was still there in the morning - so threw it out and desinfected the container where I left it.

Will try again at the end fo the week.

Jusco $10 Plaza

Today I went to the Jusco $10 Plaza in Mongkok and shopped around for stuff to put in the cage. Most of the items they sell cost HKD 10 so definitely worth having a look if you want to keep the costs down.

This is what I got:

- A small ceramic vase: thought this could be used as shelter, though looking at it now I'm not sure that will work. I'll put it in the cage to see how the snake reacts to it but if there is no interest I'll take it out again.
- A medium size ceramic aromatic oil burner, finished to look a bit like a log, with large hole at the top and two smaller ones on the side that are meant to provide air to the candle. Looks like that could make a nice shelter, especially since the inside has a dark finish so it won't be very bright even when light goes in.
- A larger rectangular flower pot, the style they used for bonsai trees. It has two holes in the bottom that I can probably enlarge so the snake can go in easily, providing fairly dark shelter inside. I think it is a bit too large for the snake at the moment, so I'll get this ready by the time it has gotten a bit bigger.
- More plastic plants. They look fairly realistic, some of them are garlands with larger leafs so can use them to reduce the amount of open space in the cage. Also bought three small bushes of more grassy like leaves that can hang over the water bowl to make that less exposed too.
- A pair of long (36cm) chopsticks - to hold the food
- A set of metal thongs you can use at a bbq - again to hold the mice. I prefer to use the chpsticks, bit weary of using metal thongs near my snake, but if I can't get a firm enough grip with the chopsticks I'll use the thongs.

Find the Jusco stores here:
http://www.jusco.com.hk/eng/10_plaza/index_shop.htm

A snake in hiding

Yesterday evening my partner came over to mine to see the snake. He wasn't very impressed that I bought one, as he is scared of them. When he saw how small it still was and how it was moving slowly around the cage he did get a bit more interested and lost the fear, but his staring and going up close to the animal's head behind the glass got the snake to hide in the iPod box and it didn't come out all evening until I switched off the lights in the room. Even then it just came out half and didn't move around much,at least not as long as I was in the room.

Today it is still in hiding. Now that I have added some more shelter and more plants to reduce the open feeing of the cage I'm going to leave the animal alone for a week to let it relax and settle in. Then I'll try to feed for the first time, if I see it becomes a bit less shy.

Shelter

Bought the snake on Saturday, so wanted to make sure I had the cage set up by the time it woke up again on Sunday. I live in Sheung Wan, near cat street, so after i got the cage/substrate/fake aquarium plants from Mongkok I walked down to the curio shops to see what I could find. I bought three chinese ceramic bowls, one large enough to serve as a water bowl in which the snake could immerse itself completely, and two smaller ones which I planned to turn into shelters.

My idea was to break out part of the side of the smaller bowls so they would provide an opening large enough for the snake to get in and crawl underneath. Great idea, but breaking a part out of the side ended up with me breaking the bowl alltogether. Ceramics aren't as easy to handle as I expected. So I ended up leaning the remaining smaller bowl against the side of the water bowl, to provide a shelter that was however not an enclosed space.

The snake ended up sleeping underneath, but it was a bit too exposed to my liking - information provided on different websites seems to agree that the hiding spot should be dark and snug, with only one opening. I had one of these as well - a small vase with a relatively large opening, lying on its side. It seemed perfect, but the snake didn't go inside so maybe it doesn't like it as much as I do. In the end I gave it back the box of my iPod with one of the short sides cut away, it loves curling up inside.

I also added a bush of fake plants so the snake could go underneath and get a bit of shelter there, but instead of going under the plants it went right on top of them. They're not strong enough to carry its weight so the whole thing sort of collapsed slowly. I'll have to get something to climb on.

The search for shelter continues - the iPod box will only last that long I'm sure and it doesn't look that great.

Urban Jungle

One of my main reasons for going to the Hong Kong Reptile Expo was to find out about suppliers for snake keepers: shops that sell cages, substrate, food, and generally provide all sort of information that can come in handy.

I got refered to a shop called 'Urban Jungle', based in Mongkok's famous aquarium street. In typical Hong Kong fashion this shop is located on the first floor, and where there is a sign above the entrance to the building and a big sign on the wall next to it, that's where the singalisation stops. So when I walked up I passed right by the shop, as the name is not on the door. There was a poster with some pictures of tortoises on the wall next to the door but no name. Since the only other shop in the building seemed to specialise in fishtanks and aquarium fish, I went back to the first floor and went into the shop with the turtle poster - which turned out to be Urban Jungle.

They have a lot of stuff in their shop. Snakes. Albino tortoises. Lizards. And many more - surprising how many animals you can keep in a relatively small space. They also sell all the supplies I needed to get started: a proper cage (different sizes and models available), substrate (Aspen), mice. They sell frozen mice as well as live ones.

Obviously this was great, but what's equally important is that the guy who assisted me (I'll find out his name) spoke fluent English, was very helpful and knew what he was talking about. It's great to know that if I have any questions or need assistance I can find someone who can at least guide me in the right direction.

I bought a proper cage (structurally sound, strong enough, proper lock, assembled), Aspen substrate and frozen mice. Heating for the cage is not necessary at this point, my appartment is warm enough during summer, and neither is additional lighting. When winter comes I'll get a heating mat as temperatures here in Hong Kong go below the comfort level for a ball python and appartments have little or no insulation so it does get colder inside too.

Overall experience: great. Friendly and helpful staff with good knowledge, decent prices, open late, and a source of knowledge. All on the first floor of a tong lau in Mongkok.


Urban Jungle
1st floor, 148 Tung Choi Street
Mongkok, Hong Kong
Open noon - 9pm

Cage

Since I bought a snake, I also had to get some enclosure for it. At the Hong Kong Reptile Expo we found a few people selling these and one of the snake breeders agreed that at HKD 280 they were a pretty good deal.

The cage I bought consisted of a metal frame, with side panels and top in metal mesh for ventilation, a black solid back panel and two sliding glass panels at the front for access and viewing. The whole thing was nicely flat packed which obviously was great for transportation.

When I started to put this together with a friend the flaws of the design became very clear:
- the different parts of the frame could not be fixed in place, which means that the snake would be able to push the top off the cage unless a weight was put on top
- the frame was not structurally solid
- the mesh top panel and the back panel were cut a few mm short so they could be pushed out easily
- there was no lock provided for the glass doors. I expect that a snake could accidentally slide the panel a little bit to the side and then push it further open over a period of time

After putting it together (or trying to) I decided that this was not the way forward. Not only would I be worrying whether the snake would be able to escape, it's also not fair to the animal to put it at risk by giving it an enclosure that is not strong enough or by allowing it to escape and get into trouble. So out ot went (not really, I used the frame as the base of a new side table - very crafty indeed) and the next day I bought a proper cage. Which cost exactly as much as the first one, but was of a far better quality.

Still - I consider it money well spent. It made me a lot more aware of what to look for when buying a cage so even though I lost HKD 280 I gained invaluable experience.

A Ball Python

So I finally took the step - I bought my first snake. For many years I have wanted to keep a snake, but there always were objections: when I was living with my parents they wouldn't let me, and afterwards in London it would have been impractical and expensive especially on the salary I was earning. So when I moved to Hong Kong I started thinking of it again, and began to look around for information on breeders etc. I found that there was hardly any information available, if any at all. There may be more in Chinese, but unfortunately I don't read that language so I got stuck.

It did seem unlikely though that there were no snake lovers in Hong Kong - and when I say snake lovers I mean the people who love the live animal as opposed to the soup ingredient. Snake soup is popular in Hong Kong in winter months.

Last week my suspicion got confirmed. There are reptile lovers in Hong Kong, and I knew where to find them: the Hong Kong Reptile Expo at HITEC. After a trek and a half I arrived at said location with my friend, endured the queue to buy tickets, and started walking around the expo. There weren't as many snake breeders as I expected there would be, but there were some. The very first breeder we met was Mike Wilbanks, and he's also the one I went back to after doing the round since had by far the nicest collection of snakes.

I picked a Ball Python. They come in a wide variety of colour patterns, and the one I really liked was the Mojave. That and the pure white one, but that one was just a bit over my budget (ahem). Had a nice conversation with Mike, who in the conversation confirmed the research I had done on beforehand. He knew what he was talking about, and obviously has a passion for snakes. I'll introduce his website in a future post, you'll see what I mean.

So here I am - proud owner of a ball python in Hong Kong. I purchased a cage at the expo (more about that later) and took my new friend home in a taxi. The next day I went hunting for supplies. More on that later too.