convulsing ball python

Question
QUESTION: Hello, my name is Taylor and I have a 3 1/2 year old(estimated) male(pretty sure) ball python. I got Vasilliy in Nov from a girl who took horrible care of him. When I went to pick him up to bring him to my home he had no water, barely any heat (about 70 degrees), a hiding place that was barely big enough and she had been feeding him every 2 weeks. I brought him to a friend how knows quite a bit about snakes and she said he was as big as a 4 month old. He is now 21 inches and getting much thicker. He has shed 3 times with less and less help from me. I thought he was doing very well. He shed 8 days ago and is now acting strange. He stays motionless all day until 2 am and then is asleep by 6 again. He has never been this inactive. tonight I was sitting near his 75 gal. long and I heard him coughor something. He looked like he was having a seizure. I also cleaned the tank a few days ago and it smells very bad in there almost overnight. I spot cleaned but that did not help.
anything you can tell me about feeding for growth, optimal size for his age, why he's being so weird and anti-social, why he was having convultions or why he might smell bad would be awesome. Thank you very much

ANSWER: Hi Taylor,

Are you sure about the age of your snake, it sounds to me that your snake is around one year old.  A typical male ball python will range from about 2 1/2 to 3 feet long at that age.  Feeding every two weeks would slow its growth process.  Change the feeding regimen to once a week.  The size of the prey item, usually a mouse or a rat, should be equal  girth as the largest section of your snake's midsection.  He will start growing faster.  Males typically do not get any longer than 4-5 feet.  The cough you hear sounds like a respiratory infection due to the low temperature the other owner was keeping the snake at.  You should check him around the mouth for signs of foaming bubbles.  If you notice any bubbles bring him to a veterinarian.  If you do not, then you have caught it in the early stages.  You can correct it by increasing the temperature to 90-95 degrees farenheit and keeping the humidity at 65%.  As for the smell in your tank, all snakes including ball pythons urinate and the smell is not very pleasant.  

Hope this helps.

Eric Rovegno

---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: Thank you for the info. I have been feeding him every 5 days a large adult mouse for 2 months now and keeping his tank at 85 for that long as well. i just checked his mouth and he looks normal.
I am pretty sure he's about 3 1/2. 2 months ago when I got him he was only 18 inches.
He only coughed the once. Is there anything I should watch for other than the bubbles? and is it normal that after his last shed he was quite a bit darker than after previous sheds?
thank you again for your help. I just want to make sure that I am caring for him well.
Taylor

Answer
Hello again,

It sounds like you are doing everything right.  The darkening of the skin is normal, as ball pythons age they do get darker in color.  

Being as you only heard the cough once, the best thing you can do is listen for wheezing and watch for the foaming bubbles at the mouth.

I do not think you have to worry, just continue what you are doing.

If you have any other questions, please feel free to stop by www.ballpythonplanet.com and join the the forum where you can converse with other ball python owners.

Eric Rovegno