Heres my two cents...........

It is very common for balls to go off feed especially during the winter. I like to read and reply to this board from time to time. Thats the great thing about this forum.......Its a great resource of other breeders and keepers. Sometimes others can get a bit judgemental of the situation........The purpose of the forum is to try to help your fellow herper regardless of his or her experience level. Heres a few things I would consider...........First of all going off feed is very common but you want to keep an eye on the animals health. A monthly weight chart is a must in my opinion. You can refer to your chart to see if the animal has actually lost weight and that would be a good indication of health. Its sounds like your doing a decent job of monitoring temps but not sure of your technique. Would recommend a temp gun for accuracy. His eyes glazing over is due to a shed cycle and normal. Here are a few tricks ive used in the past for noneaters with a weight loss. Try mice and rats of different sizes..........Leave a prekilled rat and mouse in a paperbag in his inclosure overnight..........Brain a rat pup and leave in his hide overnight.........A gerbal offered is a good choice for a large animal and will usually get him feeding. Different color and sex of rat or mice........Force feeding should be a last resort but sometimes required to save an animal in distress. This does stress the animal but a fed underweight animal is better than a dead one. Hope you get him feeding soon but I would not be too freaked out unless he starts to lose weight. This is my two cents and although my opinion its not the only opinion .............You show you want to take care of your animal by your post and I admire you for that. Some of us forget the first time we posted (My snake wont eat) Please keep us posted on his progress and what worked and what didnt and maybe we will learn something from your situation. We love what we do so we share with others!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[ Hide Replies ]

• Feeding Tricks.. - nboles1215, Tue Dec 26 17:27:12 2006
• RE: Feeding Tricks.. - nboles1215, Tue Dec 26 17:56:17 2006
• RE: Feeding Tricks.. - reptileinnovations, Tue Dec 26 18:00:43 2006
• RE: Feeding Tricks.. - Herpout, Tue Dec 26 18:29:02 2006
• RE: Feeding Tricks.. - nboles1215, Tue Dec 26 20:01:58 2006
• RE: Feeding Tricks.. - melindas, Tue Dec 26 21:16:32 2006
• Thanks.... - nboles1215, Tue Dec 26 21:27:57 2006
• stress not stimulation - robyn@ProExotics, Wed Dec 27 14:08:28 2006
• I couldn't agree more - n/p - toshamc, Wed Dec 27 14:32:17 2006
• RE: stress not stimulation - nboles1215, Wed Dec 27 16:37:55 2006
• One more thing - nboles1215, Wed Dec 27 16:41:28 2006
• the point is stress,and proper technique - robyn@ProExotics, Wed Dec 27 17:38:23 2006
• Good Feedback... - nboles1215, Wed Dec 27 17:49:13 2006
• try rats - robyn@ProExotics, Wed Dec 27 17:53:52 2006
• RE: try rats - nboles1215, Wed Dec 27 18:00:23 2006
• RE: try rats - robyn@ProExotics, Wed Dec 27 18:04:51 2006
• RE: stress not stimulation - toshamc, Wed Dec 27 17:25:36 2006
• Thanks Tosha.... - nboles1215, Wed Dec 27 17:33:10 2006
• RE: Thanks Tosha.... - balls4all, Wed Dec 27 19:50:34 2006