i've a come across three particularly interesting but yet troublesome problems:

1) my largest female ball has of late, grown about 3-4 inches, put on a fair amount of weight (not sure how much, haven't weighed her), and her last shed was about 30-40 days ago. now, normally this wouldn't worry me, but in the last week shes become extremely lethargic, grown EXTREMELY dark in color, almost to a pure chocolate/black combo, and her belly has turned pink. i tried feeding her last week twice, and she showed no interest in eating (first time in over 6 months). i put her humidity box in her terrarium a week ago. she hasn't shown any signs of shedding (i.e. blue eyes, hazy skin, etc.) ANYONE have any ideas??

2) I acquired a female ball from a trade show here in Ft Myers about two months ago. she's a gorgeous looking snake, the tamest of all that i have, and almost seems to enjoy being curled around my wrist. the problem(s) lie however, in the fact that she will NOT take food by herself. the breeder i bought her from said she had been through her first shed and had taken two meals just fine. i repeated his feeding process, time and time again, along with countless other techniques. then the other night i noticed that her eyes appear to be sort of swirled and opaqish. could she be blind? i know this is a technical question, probably only to be diagnosed by a vet, but i don't know of any quality vets around me.

3) now this is going to sound like a noob question, but i've tried everything. i've got a male ball, 50% het for albino. had him for about a month. i went through my normal acquisition routine, same one every snake i have has been through. this snake however, will continually strike at the terrarium when i WALK BY! he just seems to be mean, and nothing i do has broken him of it. i can pick him up, after a great deal of snipping and hissing, which then continues the entire time he is near me. i can't touch him or go within inches of him without gettin bit, and he is worse when i set him down anywhere near me. anyone have a tried and true method of taming??

any help would be appreciated......

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• curious yet troublesome signs...... - cwgw1, Mon Jul 26 22:27:36 2004