Reptile & Amphibian Forums

My female ball has refused to eat in about six months wanting to know would be a good suppliment to gine her?Must also have to say as of march,20,2005 I've force feed her a fuzzy rat with a gut load of vet meds was wondering if theres anything else I could give her????????????????????thanxs stripe

Personally I wouldn't force feed her at all unless she is losing weight and condition. It isn't uncommon for healthy ball pythons to go off feed for extended periods of time. Being alot of pythons normally go off feed for the period you described, i wouldn't worry tooo much. Just offer small prey items, even going as small as pinky rats. They as they take the small items, increase the number or size every 7-10 days.

Force feeding snakes puts alot of stress on them, and may make them less likely to eat on their own, or to keep the food down. Force feeding should be the last thing to do. If your snake keeps teh rat down then offer food normally in about 10 days, maybe live pinks or fuzzies

yeah she has lost alot of weight almost all of it shes drinks good but her skin just does not fit her anymore you touch her and you could feel her ribs and everything i did force feed her and so far shes kept the rat pup down and is a little more active but i was wondering what else could i give heer my vet said something about a protien paste and i was wondering what i should all put in it?any ideas?????????this is the same snake that i had been looking for info on scale rot i must also add that she was a wild cought ball you gave advice to me before to take to the vet and what it was was retained shedding that had not been shed properly and that has just kept getting worse and worse.

Not sure if the vet was able to do a fecal or if you ever had this ball treated for parasites. the protein feed is basically a mix of stuff...unfortunately I am not at home right now to look up in the Ball Python manual what they recommend. Will try and post it tonight after work.

Sorry for late reply, forgot about posting this last night. The formula for a liquid diet for the ball python is taking from the 'Ball Python Manual' by Philippe de Vosjoli.

three parts chicken baby food, one part whole egg, 1/2 part Pet Kalorie or Nutrical and one part water.

Hope this helps though I would recommend getting an experienced vet to help force feed, or somebody experienced in doing it with reptiles. You can cause as much harm as good, if you are not carefull.

thanks for the recipe.I have been force feeding for awhile I'm not really pro but experienced at force feeding I had to with a couple of my burmese babies and my blood.thanks for the advice