Reptile & Amphibian Forums

what should i do? we have tried feeding him 5 times. he won't eat frozen he won't eat live, his attitude goes from spectacular to horrible depending on days. he is in a 55 long tank (same cage we had our last ball in). we feed him in a rubbermaid tote with a lid. We started off with frozen fuzzies, he pushed them around the tote for a couple hours so we went to live- a small white mouse, he completely ignored it. we tried live fuzzies, maybe the mouse was too big, acted like he was afraid of the fuzzies. it has been 5 weeks since he has eaten and hs is still young (maybe a year- previous owner didnt know birthday)any suggestions?

smaller enclosure...10-20 gallons will be plenty....if it ignores the mice it might not be recognizing them as food, he may be wild caught, in the wild they dont eat mice, they eat gerbils, i know unless you breed gerbils they can get expensive as food but an alternative would be to place a mouse in a gerbil cage for a while to get the smell on it..(your local pet shop shouldnt have a problem with trying this unless they really want to take you money and just want to sell gerbils instead) but most likely its the enclosure especially since its so young, but try the gerbil trick it should work.
WARNING: IF YOU DO FEED A GERBIL TO IT IT MAY NEVER TAKE MICE/RATS AGAIN.

I agree with the enclosure part. You need somthing smaller. I do not how ever believe that you should try a gerbil yet. Try a small enclsoser leave it alone for a week then try a fuzzy. I think it needs to feel more sucure and build its confidence up.Try a fuzzy if it doesnt take it.Leave it alone Try again in about 5 days. Balls can go quite a long time without food and be ok. I think with a smaler set up and being left alone it will eat. There is a post below yours that covers the same thing..
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no dont try gerbils yet, like i stated earlier try those as a last resort, try the smaller enclosure first if he/she still doesnt eat try placing a MOUSE with some gerbils to get the scent on it.

Another trick that has helped me: placing the snake in a brown paper grocery bag to eat. I folded it closed and put him in it with a food item and then set it back in the tank with the lights off so that if he escaped the bag he would still be secure and with the lights off wouldn't bake.

It helped him feel more secure as he transitioned to a new home and larger meals simultaneously. I left mine in there as long as over night (with frozen/thawed) so that he had ample time to decide if he was hungry.

Also, I left a whole week in between feeding attempts to try and minimize stress.

Good luck!
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you don't offer any details about your setup, or even the size of your animal. a BABY ball eats small adult mice, a yearling animal does not.

you need to establish a good solid setup, including great temps and great hides, before worrying about feeding gerbils, antelope, or force feeding peanut butter.

check out this FAQ, then repost including your husbandry info, THEN perhaps someone can offer applicable suggestions.
Pro Exotics FAQ- what's wrong with my snake?

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robyn@proexotics.com

Pro Exotics Reptiles

I'd follow Robyn's advice first about getting the enclosure right. I agree with the others about the size of the enclosure. You'd be better off with a 10g for a baby or a 15g for a yearling or plastice storage containers about that size. Then try the advice about feeding after leaving him alone in the new enclosure for a week or so. Good luck.
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