Reptile & Amphibian Forums

A recently bought my snake 3 weeks ago at a local pet store, and I bought a day after it was fed. I tried feeding him thawed mice a week after....did not eat...not even the week after. What are some other options? Another thing I'm never getting straight answers from multiple pet stores is: do you feed the snake in the same cage or in a seperate container of some sort? I was told to leave the snake in the dark in a plastic container for a couple of hours and the snake should find it as long as it's undisturbed. I'm just very confused, and I wish I could get the rigth answer please help

First of all we need to know how it is housed. Second, do you have a hide spot for the snake? A hide spot is not a half log...it's a spot the snake can truly disappear under like a bowl with a hole cut in the side. By not having a good hide, your snake is probably extremely nervous and not willing to eat. It needs a place to chill out. Once it relaxes then we can feed.

Moving the snake to another cage to feed helps out if it's just going to be a pet. This way the snake does not confuse your hand as easily with food. Moving it to another cage does nothing but lower your chances of possibly getting bit one day.

If you have a good hide, all of your heat is right and you have fresh water available I would try a live rat. DO NOT leave the snake alone with the rat. I repeat...DO NOT...leave your snake alone with a live rat. Leave the rat in there for 5 minutes or so. If that doesn't work, write again.

Yes I have a a hide box on end of the tank. Could it possibly be too hot for him using a 100 watt basking light on one end a 100 watt infrafred heat lamp on the other end (I was told to use both all day..and turn the basking lamp off during the night and leave the red on 24 hours). It's 40 gallon tank..if that helps any. I'm just tired of getting different answers so I found this site and in hope of getting right answers.

One end needs to STAY at 80 or so and the other end needs to be around 90. You can buy thermometers for cheap that will work well. I started out with this one:
Timex TX6130 Wireless Three-Window Indoor/Outdoor Electronic Thermometer with Hygrometer

This will help you regulate the temps and know at least where you are at temp wise. We can move you up to a thermostat next if you need one.

The good things about balls is if you are willing to try, they will work with you pretty well.

Ahh see I told them that the hot spot wasn't reaching 90 it was only at 80 and they said that's ok, i've tried a halogen basking light 150 watt and that did no good either on raising the temp...and I bought a different thermostat and even that stayed at 80 maybe I suppose I don't have it close enough to the spot to read the temp properley..(sorry after getting a billion answers I may sound a little air headed). And do I just leave hi in the seperate container alone...or buy large tongs and play with the mice in while he is in there (one store told me that). Could I try offereing freshly killed mice?

Are you handling the snake at all? If so, try leaving it alone until it eats. Handling the snake before it acclimates (and acclimation means it's eating regularly) can stress it out more and cause it to not eat.

Also, I read that your temps may be too cool. You can also try a UTH (under tank heater) instead of most of those lights. I've found that lights tend to dry out the cage unless you live in a VERY humid area (I'm talking tropical like Florida!), and even then...Why provide a basking area for an animal that spends most of its time hiding in a rodent hole in the african scrub? Belly heat tends to work best...at least in my experience. If you're worried about how hot the UTH gets, get a dimmer from Home Depot. They work GREAT for a single heat pad.

Keep the thermometer/thermostat an inch or two above the bottom of the cage - that's where the snake spends most of its time anyway!

What part of the house is it in? If it's in the living room, where a lot of people tend to go through, try moving it to a bedroom or somewhere that doesn't get much foot traffic.

The petstores are confusing about the feeding in a separate container thing because people tend to be divided about the issue.
Some people say do it, some people say don't... Pretty much, the theory is that removing the snake from the cage will help to condition it not to expect food every time you open the cage. However... Before I learned about all this, I fed my female in her cage for about 14 years. I can count on one hand the number of times she's bitten me...and all three times, it was right after she'd been fed (still in feeding response mode), and I had not washed my hands prior to sticking them back in the cage.
Pretty much, use some common sense, and feeding in the cage is really not that big a deal. In your case, I would feed in the cage until the snake is eating. Removing it from the cage is a stressful event, so it is probably freaking out about being out of the cage instead of focusing on eating.

Warm up the snake, leave it alone, and try feeding in the evening in the cage with a live prey item. After 15 minutes, take the prey item out, and try again in a week.
If the snake has good weight, it can take a couple months without food just fine.

~jenny
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Hi Livewire,....One thing I am concerned about is HOW BIG IS YOUR SNAKE? Pet shops are great at selling large expensive cages that are not really the best option for your animal. ESPECIALLY THE CHAIN STORES!! If it is a rather large adult a 40 is fine. If it is a baby BP he is probably scared crapless. Ball pythons do not enjoy wide open spaces. In Fact close and cramped seems to be the preference. I keep babies in Show boxes until 4-5 months and juvies in 12 qt sweater boxes often through the 1st year....It is not by any means uncommon for an adult BP to go off feed for months on end especially this time of year. (Breeding season). I typically do not even attempt to feed newly aquired BPs for 2-4 weeks, yes even the babies. This way they have been allowed time to adapt to the NEW environment and are good and hungry. Clean Fresh water is AS ALWAYS a must....In addition, I strongly suggest the Ball Python Manual By Barkers and Klingenburg or Ball Pythons in Captivity by Kevin McCurley. Both are around $8-12 depends on where you buy them and they highlight feeding issues and techniques in BPs as well as caging demands.(I think Petsmart sells them both also easily found on AMAZON)...God Bless, Lee Van Hyfte

HI livewire,....Another thing I have done to convert live feeders or stubborn feeders is to take an FT rat. Heat it up well. 100F-ish (don't cook it!!). Take hemostats and when the animal is "asleep" in its den stick the rats head into the hole for its den. Some animals are explosive when this happens so do not be surprised. A very fresh killed would serve the same purpose....I would like to say that it is optimal to have the snake resting head towards the hole...After reading D&T Barkers notes on Heat sensing in the BPs it makes much more sense as to why this works. Instinctually, they attack!! According to the BIG barker book. it is rather hard wired into them.....Think about a BP resting in a rodent hole in the savannas. It is an easy way to hunt if the prey pops his head in your den. Bang!!! Same as my kids and Pizza Hut!! Really though I have used this successfully on several stubborn mouse feeders and NON-feeders alike.....Not to mention it is really cool to see the explosive feeding response. The Big mamas will blow their dens up in the air...........God Bless, Lee van Hyfte

welcome to buying an animal from petco! i made the same mistake then had to find kingsnake to learn how to do it right! one question that first came to mind was has your snake pooped since you have had it? i ask this because the salesperson saying they were fed yesterday usually means that they havent eaten in a while because they are picky eaters. not saying all of the stores do that.....but some do. you can set your clock on my snake pooping the day before feeding, even when he missed a week. the other thing is the heat lights. you need an under tank heater! you just stick it on and elevate the tank a bit so the heat doesnt build up and you are golden. if it gets too hot you can make a rheostat (sp?) out of an extension cord and a dimmer switch, works great! i also have a ceramic heat emitter for the cold nights.....but it was pretty much a waste of money because the UTH does such a great job and it dries the air out so now i have humidity issues. just get the temps good and wait the snake out, if your doing it right and the snake doesnt look like its losing weight its just a matter of time before it eats.
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1 iguana
..1 normal ball python
3 fish
and we had a pet mouse......untill stripes was hungry

I feed all my snakes live rats. Hope this helps.

Thank you guys so much!!!
And there's not too much empty space in my tank in fact I made it so it's cramped...not too cramped...I have a large log for him to climb on the cool side and leaves hanging from the back and a large water dish in the middle there's no large spaces to freak him out..I always see him wandering around the cage at night..and he always lies on the log under the red lamp at night too (it's quite cool on my house).
And his cage is in my room in the basement so only I go in there and I close the door during the day so none of my cats can disturb him. For an the heating pad...do I just get one large enough to cover half of the cage for the warm side? Of course where is hide box is right?
Thank you guys so much for responding!!!

Oh and I haven't handled him for about quite awhile..
And the pet store told me he was a month old when I got him so now he's going two months. And no he actually hasn't pooped yet since owning him.
I'll have a pic of him later on today if it helps any.

I have one male that stopped eating after 6 years. He didn't eat for 6 months. He was housed in a 75 gallon aquarium on aspen. I had a heat pad underneath, and a heat lamp on top. I was trying to feed him live small rat. One day I moved him to a 32qt rack system. He started eating within the week. He has been a regular feeder since. Hope this helps.

I will most likely consider moving him to a smaller tank.
I really hope he eats this week. And i'm sorry but one more question..I just bought a under tank heater it's a exo terra heat wave desert terranium substrate heater. Does that sound like the right thing?

Is that marijuana in his tank?

I guess that's one way to encourage your snake to eat . . . get stoned . . . get the munchies
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Yes, an undertank heater will work. You will just need something to control the temp. They can get too hot. You can get a rheostat to control the temp. You will also want to get a digital thermometer with a probe to check the temp. I would just tape the thermometer probe to the glass right above the UTH. Make sure it stays around 90F. Hope this helps.