Reptile & Amphibian Forums

yes, i know this is common. but these are my first two i have had problems with. i am just starting out with breeding ball pythons and my two new ones absolutely will NOT eat. i have tried all the frozen tricks ( freezing and un freezing them to make them smell stronger, warming them up with a blow drier, made them dance around the cage, left them in there over night, etc.) so a few days ago i decided to try live. they still wont eat these either! i tried two times yesterday, and today i went to the pet store again to get some gerbal bedding i could sent them with...still nothing. i only tried once today and i will try again tonight so they might be a little more active. But do any of you all have any more advice? i have an albino medium mouse for my 08' male spider (probably around 350 grams) and an albino medium rat for my 1500 gram female....thanks guys

I know it shouldn't matter, but sometimes it does: Have you tried different colors? I had a professor who had a small kingsnake that would NOT eat white mice. Brown or nothing. Size, sex, smell, dead, alive, nothing else mattered. But he would not take a white mouse.
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1.0 normal ball python
0.1 greyband hybrid kingsnake
0.2 crazy cats
1.0 husband

Hi,

You sound as insane as me when trying to get your snakes to eat. All I can tell you is this. Attempting to feed them more when they won't feed never works. Less is more. It takes atleast 3 weeks if not more sometimes to feed a snake that has been stressed. My advice is offer them a meal once a week on your schedule. They will eat on one of those times when they are ready. How nice life would be if they ate when I wanted. Good luck and just slow down.

Bill

yeah i have considered that. but the frozen rats i offered them were brown so i dont think that color matters...i might try once more tonight and then give it a rest

You are trying too hard. Back off and don't try to feed them for 2 weeks. What were they fed before they came to you? If you don't know, ask. Find out how that person had them set up. Was there a hide box, heat strip, etc. Make sure your environment is right. Then the next time you try to feed, do it as late at night as possible. These are nocturnal animals and they feed better after dark. If they don't feed, just wait a week and try again. They will come around eventually. This is all part of the Ball Python experience!

Susan - SSNAKES Reptiles

as thunderpaws and ssnakes said.

also, replicate the bedding they were on before and make sure yr temps are good... and a live med rat can be a bit much for a stressed snake. as a rule of thumb, until they eat regularly smaller is better. i've even thrown in mouse pups to get a newly acquired difficult adult ball to eat - you'd be surprised how something so small and simple gets them over that feeding hump.

alright thanks guys. one last question. 2 of my other snakes have died from pneumonia. i bought a spider off the classifieds here and when i got him, he was sick. the people were really nice about it and i dont believe they did it on purpose. unfortunately, he died. even though i took him to the vet multiple times and gave him antibodics every night. then after he passed, my 2 year old female some how caught it from him even though i had him in a different enclosure. she died soon after, even though i treated her as well. i am so afraid that these two i have left will catch it somehow and i am going out of town for this weekend. should i take them with me and set them up temperarily so i can monitor them and make sure they dont start showing symptoms? that way i dont get home and find out before its too late.

yr not hearing the stress thing... if you were, you'd not be talking about traveling with them. stress acerbates things like pneumonia.

set them up in permanent homes, where there is very little movement outside their enclosure, and most important - stop fussing with them. if the padt two had pneumonia, buy a heat gun and make sure yr temps are correct.

though of course, your worry about a contagion reaching them is valid - but a balance must be struck. make sure all things that came in contact with the recently deceased snakes is thoroughly sanitized - hemostats, enclosures, rocks, water bowls, EVERYTHING. then put each animal in a different room, separate from each other, and from where these animals just died. this way if one does come down with pneumonia, maybe the other will not. do this for two months to be sure. and only go into the enclosure twice a week... one day to clean and another day to feed. a few minutes each time; no more.

okay, thank you. im not trying to be ignorant, i know that traveling can make them stress. but also i wasnt sure about them being contaminated and if they started showing symptoms while i am gone, i wouldnt be able to get them treated