Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hello,

This is actually an update to my post from a little over a week ago. My male ball python still isn't eating, I'm not sure how old he is I'm beginning to wonder if he has ate anything since he hatched. The temps and humidity are perfect in his tank and he has plenty of hiding places. His body condition still looks okay although I would defintely prefer him a little rounder. I need to find my scale so I can see how much he weighs and keep track of how much he gains/loses. I tried feeding him last night after leaving him alone for a week with a small live mouse and he was completely uninterested.

On another note this was my first time feeding live prey to a snake, all my other snakes have taken f/t without hesitation. When I went to the pet store the person helping me at first pulled out a cute little black and white mouse and when he saw the look on my face he put it back and grabbed a plain grey one : ) It's kind of silly, I don't even like mice and I don't have any problem with their position on the food chain but I still felt slightly bad about the process. I think if I had to actually slaughter every animal before eating it I would probably be a vegetarian!

Well at any rate I'm basically back to where I started, at least now I he wasn't refusing to eat because it wasn't live prey. I think my game plan right now is to leave him alone for another 5 days and then try again. Anyone else have any advice?

You might try to soak him/her in warm water. If he is impacted then he won't eat. This will help to loosen him up. Also if you can check the mouth to make sure there is no problems there. If you find a milky saliva there get him to a vet. Good luck!

without injuring him? I did soak him in warm water today for a little bit and he also has a humidity box that he hides in occasionally.

You can pull down on the skin on the underside of his jaw or just try to lift the skin next to the jaw line. He will resist but you should be able to do it. I have several rattelsnakes I milk and when they won't open, I pull the skin and with very little resistance they open. If that looks good try a gerbal as that is their native prey.

I missed your first post, so if this is a repeat, I'm sorry. First and foremost, don't leave live prey with the snake, unless it's a pinky, because regardless of size they can injure your snake. Did you ask the seller what he ate? Some bp prefer a certain color, some prefer live, dead prekill, etc. Mine will only eat white, plan and simple. Only two of my snakes eat prekill, the rest only eat live. Has he had a bowel movement since you bought him? Are you keeping the tank at the right temps? Now, as for ways to try to get him to eat. Go to your local shop that sells rodents and ask what will seem like a ridiculous question. Ask them for used mice bedding. I know, it sounds gross, but trust me. If he eats mice, get used mice bedding, if its rats, get rat bedding. Because its used, it will smell like the prey, and you put some in his tank. If he stays in his hide box alot, put it outside the hide box, so he has to smell it 24/7. Leave him alone for about a week, make sure his basic needs are met, but don't handle or open the tank alot. Then after about a week, try and feed again. If you want to try live first, make sure you watch them. Then if that doesn't work, you can terminate the mouse, and try exposing some blood. If that doesn't work, (make sure mouse is still warm), get some thongs and try moving the mouse. If it still doesn't work, try again in a week. You may have to leave him for awhile with the prekill. Also, try at night with little light in the room. My pastel will only eat moving prekill (we use thongs) and it has to be dark. Go figure. After that, depending on how long you've had him, I would seek a herp vet. Good luck.

Here's a recap from my first post. I picked up this male at the same time I picked up my female ball python. He wasn't in very good shape and the pet store had received him in poor condition so I bought him for a discount in hopes that I could help him. He wasn't in the best set up at the pet store, he has some rough spots along his scales that I think are retained sheds. So I have him in a ten gallon tank now that is about 88 on the warm side and 80 on the cool side, he has a hiding box on each side and a humidity box in the middle. He also has a bowl of water that he can soak in. I brought him home about 10 days ago, the pet store wasn't sure when he ate last and he hasn't ate in my care.

I've tried feeding him 3 times so far - first with a f/t hopper mouse, then with a f/t fuzzie that I dipped in chicken broth. Both times I left him in his tank so he was comfortable and I tried to feed him at night. I would wiggle it around a little and then I would leave him alone for a while to see if that would work. When I tried with the live mouse I dropped it in the cage but I said there to keep an eye on them. After an hour it became pretty clear that he had no interest in the mouse. The mouse has been adopted by my roommate so I guess the mouse lucked out.

Try maybe raising the heat to 90-92 degrees....Sometimes the littlest things go a long way...good luck..
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http://ballmorphs.webs.com/

Hector

In general - that he hasn't eaten in the 10 days you've had him home isn't a problem - that you've tried to feed him 3 times in those 10 days is. Offer food once a week and then let him be don't mess with him until he feeds.

Pictures of his set up and the snake may help with figuring out his condition and what may need to be tweaked in order to get him settled in and feeding.

good luck.
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Tosha
JET Pythons
Toshas Blog

Herp Medicine does not equal a bottle of Baytril - Dr. Scott Stahl

10 Days? That's it?

First things first, stop messing with it. Raise the temperature like suggested, but don't try and look in the mouth if you have no idea how to do it without stressing out the animal.

Continue to leave it alone, with hides in there. What kind of hides are you using? Try changing them to smaller, more enclosed hides with only one exit/entrance. My personal favorite for small BPs is to use toilet paper tubes and those single serving cereal boxes. Your goal when creating a hiding spot is to allow the snake to wedge itself in there as tightly as possible - it helps make them feel secure. Keep in mind that this is a shy, secretive species that spends most of its life in the wild wedged into rodent burrows in the smallest, tightest spot it can find.

Continue to offer a small live mouse as prey once a week, as difficult as it may be. While yes, a live mouse can hurt your snake, use common sense and don't leave it alone in there for over 15 minutes. If you're really worried, leave a block of rodent food or dog food in the cage just in case.

Lastly, stop worrying so much. Sitting there and fretting is not doing you or the snake any good. The time to worry is after a month or two of the snake continuing to refuse to feed, at which point you should contact a good herp vet.

~jen
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"We call them dumb animals, and so they are, for they cannot tell us how they feel, but they do not suffer less because they have no words."
- Anna Sewell (1820-1878)

Only thing I wish to add is instead of using a live mouse, get live rat pinks or fuzzies...these you can leave in the cage over night without any risk to your snake. A shy ball python may not like coming out to eat while you are hovering over the cage. Dropping in a rat pinky/fuzzy and close up the cage and leaving the room for a few hours, or till the following morning, may work.

Just remember only try something once a week..leave the snake along except for changing water.
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PHLdyPayne

I haven't bothered him since for several days and I'll leave him alone until this weekend. I also wanted to mention that I'm not concerned because he hasn't ate in the last ten days, I'm concerned because I don't know when the last time he at was because the pet store wasn't sure other than he hadn't ate anything in the last few days before I bought him. So it has likely been at least 3 weeks since he ate anything and I suspect that he hasn't ate anything since hatching. But I'll quite my fussing and not worry about it for now : )

Thanks again everyone!