Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I have been keeping a wild caught ball and have been unable to get her to eat.The heat is good. I have tried live white mice kept in her cage for hours to just throwing in a f/t mouse. What is the best way to get her to eat? Should I try feeding live colored mice? Guinea pigs? I have no idea on what to try, I mainly deal with boas and have no problems with them.

Thanks,
James W. Arnold
JamesWArnold.com

Natural food for them in the wild is gerbils. Get some gerbil litter (used) from the pet store put mouse in bag with it for awhile then try to feed.

wild caughts can take a really long time to feel even remotely comfortable in captivity, months and months, sometimes they will never eat and end up dying. the trick is to acclimate them from the wild, be sure to provide a hide hut so they can feel safe, be sure to keep humidity up approx. 60% and ambient temps about 86. only try to feed once every 10-14 days so they don't feel like food is always availible, gerbils are natural food hamsters sometimes work too, try different colors, they are very pickey. if they feed on a gerbil then try scenting other feed to switch them over. try feeding at midnight with the lights off leave the snake in its hide box don't touch it and let the prey run around with you gone for about 15 min. if he doesn't eat it in that time he won't and he'll end up fearing the prey more. Handle once for short periods every couple days to get them used to you and there cage opening and closeing. good luck

l

Excellent advice!! May I add that A inverted clay flower pot(9"sized pot unless the snake is huge) with a hole(about 4" in diameter) hammered out on the bottom of the pot(where the existing drain hole already is) and the edges smoothed with a file will work best for a hide . This way the prey cannot "walk" into the hide and the snake will actually pounce from above,this gives the snake a feeling of dominance over it's prey. This will greatly reduce the stress on the snake and will help get it back on feed faster than a hide that allows the prey to walk in and touch the snake thus stressing the snake out and making it reluctant to feed! Be patient, eventually you'll get results! Anthony McCain-McCain's Reptiles. www.regiusmorphs.com

Now, I've only tackled WC adults for the last two years, but I have done quite a few of them. Perhaps I have some sort of magic spell on my house, but I have not had a single one NOT eat within a month....on rats.

I've never offered hamsters or gerbils. I give them a small quarantine cage...usually a 10 gallon aquarium. Heat is provided at 88 degrees under which I place a hide box, which is usually so large that it takes up half the space available. I offer water which I change twice a week.

My humble suggestions assume that the snake has been treated for parasites upon arrival (your #1 enemy in this war) and is properly hydrated (by soaking).

Step one: place cage in a low traffic area.
Step two: leave it alone. No matter what. Don't take it out to look at it. Only clean the cage when neccesary. No peeking.
Step three: after about a week, drop in a live small rat (yes, LIVE) and observe/stay where you can hear what's going on.

Don't leave the rat overnight, but you may have to cover the tank with a towel and wait several hours. A well fed young rat is not likely to injure your snake. For that matter, you can drop in a tidbit for the rat to chew in the meantime.

If the snake does not take the meal, remove and try again every few days until you get the desired response. Some may need to be scented with hamsters or gerbils, but I strongly caution against actually feeding gerbils or hamsters unless you are prepared to do so permanently.

Patience is the name of the game. Even when your snake does begin eating, be assured that is likely that all WC adult animals will fast from time to time.

Best of luck,

K. Royer

great advice also, ball personalities can be very differing, ive had success with both methods, it seems if the snake is not responding to one way try the other, obviously two very different methods, but both can be sucessful!

Never a truer statement! I sure wish there were a cookie cutter recipe, but sometimes all we can do is adapt.