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I bought a female ball python at a reptile show. They said she was CB, but I am wondering if that was true because a few weeks later she had ticks. She has never been a good eater. I keep a written record to keep track of each snake. I've had her for a little over a year. When I got her she weighed 1,050 and now she weighs 455. As you can see she has a terrible weight loss. I have had her to the vet several times. Checked and treated for intestinal parasites but she still continues not to eat. I've tried live, fresh killed, frozen and nothing works. would it be possible to use a syringe and give soft food down her throat? I know it sounds crazy but I am at a loss and so is our vet.

I have a ball and a friend of mine had the same problem. Aside from force feeding which I really don't like to do, try either dipping the mice in egg or there is a product by T-rex called mouse maker. He used both the products and now about 6 months later doesn't have to use either idea to get his snake to eat.

T-rex mouse maker... scenting your mice so they smell more like. Ummmm... mice.... Hmmmm....

Mark

>>I have a ball and a friend of mine had the same problem. Aside from force feeding which I really don't like to do, try either dipping the mice in egg or there is a product by T-rex called mouse maker. He used both the products and now about 6 months later doesn't have to use either idea to get his snake to eat.

have you tried a gerbil?
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Edited on February 18, 2004 at 10:08:28 by phwyvern.

How many ball pythons that you have eat gerbils?
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RicK @ BbI

Ball Boutique,Inc.
The home of the singing snakes!

i don't have any that eat gerbils on a regular basis.

None. All of my snakes are perfect rat eaters. How many snakes do you have that eat gerbils?
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Edited on February 18, 2004 at 10:09:01 by phwyvern.

Five
My Kings and milks eat mice.

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RicK @ BbI

Ball Boutique,Inc.
The home of the singing snakes!

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Edited on February 18, 2004 at 10:09:38 by phwyvern.

Now I'm confused.Did you just purchase these snakes as imports?I can't understand why anyone would WANT their ball pythons eating gerbils. Have you tried to convert them over to rats?Do you feed the gerbils live, or pre-killed? Are there any health benefits to feeding gerbils?
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Edited on February 18, 2004 at 10:10:01 by phwyvern.

Now I'm confused.
What would make you say that?

Did you just purchase these snakes as imports?
Not all imports. Only my green ghost is my import. I have two that I purchased from Ralph Davis and one from Pete the other one is from VPI.

I can't understand why anyone would WANT their ball pythons eating gerbils.
I agree but it happens

Have you tried to convert them over to rats?
I think you already know that answer

Do you feed the gerbils live, or pre-killed?
feed all rodents live

Are there any health benefits to feeding gerbils?
If it saves the snake from starvation then the answer is yes What do you do if they will not eat rats or mice?

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RicK @ BbI

Ball Boutique,Inc.
The home of the singing snakes!

You must be doing something wrong. I know for a fact that the snakes you got from Ralph were eating rats when he sold them to you, and I'm pretty sure the same goes for Pete and VPI. To get that many snakes from such reputable breeders and have them stop eating and eventually resorting to only eating gerbils makes me question your methods. I'm not implying that you don't know what you are doing. I'm just saying, I can't remember the last time Ralph had to feed a gerbil to get a snake eating, and even then it was for an import and once it ate he had no trouble converting it over to rats. Are these snakes breeder moms? Thanks for taking the time to reply!
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Edited on February 18, 2004 at 10:10:50 by phwyvern.

including me

use rats,mice,hamsters,gerbils,whatever it takes to get them to eat as much as WE want and more than THEY want to.....

what works works.....for all you peoples.....

they are odd...they suck,,,,,and they eat what and when they want to...

balls are not corns or cobras....they don't eat a dead previously frozen rat from your hand every week on a sunday at 1 o'clock eastern time.....they may or may not eat dead or rats or even mice....

I have girls here that eat russian hamster only...she won't touch a gerbil even ........one on rats only......one on chinese hamsters only........and the males won't eat at all(but we don't are right now about the males) right.....?

so.......

yes...you can get a good,fat,eating ,healthy baby or otherwise ball from the bestestest ball breeder in all the galaxy....and it stops eating........(hey,you moved it for one thing).....

who is the bestestest ball person..?..........hahahaha(ain't touching that one.,..........and I probably never met him yet).....

who is smartest snake person I ever met?............period...........David Barker........period......

yep

have fun.....feed well.........and if they take a dead rat......halleluiah............!!!

(*note.....at times of the year...all these pain in the butt balls will eat your fingers off if you place them in the cages......at times...they are acting like balls...) (again.balls suck for beginners.....but ..then again....it's all about the money)right>?

I'm sure we all can appreciate the feeding habits of a ball python! It just struck me as odd when Rick said he had 5 snakes that only eat gerbils (probably 1/5-1/10 of his collection!)That's why I asked so many questions. I figure if we can help Rick get his snakes eating rats then a lot of other people can benefit from this thread as well. I mean, that's what we are here for right? To help people?

I'm not sure I agree with the part about moving the snake though. People move snakes all the time. Take them from show to show. Ship them to customers across country or overseas. Especially young snakes, and they don't miss a beat. I'm sure adults might be a little more stressed out.

I also don't think we need to turn this into a "who's the best breeder" issue. I'm not busting on Rick for his husbandry skills.I'm sure he takes great care of his snakes and his gerbils. I'm just trying to understand what he does differently that his snakes wont eat rats. I don't want to have to keep twenty different kinds of rodents to feed my snakes, and I'm sure not many other people do either. Some people have a hard time just finding good rat suppliers muchless having to try and round up some eastern mongolian red-footed humped-back dwarf hamster because that is the only thing their snake will eat!!!!!LOL!!!

When you talk to Rick, tell him I'm disappointed that he doesn't want to participate in this discussion anymore. I thought it would be very educational, not only to me, but, to others as well. Oh well, maybe someone else has a bunch of snakes that only eat gerbils who can help me out.

Hope you guys had a good Valentines Day!!

Rob
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Edited on February 18, 2004 at 10:07:47 by phwyvern.

I have about 104 ball pythons some are sold and need to be shipped. So I have about 5% problem eaters of gerbils. I don't eat sushi. Does that make me a bad animal cause I like cooked meats and fish? And believe me nothing you could do to make me eat it. Except force feeding or shall I say assist feeding. And you know how stressful that would make me. I would have to stay in my hide box a real long time.
Why don't you ask your boss to help out in this thread? I am sure people would love to learn from him more than me. I see on your bio on his site that you have bearded dragons and 30 turtles and no mention of your extensive ball python collection you have. Maybe you need to update it.
Also I received some gerbils from your boss to cross bred in my colony. Did not want my gerbils to start playing "Dueling Banjos"- if you know what I mean.
I think JY said what was needed to be said to the forum. Very knowledgeable snake person and nature in general. He taught me a lot. Bought some of my first snakes from him in 1993. A true friend and fellow herper. Yepper!!!!
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RicK @ BbI

Ball Boutique,Inc.
The home of the singing snakes!

yes i have also tried a gerbil

Well, force feeding works for Bill Haast. His setup is more like a pinky pump. I'm not positive, but there should be something on them market for a larger prey item. Or you can try rescenting the mice with gerbil. Kill and freeze the gerbil(s) and when you get ready to feed, cut a slice off...like salami. Thaw it out at the same time as your prey item and smear the blood on the mouse/rat. If it is wild caught, a few times of this should spark it to eat. Then you can gradually use less and less gerbil until the snake is taking mice and rats at will.

I've tried rescenting it work,but only once

Not force feeding but assist feeding... take a smaller mouse then you would normally feed, kill it, pry open the snakes jaws and place the mouse in the snakes mouth and hold the jaws shut for a bit then set the snake back in it's enclosure and see if it starts to swallow on its own. It can take a few times so you have to be patient. It's stressful on the snake, but less stressful then force feeding. Force feeding is shoving food down the snakes throat, assist feeding is placing the food in the snakes mouth and letting them swallow on their own. BTW I would still suspect some other problem with the snake... that is a LOT of weight to lose.

Mark

>>I bought a female ball python at a reptile show. They said she was CB, but I am wondering if that was true because a few weeks later she had ticks. She has never been a good eater. I keep a written record to keep track of each snake. I've had her for a little over a year. When I got her she weighed 1,050 and now she weighs 455. As you can see she has a terrible weight loss. I have had her to the vet several times. Checked and treated for intestinal parasites but she still continues not to eat. I've tried live, fresh killed, frozen and nothing works. would it be possible to use a syringe and give soft food down her throat? I know it sounds crazy but I am at a loss and so is our vet.

I've tried assist feeding several times with no success.And the vet has ran alot of test that all came negative.So,I don't know whats going on with her!!

Maybe it's time to try a new Vet? Not to say that your current vet is no good, sometimes you just need a fresh set of eyes to look at the problem from a different perspective.

Mark