Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Oh please help. I got my ball python in late January. I got him as a gift from my boyfriend, who got him from a petstore he trusts (used to trust now). They SOLD the BP as CBB and said he'd eaten, but now we wonder.

I have taken him to a VERY good herp vet, who found evidence of mites on him. For safety sake, we did a preventative dewormer, and made sure the mites were all gone. So in that respect, he's OK, now. My vet sexed him as male. He weighed 452 g, or about a pound in Feb. He's around 18 to 20 inches long (a ballpark length, he wouldn't cooperate with a measuring). He's shed ONCE, and defecated once (not after a meal, just after the shed). There were no problems with the shed.

But it's April 6th and he still hasn't eaten. He's lost around an ounce of body weight, but still looks really good and has good muscle tone.

Here's what I've tried:
fresh-killed mice
frozen mice
frozen fuzzies
frozen pinkies (had some on hand from my other snake's stash)
baby chick
gold fish (don't ask, I was desperate)
fresh-killed small adult gerbil
frozen juvenile gerbil
live fancy mice
live white mice

I've tried the chicken broth trick, the bag trick, the shoe box trick, the dangling the food trick...everything my Ball Python Manual suggests and then some (see the goldfish idea...)

Here are the specs of his habitat:

20g long (also have a 40g breeder unused, but it seems too big for him now), screen top covered somewhat to keep in heat and humidity, 50 to 60% humidity, 83 to 88 degree gradient (air temp, and it's stable), aspen substrate, thermostat controlled undertank heater set at 84 degrees. He has a habba hut hide, and a big water dish (he drinks somewhat regularly).

So I'm out of ideas. I have wasted so many animals for feeding, because they eventually go "toxic" after several hours and most are too big to feed my other snake.

Took him to the vet again two weeks ago, and he suggests I just wait it out.

But I'm starting to really, really worry.

Help if you can. I know you all get a lot of questions about feeding. I have no trouble feeding my other snake (BRB), and since we thought this guy was CBB, we assumed we'd be OK on the feeding. Am I trying too hard? Too often (I have tried twice in the same week...)? Wrong food?

BTW, the petstore will not accept the animal as a return--but I love him anyway and want him to survive!

did u try leaving him overnight in a box with a thawed out mouse. that's how i got mine to first eat after months of trouble.

good luck

I sure did. No luck. Thanks, though.

I say make sure temps are good (low 80's primarily) and that he has lots of tight hiding places. Offer him food only once each week- a very small mouse would be ideal, but rat pups are worth a try. Don't handle him at all. Just wait. One of these weeks he'll take the food item. And I'll bet that once he does you won't have such a problem with him in the future. You snake can go several more months if he chooses. Seems like he has OK weight. I say give him more time.

OK, I'll try rat pups.

I'm trying not to handle him much, except to move him away from the water dish so I can refill it. I admit, at first, I handled him a lot, but after reading that it can cause the snake to go off feed, I stopped.

Any other suggestions? How much weight can he lose before he's in trouble?

I would raise the temps to around 90 substrate hot side and 80 substrate cool side. Also the habbahut hides are the absolute worst hides you can use for BP's. Get a couple flower pot BASES and make a hole in the side, those will make the BP feel safer. Here is how i got my BP to eat freshkilled/FT i put down newspaper all over the cage (i use lizard litter substrate) then took out the branch and habbahut in the middle (not used as a hide, just to give the BP more security when moving across the cage), which left only the two hides and water dish. Then i took out my BP for about a 30-45 minute handling session. During that time a placed a dead mouse inside the hot hide. After a handling session of that long felix is usually itching to go back and hide so i place felix in the cage with its head near the hide with the mouse. Felix after handling goes into the hot side hide usually to warm back up. The next morning there was no mouse and a bulge in felixes belly.
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0.1 "Tremper" looking Albino Leopard gecko (Lex)
0.0.1 normal ball python (felix)
1.1 Feral cats that we adopted (Fuzzy, and Bear)

"There are six genes which determine the amount of melanism present in a person's skink"-meretseger

Try warming up the "hot" side of the tank a little more...to between 90 and 95 degrees. And offer at least one more hide so that he has a warm hide and a cool hide to choose from. Make sure the hides are very snug...they love cramming themselves into tight spaces. A "cavernous" hide may make him feel vulnerable. You can also try some fake vines in the tank so that he can "sneak" around when out cruising and not feel so exposed.

For such a reluctant eater, I would try feeding inside his enclosure, rather than risking the added stress of moving to an unfamiliar box or bag to eat. After making adjustmens to the tank, I would also wait at least 10 days before trying to feed again...so that he has a chance to adjust and relax before being "invaded" again.

Then place a thawed or pre-killed rodent (of a slightly smaller size than you think he could handle) just outside his hide or even inside the hide. If you're concerned about ingesting substrate, place the prey on a papertowel over the bedding.

And then only try feeding every 10 days or so. I would also keep my all my attempts to feed the same, rather than trying a different "trick" each time. (Now that you've tried them all.) This way he'll have a chance to get used to the routine...get used to that papertowel appearing in his home, or whatever you choose to try. Eventually he should feel comfortable enough to remember he's hungry and risk eating.

If we work too hard to "make" them eat, we only succeed in stressing the animal out and making the problem worse.

Good luck.
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--Judy

1.0 red cape gopher (Caesar)
1.0 bearded dragon (Shaggy)

ball-pythons.net

Good stuff here. I will try the flower pots, sounds like a reasonable idea...increase temp, add a hide. Food goes in the hide...an interesting idea I hadn't thought of.

Good golly, something has to work eventually, right?

One note I should have mentioned: he has seemed SOMEWHAT interested in the live mice a couple of times: he's flicked his tongue, acted like he wanted to strike at them, even slithered toward it to check it out--then the mouse gets scared and jumps and my snake backs away.

Thanks for all the advice thus far

HE ATE!