Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I got him a week and 1/2 ago, i've tried feeding 3 times now and i've had no success.I think he hasn't eaten since he was born. He's just over a foot long. i tried feeding him a pinkie and 2 fuzzies using a warm bowl to thaw out the mice. How long should i thaw out the mouse and is there any tricks to try for feeding ? i can his skin from the back has little wrinkles, does that mean weight loss ? other than that, he's an active snake always climbing and flickering his tongue. any suggestions would be great ! thx

Whoa, whoa, whoa. Settle down. I've NEVER had a snake eat in the first week of having it. I always leave them completely alone for at least a week. They need to adjust to their new surroundings - if a BP is nervous, it won't eat. Ah, the joy of BPs, lol.

I suggest leaving it alone for a week or so, keep the humidity around 65%, floor temps on the warm side around 85ish, and make sure it has PLENTY of hides. BPs are nervous snakes, like I said. If they don't have enough hides, they become stressed and more prone to not eating and resp infections.

After it's been left alone, try wiggling a f/t with tongs along the ground in front of it - not above it or near it's head, you may startle it that way.

I'm guessing that if you don't know if it's eaten, you don't know WHAT it ate? As a last resort, try offering a live mouse. But be VERY careful. And never offer any snake a live rat - I have a 3 1/2'er that won't accept f/t, so I have to feed multiple mice.

Do you know if it's wild caught or captive bred? Where did you get it?

I have all kinds of tips for eating and care and whatnot. I have 5 BPs, and am getting 2 more this wknd.

So, feel free to Email me with BP questions.

animistdragon@sbcglobal.net
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-Irish
My Snakes

thanks alot for the tips ! All my friends don't know anything bout snakes, in fact they're all scared of my ball, and the pet store is really far away (plus i think they're morons), so its good to have easy access for help by an expert.

later

LOL I wouldn't call myself an expert. Just have lots o free time to research, hehe. That means that if you Email me, you should get a response pretty quickly.

Most pet store people ARE morons. I've only met one exception. And your friends are scared of your itty bitty BP? Aww, that's silly. You should (after it eats, of course) handle it and make it all nice and docile, then let your friends handle it. See that there's nothing to be sceered of. But don't take it out in public - that gives the herp community a bad name.

A-yup.
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-Irish
My Snakes

I have always had good luck with my baby BP's with live hoppers then switching to ft after a couple months. That is just my experience with them though. Mike

First off, make sure that your snake has a comfortable home. Temperature gradient and some places to hide are very important.

Pinkies and fuzzies are too small for your snake. He could probably take a hopper or adult. It's good that you are trying to feed frozen/thawed. Try changing the water with warm/hot tap water just before you take the mouse out. This way the mouse will seem to have body heat...which is one way the snake knows that it is food. Move the mouse around with tongs or some other long pinching tool. If that does not work, try leaving the mouse with the snake over night.

There are other tricks to get him to eat a frozen/thawed mouse. If he really won't eat them, a last resort is to offer live prey. If you do this, I suggest using a live fuzzy (too small to bite) and offering a thawed hopper right after he eats the live one.

good luck and keep the handling to a bare minimum until he is comfortable and eating.

>>I got him a week and 1/2 ago, i've tried feeding 3 times now and i've had no success.I think he hasn't eaten since he was born. He's just over a foot long. i tried feeding him a pinkie and 2 fuzzies using a warm bowl to thaw out the mice. How long should i thaw out the mouse and is there any tricks to try for feeding ? i can his skin from the back has little wrinkles, does that mean weight loss ? other than that, he's an active snake always climbing and flickering his tongue. any suggestions would be great ! thx
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Oilfan94 - Big Mike

VoodooDragon gave excellent advice.

I just want to add a few things.

Having already tried to feed it 3 times in a week and a half is too much ... you could easily leave that snake alone for 2 weeks before offering its first meal. I would give it a week or 10 days where you don't even look at it.

Just leave it be, don't touch it, don't mess with it's lighting cycle. Just clean any poo and pee and give fresh water ... fresh water every 5 days ... not every day.

BP's live for many years, so leaving it alone for the first weeks and even months of its life to get it off to a good start is a very small sacrifice.

Lastly ... that pinky is way too small. You want to feed it food that is the same thickness as the thickest part of its body (or even a little bigger). The pic you posted shows quite clearly that the pink is too small.

LAstly ... BP's are very nerve-wracking ... you'll be fine and so will she.

Joel

PS: If you don't have it already, buy the Ball Python Manual (check out Amazon.com) ... it will cost you less than 15$ and answre virtually all your questions.

...all good tips BUT an adult mouse is way too large. Try a LIVE dark-colored large fuzzy/hopper mouse, offered at night in subdued light.
...another thing: I ALWAYS try feeding any new snake within 2 days of obtaining it. In perhaps 90% of cases they eat. If a snake voluntarily eats then it is not too early to feed it. If they don't eat so be it-no harm done. It's fine to wait a week but it's also fine to feed it the day you get the snake if it wants to eat. IMHO. Scott J. Michaels DVM

Well, it all goes by girth of the snake. When I got my first baby, he could take down "the smallest adult mouse you have, please." My newest female is a girthy little thing, so she'll probably be able to do the same.

I always try to play it safe when it comes to feeding/stress. For a week after I do anything potentially stressful - getting a new snake, moving one to a new cage, when I moved across town - I wait a week before handling or feeding. I figure, putting them in a feed box and trying to coerce them to eat could maybe add to stress, so why try? A week won't kill them. Now, if they appear stressed when I first get them (like my striped and big unknown), I actually waited two weeks before offering them, and never took them out or bothered them in any way. Now they eat yea verily.

But snake personalities and feeding histories (before you got them) vary so much, it's hard to make a strict rule on it.
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-Irish
My Snakes