Reptile & Amphibian Forums

We have a 3 year old female ball python and we bought her from a pet store in which we later found out sells unhealthy animals. The sales person said that she was farm raised and that she had eaten once during the time that they had her. We have had her for 6 1/2 months now and she hasn't eaten anything yet. We have tried frozen/thawed and live and she wont take either. We have tried to force feed her a frozen/thawed mouse and she wouldn't take that either. We are wanting to try to feed her an at home recipe that we found in a ball python manual. In the book, it says to mix a jar of chicken baby food, a crushed up tums tablet and a small jar of gatorade or pedialite. We were wandering if we could use ground up liver, fish, or ground beef since it has a higher protein level. Does anyone know if either of these is safe to feed a ball python?

I'd say that's a no to the items you mentioned. I'm sure fish & liver are no-nos. The ground beef is probably the same though I'm not quite a sure about it.

Don't try to force feed yet, let others here help address the problem first. Force feeding is one of the most stressful things. I'm assuming this is your first Ball so I'd suggest answering some questions so we can make sure all the husbandry is correct. Usually when a Ball's not eating, somethings not quite right.

* Has she been checked out by a herp vet?
* What foods have you tried?
* What are your hot/cold side temps?
* What's the humidity?
* What are the heating sources?
* What size are your hides & where are they located?
* How often is the snake handled.
* What size snake & enclosure and where's it located?

Good luck.
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(¯`·.¸¸.·´Kane`·.¸¸.·´¯)

She is our 6th ball python and everything about her viv follows the books. We have never had any feeding problems with any of our others. We have tried to feed her every thing that anyone has told us (live rats and mice and frozen mice). We have tried all of feeding suggestions from books, breeders, and our herp vet. We later found out that she was never fed in the store where we bought her, so there is no telling when the last time that she ate. Our vet said that there is a possibility that she may be anemic but we can't get a stool sample to check until she eats.

Have you tried hamsters or gerbils? (stunned of course)
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(¯`·.¸¸.·´Kane`·.¸¸.·´¯)

Yes, we have tried them both. She didn't take the hampster, and the gerbil (which had to be live, we can't get frozen gerbils anywhere close) attacked her.

She is over 4 feet long and only about half or maybe even less than what she should weigh. We just really need to get her something to eat.

She is a pricey morph that we would like to someday breed, so we need to figure something out.

.
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(¯`·.¸¸.·´Kane`·.¸¸.·´¯)

What kind of enviroment is the snake in? I just got one of my ball pythons to eat last night after 5 months of having her. Same thing, she turned out to be sick when I got her. The tank I quarintined her in was pretty plain. I decided to recreate her natural surroundings as much as possible so I went out and got a few extra plastic plants and an extra hide. It seems to have done the trick. No promises but it's a thought.

I had a W/C male that did not eat for about 5 months and we were at our wits end. We read someplace that an upside down pot inside the enclosure with a hole at the TOP (formerly the bottom) and not at the side, large enough for the snake would be beneficial. Something about feeling secure. I got a plastic hanging pot at Home Depot, sort of looks like a beehive, and cut a hole at the bottom. Placed it in the enclosure and the animal disapeared inside ... did not see him for 2 weeks. then we placed a small live rat in the enclosure and waited 15 minutes ... peeked and the snake was out and "looking". another 15 and lo and behold no rat. We have fed him weekly since and have not skipped a beat.

You can never tell what will work and have to try it all.

Good luck!

Take it to a vet to make sure it is healthy and maintaining a good weight.Make sure you have the proper enviorment.Heat,humidity,enough room,a few hides,etc. It is not uncommon for ball pythons,captive bred or wild caught,to not feed for months at a time. Don't try to force feed the snake just yet. 6 1/2 months is really not that long for a ball to go without a meal and force feeding it will just stress it out even more. I had a ball python not eat for almost 10 months. She didn't lose any weight minus a few grams and did not get dehydrated so I wasn't overly worried. She ate again then fasted for another 4-5 months before feeding again. This is quite common in Ball Pythons.

Most pet stores will tell you ball pythons are a 'good beginer snake'. I don't feel this is the case.I feel ball pythons shouldn't be a 'starter snake'.They are more intermediate in my opinion just for this reason of being very picky eatters.I feel the best starter snakes are any north american rat snake(corns included),king snakes and milk snakes. All these snakes are hardy eatters(especially kings) and require minimual care and are forgiving in that care.

Anyway...Ball Pythons natural prey item's are gerbils. See if you can find someone who sells gerbil fuzzies/hoppers and you could sent the mouse with it or try to feed it directly to the snake. Good Luck.