Reptile & Amphibian Forums

i have tried everything except gerbils for my 1 snake that wont eat and i want to know if it will really make a difference

they work alot....

darker colored things work better for me usually too......

some balls will never eat no matter what you do for them...they will just die...

force feed them a pink mouse to get something in their gut to get the juices flowing and working.....it helps too...

tried chinese hamsters.....russians....Peromyscus leucopus mice......syrian hamsters...?..they work too.....actually they work better here than the gerbils......I had 0 take to gerbils.......(non-feeders)....5 to chinese hamsters....and 2 or so to deer mice......

good luck......aren't they fun.....
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I agree I have a few here that only feed on chinese hamsters. And a few that fed on gerbils I found that although smaller the hamsters have more fat then gerbils. My hamster feeding balls are bigger and seem to have better coloring to them then the few gerbil feeders. Not saying food choice brings out color but...It could.

I have one that will not touch anything but deer mice. I've tried Gerbils on a couple of Balls, but the only ones that would eat them are the ones that already eat good. Deer mice & Hamsters work better than Gerbils IMO.
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Chad Bachman

one of the most common flaws that people possess who keep bp's is a lack of patience. Many bp's need considerable time to acclimate; in some cases, this can take months (not days). Having kept/bred bp's for well over 30 years, and having a lot of experience in acclimating sick, convelescing and imported specimens, I have never once resorted to force feeding or offering food items such as gerbils. Patience is the key. Some of the strategies you can try are:

1) Feed at night shortly after the lights go out
2) Feed when the snake is inside its hide area and offer a frozen thawed and slightly rewarmed mouse or rat via hemostats by gently wiggling the dead prey in front of the hide area
3) Wait....Patience....Wait....Patience

Obviously, make sure you are providing the proper temps but I am assuming you are. Also, make sure the snake FEELS SECURE (several small, tight fitting hide areas are best) and keep handling to a bare minimum until the snake begins feeding regularly.

Rob Carmichael

WOW breeding for 30 years you should have some awesome morph's. Please post some pics for us...

I am the proud breeder of PURE GOOD OLD FASHIONED AU NATURALE BALL PYTHONS...no pies, no spiders, no "ziggie iggie I got have a bally balls", just good old fashioned ball pythons....they are now almost as rare as the higher end morphs that are out there!...and a lot cheaper too. But hey, congrats to the folks who are producing some really amazing looking designer ball pythons; its just not my cup of tea.

Cool have an e-mail addy I could use a 100 or so norms.