Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Please forgive me if these have been asked before, but i have a couple questions about my two ball pythons.

1. When i had recieved them 6 months ago, they were eating great, however, about a month ago, i decided to switch them over from freshly killed to frozen. I had gradually switched over by prekilling live-bought mice and freezing some of them. They ate them successfully. I ordered a bunch of mice from Rocky Mountain Rodents only to find that the pythons now refuse to eat them. After about 3 weeks of no eating, i get worried and go back to live/freshly killed, although, now they are starting to decide that they dont want those anymore. How long is it safe for ball pythons to go without eating? (they are each about 2 feet)

2. I live in Colorado, a very dry climate, and i've discovered that shedding is not a very smooth process for my snakes. They shed more like a lizard, coming off in pieces. Is there any suggestions to help?

Thanks,
Port Royal Pythons

Balls are notorious for fasts. The bigger and fatter they are going in the longer they can go but in general unless something is wrong with them or the temps or something you are doing they will start eating long before they starve. It's just frustrating for the keeper, especially if you want to grow them up and breed them. If they where chunky 2 footers to start with I would think they could easily go a couple months without food. I had a couple hatchlings (i.e. had never eaten but plenty of yolk) this year that didn't start feeding for more than two months. One of them started on her own right around 2 months old and is doing great and the other suddenly became sluggish near 2 & 1/2 months so I assist feed her a fuzzy and then a week later she was just barely in shed but still looking week and didn't eat on her own so I assist feed her hopper. Hopefully if she does ok through the combined stress of shedding and digesting she will have enough energy from this hopper to start feeding on her own. This is the only one I've felt I had to assist feed out of about 50-60 or so hatchlings so far so I had hoped to wait her out but now worry that I waited too late. I consider assist feeding (opening their mouth and hooking a dead feeder to their teeth half way in and then gently setting them down and leaving them alone and hidden to finish eating) a last resort and had hoped to avoid it all together. Anyway, my point is that they can go a long time and you can use cues like energy level and body appearance to judge when to really get worried.

I also live in Colorado and have found that clay pots for hides can help with humidity. I turn the pot upside down and knock out the hole bigger to fit the snake. Then when I clean the cage I soak the pot in the bucket of hot disinfectant water and it absorbs some moisture. Also, if you are using an aquarium try to cover most of the top with something to hold in the heat and humidity and insulate (from the outside) the back and sides to cut down on condensation loss of humidity. Consider going to a plastic sweater box cage in a rack with minimal air holes but if these are lone pets I can understand the reduced visibility not being appealing to you. However, ball pythons seem to like the extra security and humidity of such a set up. And you could also perhaps increase humidity with a mold resistant substrate like cypress.

If you check on you snakes regularly, like I do, there's a simple solution to your shedding problem. A humity box. I have never had a shedding problem with any of my snakes (balls and corns) and I pay NO attention to humity levels.
As I'm sure you know, about a week before your snake sheds their skin color fades, then their eyes cloud over. As soon as you realize this is happening, remove all of their hide boxes. Replace them with a SINGLE hide box. Now depending on the size of your snake depends on what kind of hide you use. If they're smaller, I use small or large index card boxes. If they're larger use appropriate size tupperwear. Drill or cut a hole the appropriate size and use a damp paper towel or cypress mulch as a substrate in the hide box. Also mist them a couple of times a day. They will remain in this hide until they're ready to shed. As soon as their skin and eye color return to normal, add something abrasive or course (log,rock,branch,ect.) for them to scatch and rub on when they are ready to shed. Once they have shed, just remove their humidy box and return their normal hides . Good luck.
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1.0 Albino ball python (high contrast)
0.1 100% het Albino ball (high contrast)
0.1 Normal ball
1.0 Sunglow cornsnake
1.0 Golden Retriever pup
1.0 Ferret

Thanks! i will keep both ideas for the shedding problem in mind!!

hopefully my snakes will eat soon, but now that i know that i shouldnt worry TOO much over just a couple weeks, i think i'll be ok.

PRP