Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I purchased an adult ball python about 3 months ago and I cant get it to eat. I've tried feeding live and fresh killed both in the day and at night. Any info would be greatly appreciated. Thanks

First, take a deep breath. It's not a big problem. There are a few possibilities. The first thing you would want to get checked out is parasites. Find a good herp vet, and get a fecal culture done. Also check your temps, humidty, lighting, etc. Last it could be is that it is winter, and it just isnt eating. (Sometimes mine wont eat for 6-8 months out of the year.).

If its a WC adult, not much of a chance that it will eat until march or april. I bought this book call The Ball Python Manual written by the Barker's and Klingenberg and Philippe de Vosjoli. In it they list about 10 different tricks to get your WC ball python to eat. One that I would recommend is to get you snake a hide made out of an upsidedown clay pot with a hole in the bottom as the only exit. Then put a gerbil in the tank. That way the BP can get to the gerbil, but not vice versa. When he is ready, he'll come out and snatch it.

Something else that I've had some sucess with is the bag method, especially if you feed F/T or F/K. Put the snake and dinner in a bag (paper sack or snake sack)and leave over night. Staple the top shut on a paper sack, or tie the snake sack shut so the snake can't escape. Or for that matter, just put the sack in the snakes cage. Usually by morning the rodent will be gone and there will be a grin on the snake.

I had this problem with my ball when i first got her. Take a tupperware box big enough for it to coil up in and poke a few holes in it. put the mouse or rat or whatever your feeding it in the box. After that put the box in a dark closet with no sounds to disturb it and leave it there for about an hour or an hour and a half. if they havent eaten by then she might be coming up on a shed but this is the method that I have had the most consistent results with