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I was basicaly given a 4 day old Hatchling Ball python, I really would hate to see this little guy die, I was wondering if anyone had expereince with Hatchlings, It is in the blue, which my guess is its her first shed, and has never eaten anything yet. If you have suggestions, on what to feed, or how to get them to feed, You would be helping save a baby Balls life. I currently have ball pythons, but I got them when they where well established, and never had a probelm. The person I got this from, had 5 more and didn't know how to take care of them. So I took one off his hands to see if I could try. Thanks to anyone who replies.
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"Life is a Safari"

Hi there,

There's no reason to think your little guy/girl won't do great (other than suffering a little gender confusion!).

Baby ball pythons usually don't eat until after their first shed (usually at about 9 or ten days old they shed out), and often they go another week or so before they eat. Assuming your baby is of normal condition, this will not be a problem. Don't panic if it does not eat immediately after it sheds out - it has a big egg yolk it is digesting.

Babies like small enclosures (mine are kept in plastic trays 9x11 in size) and warm temps (85-90 degrees on the warm side. Give it alot of humidity through it's shed cycle. A few days after it sheds, pop in a live hopper mouse. If your enclosure is small enough, that little mouse will be running around right in front of your baby's face and chances are pretty good he'll just go for it after a few minutes. Offer a hopper mouse every few days after it's first shed until the baby goes for it - notice I said every few days not a few times every day!

There are tricks you can use if the baby has not eaten by 3-4 weeks - but I'm not even going to go into that here because there is no need to. Most likely the second or third time you offer it food, it will snap it up.

The main thing is don't bother the baby too much before it starts eating, and for goodness sakes don't try to force it to eat. Let it settle in and nature will most likely do the rest when it sees an active little hoppy mouse.

Christy

At the moment I have some hatchlings also and they just ate their first meal today. A hopper mouse each hatchling and they were gone in 10 minutes (the hopper mice that is). I keep temparatures right at 95F at the warm side of the tub and about 84F at the cool side with a hide box on each side and daily misting for humidity. I put the hopper mice in the other hide box than the BP hatchling was in and they went after it pretty much right away. The tubs I'm using are 15 Quart Sterlite containers and those are a good size for the BP hatchling to feel secure. Just like the others say, try not to handle him / her until it has eaten a few times and take the hopper or fuzzy mouse out if it is not interested in it and try again in a few days.
Hope this helps,

Rob Reiding.

Disclaimer:
The statements below are based on my (Debra) experience with hatchlings.

If it's four days old it's in it's first shed which can take from 7 to 12 days to complete. It may eat immediately after it's first shed however sometimes it takes a few days or even up to a week after they shed for them to start eating.

We keep them on paper towels and keep the paper towels moistened with warm water to help them shed and after the shed we immediately try feeding them. We always start off feeding with the smallest rat pups we've produced and if after several attempts with rats they don't feed we try mice. Normally they all feed immediately because they are HUNGRY!

If we can be of further assistance please feel free to call or email.

Debra and Diana
Camlon Reptiles

-Imp