Ideas to get him to eat?

Hello, I basically rescued my first really young ball python not too long ago. Not sure of age nor how long he is, but I know he weighs 47g yesterday. I'm not sure what weight he's really supposed to be, I'm assuming at least twice that weight. Previous owner said he's a picker eater, but also had him caged with another BP. He likes live and smaller prey better, but will eat f/t. And supposedly, she last fed him last monday.
I know of the hair drier for f/t, but nothing else. Only thing I have for him to eat right now is fuzzy mice and pinky/two day old rats.
Any tips? Ideas? Anything..?
Thanks

If doing F/T make sure you're getting the prey hot enough. Don't cook it, don't boil it, don't make it too hold to handle but iit should absolutely feel noticeably warm to you.

That's the only 'trick' I have.

Well, besides telling you that prey that is too small (and 47 is tiny but I don't know whether he's a very, very new snake or underweight) will OFTEN go ignored.

Thanks! And I'm pretty sure he's mostly underweight, but he's also small,

Here's a picture of him(EDIT:You can click on the pic to view it bigger):
https://s32.postimg.org/3jmumq6tt/20160615_164818.jpg

Follow this to a T http://ball-pythons.net/forums/showt...-Hatchling-101

Wow, that is one very under weight snake. If your pinky rats are new born start there as they will be unable to harm him if it takes him a while to eat. Since he is so skinny, he may also be weaker than he should be. I personally would not feed him a prey item over 10 g, just in case of regurgitation (but some more experienced keepers may disagree). The most important thing is that he eats. If you can get him to eat a rat pinky, that's a great start. I would not want to rush him onto bigger prey immediately since his system may not be able to handle it right away. I'd also keep him on a every 5 day feeding schedule, and maybe drop a fecal sample off at a vet if you don't know where he came from.

A live rat pinky given at night with all the lights off and left overnight may tempt him to eat. Since the rat can't hurt him, toss it in and leave him be overnight. (this is assuming the pinkies are live...if they are frozen, get them warm and do the same thing, you can even put it right in front of his hide door so he does not have to travel far to find it).

He looks like a petsmart baby to me...they never feed correctly or frequently enough it seems. The pic also suggests that he might have retained eye caps, so make sure his humidity is spot on.

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Originally Posted by Crowfingers

Wow, that is one very under weight snake. If your pinky rats are new born start there as they will be unable to harm him if it takes him a while to eat. Since he is so skinny, he may also be weaker than he should be. I personally would not feed him a prey item over 10 g, just in case of regurgitation (but some more experienced keepers may disagree). The most important thing is that he eats. If you can get him to eat a rat pinky, that's a great start. I would not want to rush him onto bigger prey immediately since his system may not be able to handle it right away. I'd also keep him on a every 5 day feeding schedule, and maybe drop a fecal sample off at a vet if you don't know where he came from.

A live rat pinky given at night with all the lights off and left overnight may tempt him to eat. Since the rat can't hurt him, toss it in and leave him be overnight. (this is assuming the pinkies are live...if they are frozen, get them warm and do the same thing, you can even put it right in front of his hide door so he does not have to travel far to find it).

He looks like a petsmart baby to me...they never feed correctly or frequently enough it seems. The pic also suggests that he might have retained eye caps, so make sure his humidity is spot on.

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I didn't get him from petsmart, I got him off of CL and took him in. Only reason why the pictures were in the store was due to meeting at the petstore and my mother wanted to go in. Since I've only recently acquired him, I'll move him into a 6QT tub(he's in a ten gallon at the moment) give him a few days, then leave a pinky over night for him, and go from there.
Sound like a good plan?

Oh! I did also soak him in warm water with a part of a sponge(only thing I had at the moment that I could use) the eye cap is now off, the pic was from the other day when I got him

Sounds good. I thought maybe the original owner got him from a pet store, vs a breeder. But he might just be under fed. Hope he eats for you :) great job getting off the cap

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Crowfingers

Sounds good. I thought maybe the original owner got him from a pet store, vs a breeder. But he might just be under fed. Hope he eats for you :) great job getting off the cap

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Thanks! And i'm not so sure where she god him from.. when I met them.. I'm pretty sure they lied about a lot of things. One thing I know they were sure about was that he is a male, and they always claimed he's a picky eater and likes smaller prey.

hopefully you'll be able to remedy that soon. He was probably "picky" due to poor husbandry and stress from being with another snake. Now that he is in good hands he'll plump right up.