Need feeding tips.

[Bosswich]

Hey everyone, I'm new here and was hoping I could get some assistance with my new Ghost Ball. The breeder I bought him from said that he was on f/t. I brought him home and he ate its been a month since then (he shed twice in a month) and now that im trying to feed him he looks interested moves closer then goes back inside. Idk if he is nervous because i'm there or what. I hope i can get some help and thanks for your time.

[Mike.P]

There's a few different things you can try... After you thaw the rodent, let it sit in the room for about an hour, to scent the air. This should help trigger a feeding response. Try feeding at night, say around two or three in the morning. They tend to be most active then. Try leaving the rodent in the cage overnight, and cover up the cage completely, so he feels more secure.

If none of that does the trick, get a live feeder. Either a live mouse hopper, or live rat crawler, depending on size. You can always try switching back to f/t later. I assume the snake is pretty young, since you just got him, so it's important for him to be eating on a regular basis. Especially if he hasn't eaten in a month. Should be getting a meal once a week at least.

If NONE of that works, you'll have to assist feed, and failing that, force feed. There's several threads here about how to do that, or feel free to PM me with any questions.

[Daybreaker]

^ That

To add, here's some other things you can try:

~ Get your thawed feeder, crack open your snake's tub a hair, and with a hairdryer heat up the feeder but with the air pointed towards the tub (I put the feeder in my palm and hold it near the tub and heat it there). That way you're blowing all that tastey hot rat/mice stink towards and into the tub and that might make him more interested and perky. Usually mine will take it within seconds of putting it in the tub with this method since they already have a ton of the smell wafting around.

~ For the more shy feeder (like one of my balls) I stick her inside her hide if she's not already in it and put the warmed thawed feeder directly in front of the entrance to her hide. That way if she needs to move in the night (I only feed this one at night) she needs to move right over the feeder and she takes it everytime (perhaps she likes dinner in "bed"? I'm assuming she feels more comfortable when she can eat right in/near her hide). I would put the feeder on the warm side over the cold. Cover the tub as Mike said as well.

Hope you have success!

[Mike.P]

Day, that's brilliant! I've never even thought to use a hair dryer like that. Great idea. I've been lucky that every snake I've ever had is an absolute pig. lol. So I've never had such issues. But if ever I do, I'm definitely trying that.

[Bosswich]

Thanks for all of your tips i will try them. I tried leaving the f/t in his cage in front of his hide and covering his tank but to no avail. I'm gonna try and move him into a feeder cage first and introduce the mice to him there and see if he changes his mind. thanks for the great advice.

[Kinra]

Thanks for all of your tips i will try them. I tried leaving the f/t in his cage in front of his hide and covering his tank but to no avail. I'm gonna try and move him into a feeder cage first and introduce the mice to him there and see if he changes his mind. thanks for the great advice.

If he's not feeding in his cage I would not try moving him to feed. This is just going to stress him out more. Sometimes they just go on hunger strikes. I had a 300g PYB go on a 2.5 month hunger strike shortly after I got her. I tried everything from leaving f/t in over night to live ASF and none of it worked until she was ready to eat again.

Just keep trying once a week, don't interact with him other than cleaning and refilling his water bowl until he starts eating again. If all of your temps and your humidity is right he probably just doesn't feel like eating.

[Daybreaker]

Day, that's brilliant! I've never even thought to use a hair dryer like that. Great idea. I've been lucky that every snake I've ever had is an absolute pig. lol. So I've never had such issues. But if ever I do, I'm definitely trying that.

Thank you If you ever need to use this method I hope you have success with it.

To boss: I do hope your little one starts eating again. If you don't have one I would pick up a digital scale and monitor his weight to make sure he's not loosing a dangerout amount. Don't weigh everyday, as Kinra mentioned leave him alone unless you need to clean substrate but I would do a weight every ~2 weeks or so just to be safe.

[jtomb1510]

Another thing you can try, and I'm only saying this because you specifically said you were going to introduce "mice" to your baby, is try a f/t rat fuzzy instead of a mouse. You said the breeder you got him from fed him f/t rodents but do you know if it was mice or rats? I have a hatchling that will ONLY eat mice where all my others prefer rat pups. Rats and mice have a different scent to BP's so he may prefer rats over mice (which is a good thing because sometimes it's a real pain in the butt to switch them to rats).

[RetiredJedi]

I agree that proper heating might be the key especially if the BP seems interested and then isn't. I have a Pin that would strike and wrap it up, then let go and go back into his hide. i figured out that the f/t lost some of it's heat while it was wrapped. So I would take the f/t back out and heat it up more and sure enough he would strike, wrap, and down the hatch it goes. I usually thaw the f/t in the fridge during the day while I'm at work. Then at around 3:00pm my daughter takes them out of fridge and puts them somewhere to get to room temperature. Then when I get home I put each f/t in a seperate baggie (with the top of the baggie open) and lean it against their enclosure to scent the tub. Then when it's time to eat I use an old hair dryer to heat them up. This last feeding day I actually took a heating pad and turned it on low and placed it on top of the f/t's for about 30 minutes (15 on each side) and then used a hair dryer to get the head of the f/t the hottest spot and it worked really well.

[Bosswich]

I agree that proper heating might be the key especially if the BP seems interested and then isn't. I have a Pin that would strike and wrap it up, then let go and go back into his hide. i figured out that the f/t lost some of it's heat while it was wrapped. So I would take the f/t back out and heat it up more and sure enough he would strike, wrap, and down the hatch it goes. I usually thaw the f/t in the fridge during the day while I'm at work. Then at around 3:00pm my daughter takes them out of fridge and puts them somewhere to get to room temperature. Then when I get home I put each f/t in a seperate baggie (with the top of the baggie open) and lean it against their enclosure to scent the tub. Then when it's time to eat I use an old hair dryer to heat them up. This last feeding day I actually took a heating pad and turned it on low and placed it on top of the f/t's for about 30 minutes (15 on each side) and then used a hair dryer to get the head of the f/t the hottest spot and it worked really well.

Now that i think of it the first time i fed him the mouse was real warm rather then room temp