Ball hasn't eaten in 5 months

[KingKuma]

Hi guys i bought a male mojave back in December, unfortunately the previous owner failed to mention his ri. So over 2 months and a lot of shots his ri is gone and has been for a month, yet he still hasn't eaten. He looks healthy enough but seems lethargic.

Thanks in advance for any help.
Kuma

[Fidget]

Hi Kuma,

First, as anyone will ask you, how much weight has he lost? What kind of setup do you have for him, and what does his general body condition look like? Is he an adult? What did the previous owner say about his feeding habits? Not to bombard you with questions, but people can give you a lot more guidance if we know more details about how he's being kept, and whether he's dropping weight significantly.

Here's a thread that may be helpful: http://ball-pythons.net/forums/showt...ce-November-!-!

The frustrating truth is that the answer can lie anywhere from "He's fine, he's just on a winter fast" to "Something is seriously wrong; get him to the vet a.s.a.p."

Best of luck, and keep us posted.

[KingKuma]

He's lost around 250-300g, i'm using a heat mat, a hide, water bowl and an infrared light in a viv that's appropriately sized. His general body condition looks fine and the previous owner gave me the feeding records showing that he ate both the week before and the week i picked him up.

[Fidget]

Ok, unless his baseline weight when you got him was upwards of 2500g, it sounds like he's lost enough to be concerned about.

To start with, I would double-check all his husbandry. Ideally, you want 2 hides that are identical in size and small enough for him to feel snug when he's in them. What are your temps: ambient, cool side, and warm side? Humidity? You can find care sheets with the optimal ranges for each on this site. Is your heat mat on a thermostat? What do you use to measure your temps: IR temp gun or probes in the viv? Where are they placed? What substrate do you use, and do you know what the previous owner used? If he ate for the previous owner, you might try duplicating as closely as you can whatever environment he was living in previously.

Other things to consider are how often are you offering food? What prey have you offered, and is it what the previous owner fed him? Have you tried a variety of prey items? Is he in a part of the house where there's a lot of activity? How often is he handled? These are factors that may influence his level of stress and willingness to eat. In general, to decrease his stress level, you want to minimize your contact with him, and offer food less frequently than you would a BP who's on feed. Do a couple of searches on the site: there are many threads with similar scenarios. You'll find lots more information and advice, from folks with lots more experience than I have.

Hang in there & good luck,
Karen

[KingKuma]

I'm going to get him a second hide, ambient temps around 80-82 and hot spot at about 90 with a thermostat controlling the heat mat. There are probes checking the temp inside the viv but i also check them with an IR. I'm using paper towels as substrate the previous owner used newspaper.

Thanks for all the help it's really appreciated