Ball stopped eating and has strange patch... HELP

[Marissa Simek]

Okay so my ball was eating with no problems on a regular schedule for 4 weeks, and now he hasn't eaten for about three. I took him out today so I could see if he maybe had an RI or something, but all I found was this strange patch.. does anyone know what it is? And could it be something that would keep him from eating?



Any help would be much appreciated. Thanks

[Freakie_frog]

Can you get a pic that is in focus so we can better see it..

[Inknsteel]

Agreed. Need a better pic to be sure. Could you at least describe in more detail what the spot looks and/or feels like?

[Marissa Simek]

unfortunately that is the best focus that my camera can do... The patch is a brownish/grayish color that is in the middle of his dark scales so it stands out like a sore thumb, but it still just feels like his normal scales..

[Inknsteel]

I don't know. From the picture you posted, it just looks like what is referred to as "flames" or "blushing" which are lighter spots in the dark portions of the pattern. This is just normal color variation. If this is something new that you've just recently noticed, I guess it could be onset of scale rot, but again, can't tell without a better pic.

What substrate do you have the bp on? What are your temps and humidity? Some general recommendations here would be to remove whatever the current substrate is and set him/her up on white paper towels. If the spot feels like a burn or an injury of any kind, you may consider putting some triple antibiotic ointment (neosporin without pain relief) on it once or twice a day and monitor it until the next shed. But, I've never had anything like that personally, so if you're really worried, a vet visit wouldn't be a BAD idea...

[Marissa Simek]

I don't know. From the picture you posted, it just looks like what is referred to as "flames" or "blushing" which are lighter spots in the dark portions of the pattern. This is just normal color variation. If this is something new that you've just recently noticed, I guess it could be onset of scale rot, but again, can't tell without a better pic.

What substrate do you have the bp on? What are your temps and humidity? Some general recommendations here would be to remove whatever the current substrate is and set him/her up on white paper towels. If the spot feels like a burn or an injury of any kind, you may consider putting some triple antibiotic ointment (neosporin without pain relief) on it once or twice a day and monitor it until the next shed. But, I've never had anything like that personally, so if you're really worried, a vet visit wouldn't be a BAD idea...

Substrate - something called desert snow
Temps - 85-90 on hot side, 80 on cool side
Humidity - 50-60
And I don't know he might have always had the spot or it showed up as he's been growing, it could very well be because I'm going into overly paranoid mode because he stopped eating... But it doesn't feel like any sort of injury it just feels like his scales, so I'm going to keep an eye on it but I think it's probably the "blushing" So anyone else have some good feeding tips?

[Simple Man]

Are you feeding live or frozen?

I feed late at night when my snakes are all more active. I have great success with that. I also don't hover around the tank. The snakes can see us and sometimes our heat signatures make them a little paranoid. I have two that won't eat if I'm watching. They also like to strike from inside their hide. They prefer live food. All of mine that eat F/T pretty much snag it as soon as it is in the tank. Good luck!

Regards,

B

[Inknsteel]

The blushing and flames do typically come out more and more with each shed, so it could be something that started much smaller and has gradually grown and lightened over time. I would definitely keep an eye on it if it's something you're noticing as being different than before.

There are a lot of tips to try to get non-feeders or stubborn feeders to go. What are you currently trying to feed? Frozen/thawed, live, prekilled? And mice, rats, ASF? Has anything about the enclosure been changed recently, or right before your snake stopped eating? A lot of feeding issues turn out to be problems with the environment causing stress for the snake, which can make a ball python stop eating pretty quickly. If you normally feed frozen/thawed, you may want to consider trying a live feeding. I would recommend going a little smaller in size than what your bp is used to eating, but live food will often trigger the feeding response, then you can try to go back to frozen after they are eating again. There are some other tips and tricks, like rubbing used mouse bedding on the thawed rat just to get a different prey smell going. I've also read that you can dip a thawed rat into chicken broth and that's had some success. Ultimately, keep trying once a week and when your snake gets hungry enough, it'll eat...

[Marissa Simek]

The blushing and flames do typically come out more and more with each shed, so it could be something that started much smaller and has gradually grown and lightened over time. I would definitely keep an eye on it if it's something you're noticing as being different than before.

There are a lot of tips to try to get non-feeders or stubborn feeders to go. What are you currently trying to feed? Frozen/thawed, live, prekilled? And mice, rats, ASF? Has anything about the enclosure been changed recently, or right before your snake stopped eating? A lot of feeding issues turn out to be problems with the environment causing stress for the snake, which can make a ball python stop eating pretty quickly. If you normally feed frozen/thawed, you may want to consider trying a live feeding. I would recommend going a little smaller in size than what your bp is used to eating, but live food will often trigger the feeding response, then you can try to go back to frozen after they are eating again. There are some other tips and tricks, like rubbing used mouse bedding on the thawed rat just to get a different prey smell going. I've also read that you can dip a thawed rat into chicken broth and that's had some success. Ultimately, keep trying once a week and when your snake gets hungry enough, it'll eat...

I actually tried feeding him live when I first got him, he wouldn't have anything to do with it. He's been eating F/T fuzzy rats, but then I tried feeding him a prekilled hopper mouse last week and he didn't want that either. I'll have to try the chicken broth thing next week. And I haven't changed anything about his enclosure in about three weeks. I read something on another site about putting the snake and the prey in a paper bag, taping it shut, and leaving the bag in the snakes enclosure over night. Does anyone have any opinions on that? Will it lead to more stress or might it work?

[Vypyrz]

Okay so my ball was eating with no problems on a regular schedule for 4 weeks, and now he hasn't eaten for about three.

And I haven't changed anything about his enclosure in about three weeks.

What did you change three weeks ago?