is this normal?

[afeedfromcloudmtn.]

i'm a newbie owner, and i've had my ball python for about 4 months. the first two times i fed him he ate perfectly, no issues at all (except that he tried to swallow the rat upside down). i fed him f/t both times.

but as of today he hasn't eaten anything in 7 weeks... he's been in the shedding cycle for about 2 and a half weeks, so i haven't really tried feeding him, but he looks way too thin, i can tell he's lost weight. before i noticed he was going into shed i tried feeding him once a week, but all he would do was smell the rat. unfortunately i don't have a scale so i don't know how much he weighs, but he's only 6-9 months old. i'm just really worried about him, and i want to do everything to make sure he's happy healthy =/

his tank is a 10 gallon tank, cypress bedding, cool side about 88 fahrenheit, warm about 91. red heat lamp and a heat pad under warm side of the tank, two hides, two smallish pieces of "bark" (made from cork) and a ceramic water bowl. i haven't changed anything about the tank since i got him, except for temperature adjustments when needed.

[cmack91]

Pics of the setup would help alot. For now, try lowering the cool side to the low 80's, it may be too hot in there for him. With what, and where in the cage are you taking these temp readings?

[afeedfromcloudmtn.]

i have a digital thermometer with a probe that i'm currently using to measure both sides of his tank (at separate times) because the other one i was using crapped out on me. i really need to invest in another one but i'm so short on cash these days. i try to put the probe near the bottom of his tank so that it hangs right above the substrate.

i'll try lowering the cool side, hopefully that will help. and i'll get pictures up tomorrow, unfortunately i can't keep my baby at my house, he has to live at my boyfriends, so i have no pictures for now. :[

[Rea]

Do you remove him from the enclosure when you feed him?

[cmack91]

What kind of hides do you use, are they tight? Wheres your humidity at? If you don't have a hygrometer, get one. When you feed him have you tried leaving the rat in there over night (dead one)? Or even braining it? When he's sitting relaxed is he round or more triangular, or can you see his spine? I'm just trying to envision how skinny he is.

[kitedemon]

Typically temps are often the issue with small royals not feeding as well as security. 88 / 90 is not a gradient and clearly too warm 80/90 is a good target temp this should help.


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[afeedfromcloudmtn.]

i used to take him out of his tank to feed him, but since he started not eating i've tried leaving the rat in overnight once, and all he did was smell it and look at it. humidity is between 50% and 60%, but since he's been in shed i've bumped it up to 65% to 70%.

he's round when he's all curled up, but his spine pokes out a bit. i haven't tried braining the rat, only because i'm not sure how i would go about doing that.

i'll try lowering his temps. does anyone have any tips on how to get a good gradient?

[RoseyReps]

get a lamp dimmer from home depot (10.99 at my local store) and use that to dim your red light. How are you measuring humidity? The dials that stick to the tank are pretty poor at accuracy, and I find it hard to believe that a 10g with heat light is steady humidity at 50-60 / 70 for shed without a metric poopton of misting. What does his "shed cycle" look like? Usually blue only lasts a few days maybe a week, then they clear. Are you positive that it's not past shed and he's having a bad one? This would depend on humidity etc, just a thought!

Maybe try a smaller live meal to get him going again?

[afeedfromcloudmtn.]

i keep a cloth over the top half of his tank and i keep it damp all the time because i was having so many issues with humidity. i have a lamp dimmer for the one lamp i have. he had the blue eyes for a few days, and he cleared up at least a week ago. i can't tell if it's a bad shed because none of it has come off... he's shed for me once and it wasn't the best, but i helped him get it all off by rolling my fingers over the shed. i can see the scales on the top of his head that look like they need to be shed. and i've thought about feeding him a smaller live rat, maybe i should try that.

also his hides seem to be a good size for him, he's in both of them during the day. one of them is a rock looking one from the reptile store where i got him and the other is just half of a small cardboard box with a small hole in the front.

would getting another lamp for the cool side of his tank help keep the temperature gradient better? and for humidity i do have one of the dials, so i'll add a digital one to my list of things to get for him.

[RoseyReps]

You want the temp on the cool side to come down to 80, so putting a lamp over there would not help, it would make it worse. He's probably just having a bad shed, a nice soak in 80-85° water (only up to mid sides, not swimming) and some slithering through a towel a few times should clear it up.

I would get the shed taken care of befofe offering food again. If he's retaining eye caps that could be the reason for refusal. A picture would help determine if it is infact stuck shed or not.

As for humidity, if you can grab an accurite indoor/outdoor thermometer from walmart ($12 or so) put it on the ccool end and the probe on the hot end. This will give you cool/hot/and humidity all with one unit.