New to BPs, my one isnt eating and is losing weight!

[Aarburger]

Hello. Im new here, so start from the beginning.
On september 4th I purchased 2 ball pythons. They came with a cage and hide, heat lamp, heat pad, a few mice, a waterfall fountain thing, water bowl, etc. They are both males and they were both in the same cage!
The guy claimed that they were "a couple years" old .. not very specific.
One is larger than the other, and the guy I bought them off said the small one hasn't eaten for 2 months or so.
I know they go off feed sometimes, ( I did my research before getting them)
So I did my research, assumed the little guy is probably stressed. So I decided its best to seperate them. I got another terraium, it came with heat lamps and a hide and stuff.
Theyre seperated now. About 14 days after seperating them the little guy shed. (it was a good shed, no problems.)
Im noticing that he is getting pretty skinny now so im starting to worry! I live in a small town thats 2 and a half hours away from the nearest vet. I've been trying to feed him every week/every two weeks and he still isnt feeding. And hes starting to get pissy with me. (Hissing when I touch him)
The heat in his cage is good. (Hes got a heat pad under his hide, and a heat lamp in the same area.) Hot side temp reads about 90 (in the air) and the cold side is 75-79ish. He often goes behind his big rock water fountain. Humidity is around 50-55. During his shed I had it at 65-70.

He refuses to eat. I tried to force feed him once but he wiggled too much and was a little too strong to let me keep him steady. I dont want to try force feeding him again, it feels so mean.

So is there anything I can do?

[200xth]

Stop trying to force feed him for now. It's adding a lot of stress for no reason at this point. A couple of months without food is not a big deal for a BP.

How much weight has he actually lost? If you aren't weighing him, you need to get a scale to track his weight. Guessing at weigh loss on a snake can be difficult. They go 4 weeks without food, we think they're losing weight while, in fact, they will have lost something trivial like 4g.

You said ambient temps are 90 on the hot side. What are the temps on the ground where your snake is in contact with the substrate?

[bcr229]

Stop trying to force feed him for now. It's adding a lot of stress for no reason at this point. A couple of months without food is not a big deal for a BP.

How much weight has he actually lost? If you aren't weighing him, you need to get a scale to track his weight. Guessing at weigh loss on a snake can be difficult. They go 4 weeks without food, we think they're losing weight while, in fact, they will have lost something trivial like 4g.

You said ambient temps are 90 on the hot side. What are the temps on the ground where your snake is in contact with the substrate?

Or to put it another way, are the under-tank heaters regulated by a thermostat?

[Mr. Misha]

I fully agree with bcr229 thermostat for the heat pad is a MUST.

What kind of prey are you feeding the BP? From the photos he looks like at least 1000 grams if not more. Do you feed him live or f/t?

Also, I noticed you have the circular analog gauges. Those gauges aren't very accurate. They're also not doing you any good all the way up there because you need to know what the temperature of the tank is down where your BP is. I'd suggest getting a digital thermometer like Acurite at your local Walmart for like 10 bucks.

Here's a link for that thermometer: http://mobile.walmart.com/ip/Acu-Rit...=search#search

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[Aarburger]

Thanks guys, I'll be weighing him when I can (dont have anything to weigh atm) and I'll work on the thermometers. I feed them f/t. Honestly the previous owners were really under-feeding them. I think they were feeding a large mouse per week. I fed the large python 2 adult mice every 2 weeks, and he happily takes them.. its just the small guy is being stubborn. But I'm going to slowly switch them over to a larger rodent. (Rats)

[bcr229]

Thanks guys, I'll be weighing him when I can (dont have anything to weigh atm) and I'll work on the thermometers. I feed them f/t. Honestly the previous owners were really under-feeding them. I think they were feeding a large mouse per week. I fed the large python 2 adult mice every 2 weeks, and he happily takes them.. its just the small guy is being stubborn. But I'm going to slowly switch them over to a larger rodent. (Rats)

Not thermometers, thermostats.

The stick-on thermometers you have, as pointed out, aren't helpful as they are 1) inaccurate, and 2) not down where your snake lives.

In addition, do you have thermostats regulating each under-tank heater (UTH), or is the heater just plugged in to the wall? Unregulated they can get too hot and burn your snake.

[Aarburger]

Thats what I meant! Lol oops

[Mr. Misha]

Thats what I meant! Lol oops

If you don't have a thermostat for the under the tank heat pads then turn them OFF until you get a thermostat for each. Uncontrolled UTH will do more harm than good.

You should look into proportional thermostats like a Herpstat 2 or Vivarium Electronic VE 300x2 so you can control both UTHs with one thermostat. If you're on a budget you can get two on/off Hydrofarm thermostats.

Also, if you're feeding the big one only two mice every two weeks, you might be underfeeding him as well. He should be eating at least two large mice a week. He probably should be eating a medium rat a week.



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[Aarburger]

Well they are 2 large. Or jumbos. Im not sure but theyre good sized for him

[Aarburger]

Hello. Im new here, so start from the beginning.
On september 4th I purchased 2 ball pythons. They came with a cage and hide, heat lamp, heat pad, a few mice, a waterfall fountain thing, water bowl, etc. They are both males and they were both in the same cage!
The guy claimed that they were "a couple years" old .. not very specific.
One is larger than the other, and the guy I bought them off said the small one hasn't eaten for 2 months or so.
I know they go off feed sometimes, ( I did my research before getting them)
So I did my research, assumed the little guy is probably stressed. So I decided its best to seperate them. I got another terraium, it came with heat lamps and a hide and stuff.
Theyre seperated now. About 14 days after seperating them the little guy shed. (it was a good shed, no problems.)
Im noticing that he is getting pretty skinny now so im starting to worry! I live in a small town thats 2 and a half hours away from the nearest vet. I've been trying to feed him every week/every two weeks and he still isnt feeding. And hes starting to get pissy with me. (Hissing when I touch him)
The heat in his cage is good. (Hes got a heat pad under his hide, and a heat lamp in the same area.) Hot side temp reads about 90 (in the air) and the cold side is 75-79ish. He often goes behind his big rock water fountain. Humidity is around 50-55. During his shed I had it at 65-70.

He refuses to eat. I tried to force feed him once but he wiggled too much and was a little too strong to let me keep him steady. I dont want to try force feeding him again, it feels so mean.

So is there anything I can do?