and yet another my BP won't eat thread

[wardrm92]

Hey guys. About a week ago, I bought my first BP named Benny. I am not sure of his/her age or sex. The lady told me she bought him from a convention and her son lost interest and that is why she was getting rid of him. She told me he is about a year old but he looks far too small to be that old. He is only a little over a foot long and quite skinny for a ball python. When I got him, the lady (who had no experience with snakes) told me he hadn't eaten since they bought him and it had been about 3 weeks.

I have him in a 10 gallon tank with a 75 watt infrared on one side and both a warm/cool hide for him. I also have sticks and vegetation and a water bowl located closer to the warm side of the tank to create some humidity.

I have been out of town for 3 days since I set him up at home and he has had plenty of time to calm down and adjust. My mom was swapping out the lighting at night and in the mornings while I was gone (I have a 75 watt black light for night time that's a little cooler.) I returned last night and made it my priority first thing this morning to get this little fella to eat (it has now been a month with no food from what the previous owner told me.) I began with a thawed pinky, dangling it in front of him. He showed no interest at all. I then left the pinky in his feeding container with him for about 10 minutes. Next I took the advice of a local pet shop owner and snake breeder who said I needed to try to feed him live. I held the live mouse by the tail with forceps and dangled it but he still showed no interest. I then left the mouse in the feeding tank with him, placed his heat lamp over it, gave him a large box hide and covered the conatainer with a towel to give him some privacy. Still no luck. I then killed the mouse and offered it to him that way both dangling and leaving him alone with it trying to create the most comfortable conditions possible. I have now resorted to assisted feeding or force feeding as I am very worried about his health. I thawed a pinky and following the advice of an article and a few videos, unhinged his jaw and inserted the pinky head first into his throat. Though they say he should be unable to spit it out, I couldn't successfully get the mouse deep enough into his throat to prevent him spitting it up. So as a last ditch effort, I cut the head off the pinky and inserted that alone into his throat and was FINALLY able to get him to swallow his first bite of food. I allowed him to sit a few moments to allow the meal to be swallowed and then promptly reintroduced him to his tank and left him alone. I feel very relieved now that he has had at least some form of sustenance but my question is when should I attempt feeding again and how should I go about it? Thanks.

[Stewart_Reptiles]

If this animal is 250 grams or less (no idea as age does not mean much) do this.

If the animal is between 250 grams and 500 grams which I highly doubt given the description do the same but replace the 6 quarts tub with a 12 quarts tub and the plastic flower pot saucer with a small plastic bowl.

Very important you MUST know your temps at all time.

BP's can get tricky if their needs are not met to a T so temps, enclosure size, security are VERY important.

Here is what need to be done if not done so already.

Set him up in a 6 quarts tub

Use aspen as bedding

Provide a 6 inches flower pot saucer as a hide.

Provide temps on the warm side no higher than 88 degrees.

NO MORE HANDLING until your BP eats at least 3 to 5 consecutive time on it's own.

Once you made the changes weight a week

Offer a live mouse (the prey should be equal the girth size of your snake) in it's enclosure, close the tub, remove if un-eaten after 15 min.


Tub



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[wardrm92]

I am going straight to the store to get some supplies and setting this up immediately! Thanks for the help!

[wardrm92]

How do I provide heat to this sort of set-up? Do I put holes in the lid? Use my light?

[wardrm92]

So this is the setup I've made. Water bowl, hide, aspen in a 12 quart tub (I thought he seemed a little big for a 6 quart.) I have a thermometer on the hot side and a thermo/hygro on the cool side. Right now I have the tub sitting on a heating mat hooked to a 12 hour timer to provide the necessary heat but I also have the heat lamp setup as well. I am not using the heat lamp at the moment until I receive further instruction. I poked small holes in the lid for oxygen flow and was thinking about cutting a large hole and covering it with chicken wire or something if you thought the heat lamp was a good idea (which I can also hook up to a timer.) Any changes you think I should make just let me know! I just love my little Benny and don't want anything to happen to him!
Edit: Right now it is staying roughly 80-85 degrees F throughout the tub. I can either use the heat lamp or reposition the heating mat to only touch half the tub?