my ball python is not eating!!!

[elmo]

i've only had him for about a week and he won't eat.. i have tried about 4 times cause the place didn't feed him for about a week before that.. i called them and they said that he won't eat for about a month cause he is getting used to him new home.. and until he is comfortable he won't eat.. i just want to make sure.. any information is greatly appreciated.

[daniel1983]

First off.....Calm down! Ball pythons can go for months without eating so 1 week will not be a problem

A ball python should be given 2 weeks without handling, feeding, and any other stressful actions until the first meal is offered. Once you have the ball python eating regularly then you may attempt to handle and everything should be ok. You can also put construction paper around the enclosure to make the movement in the room less visiable to the bp. Also, make sure you temperatures are correct. 92-94 warm side and 82-84 cool side. Also make sure your bp has proper hides, and you may want to crumble up some newspaper and place it in the enclosure as well for added security. Hope that helps...It was kinda a crash course so if you have questions feel free to ask.

[pumba]

Greetings:

First let me say,,,RELAX!

I am new here and fairly new to pythons. You are in the right place to get real good advice.

Some of the things that would be helpfull to know is
1. What are you feeding your snake
2. how are you feeding your snake.
3. what are your temps like
4. You need to Relax!
5. was your snake captive bread or wild caught.(this makes a difference in how well he will feed for you. From what I have seen captive bread snakes feed much more easily than caught.)
6. where did you get your snake, (pet shop/Breader)?
7. How big is your snake and his tank?
8. Relax!

Also keep in mind that you should not mess with your snake other than to change his water for at least a week and most recomend two. This way he can calm down and get to feeling secure in his new home. A stressed snake will not eat! It may be that, like I was, you are pushing your snake too quickly. Don't freak out the little guys can go quite some time without eating. FInd out how they were feeding the snake where you got him and in a week or so without any bothering of him, try to duplicate that process.

Make sure your temps are 82-84 on the cool side and 92-94 on the warm side. Your humidity should be between 50% and 60%. If you don't already have one get at least two digital thermomiters, one for each end of the tank. Make sure your snake has plenty of hides. At least one on the warm end and one on the cool. I recomend the digital thermomiters that also have the hydromiter ( I think that is right, it checks the humidity) they are fairly inexpensive and work alot better than the analog thermomiters. You can pick them up at Wal Mart, Pet Smart, or any place that has reptile care items. If you have the time I would recomend getting with Matt at Mgreptiles.com you can find his site on this forum all over the place. He is a welth of knowledge and will help you get everything you need for your setup. His prices are very fair and service is very prompt.

If you got your snake from a regular pet shop then chances are he was caught and imported. Keep an eye on him to make sure he dosn't have any health issues. The first snake I baught was from a regular shop and I believe that he was sick from the get go. I wound up taking him back after almost a month of trying and took store credit, then I got another bp from a dealer that only deals in snakes and all are from a local breeder. The man that owned the shop was very forthcomming with information for me and the experience was way more better. Like I said earlier, stress and bad temps will cause problems with your little one.

Also like I said earlier I am fairly new to all of this and all this information I am giving you is what I have learned from the folks in this site. So if anyone sees this and sees anything that a am doing wrong, feel free to slap me down and correct me.

Good luck dude and like I said earlier RELAX! Someone in here once told me that when you buy a bp it comes with a free dose of obsessive compulsive disorder, they were right. Just Relax and give your little guy time.

Cheers
Ray

[frankykeno]

OCD free with each snake purchased LOL! Along with the other great advice you'll get here I'll just add a few points from when we got our snakes (we are very new as well so pls keep that in mind).

The digital thing Ray mentioned is an Accu-Rite from Wal-Mart that runs about $15.00 or less. If you buy one put the unit itself on the cool side, run the probe to the warm side and tuck under the warm side hide. Push a few buttons and you should be reading....warm side in hide temp, cool side temp, and humidity. We run our probe line up and out of the tub and back in as it's a very long cord and you don't want the snake tangling in it. With the Accu-Rite you can get your temps and humidity sorted out. Depending on your enclosure many here can give you advice how to adjust it to get within recommended numbers on that. I believe someone here has a pic of an Accu-Rite set up if they'd like to post it. Home Depot also sells these units under another brand name in the outdoor weather station/thermometer area for around $17.00.

Best thing we were told was to get our enclosure (we use a Sterlite tub) set up and regulated, add a heavy water dish and two hides (one for cool and one for warm side) and then leave the snake alone. No poking, proding, cuddling or attempts to feed for a week or two. It's very hard to do but best for the snake to settle in. We start our snakes off in our bedroom which is the quietest, darkest place in our house but then we have 4 loud kids LOL.

We were advised to put a new snake on a layer of papertowels for bedding so you can see any mites that might be there and also to easily see when the snake poops or pees and collect some if you needed to see a vet.

It's a lot to take in but everything you do now will only benefit you and your snake. Ask tons of questions, I did and it was sooooooo helpful!


~~Jo~~

[rabernet]

Did Ray mention to relax? LOL


Just kidding, I'm very new here myself and I've regaled the list with all my OCD"ness" about Kashmire.

Do make sure you have your husbandry correct first, give the guy some time to settle in, and then what worked for my reluctant eater (thanks to Adam, whom I'm sure you'll meet! LOL) was to put a live hopper into his enclosure when he was starting to get active, ball up newspaper and put balled up newspaper all in his enclosure to provide him with a sense of privacy and security.

Gosh darn if that trick didn't work! 30 minutes later that hopper was gone. And before that I had tried pre-killed small mouse, live fuzzy, live small mouse. I'm sure the newspaper trick probably would have worked with the live small mouse as well.

Anyway....to reiterate what Ray said....relax! And ask questions, the people here are great for mentoring you through all you need to know about your first snake!

Robin

[tigerlily]

Just to add my two cents.... You may want to consider having an experienced herp vet check your snake for parasites, and while you're there you can always have it sexed as well. A fecal can be a valuable piece of information to have. It's possible it's just stress, but it's always good to have a new snake checked over. Just about any vet office can do fecals, so if you happen to see a nice deposit you can bag it up put it into the frig over night and run it the the vet the next day. Good luck!

[PrincessErica]

Also, offering feed 4x a week is stressful on both you and the new snake. I'd only offer food once a week MAX. If they don't eat, wait a week before trying again, no point in wasting mice/rats (if you're feeding PK or F/T).