Help Blaze !

[10mollykate]

I recently got a new pastel bp and his name blaze. PetSmart fed him a lot for him to be so young yesterday was post to be my 3rd time feeding him but he's almost scared to strike. He seems to be hungry and ready but will be in striking position breathing heavy and shaking a bit. I'm wondering if that's normal because he's young and ate alot for his size already. Yet he appears to be hungry but maybe he isn't. Temps seem find also have a heating mat on the opposite side just in case. Any help?

[BluuWolf]

So he will go to strike at it but then end up not? He defiantly seems interested then. How often are you feeding him? Typically you don't want to feed them more then once every 7 - 10 days. If you are waiting that amount of time and he still won't take then perhaps try and drop feed him instead. Just kinda make it dance around a bit to get him to notice that it's there then set it down in the tank and see if he'll go for it that way.

Also I was just a little confused about how you worded your whole heating situation. Is it you have a lamp or something on one side and a heat mat on the other or just a heat mat on one side?

[Sunnieskys]

I'm confused too. If you have just an under tank heating pad that's not enough. Also what do you mean pet smart fed him a lot for his size?

[Ogre]

If you can post a pick of your setup that would help clear some things up. Also giving us some additional information such as how much does he way? What size of rat/mouse were they feeding him? What size animal are you attempting to feed him? This will better help us understand and assist us in helping you and Blaze.

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[Craiga 01453]

Let's start from scratch so we can help you out the best we can.

First of all, I doubt PetSmart was feeding him a lot. Most pet stores, especially big box pet stores, will basically maintenance feed. What this means is they feed enough for the animal to survive. This benefits the store in two ways. 1) They save money on prey items and 2) the animal stays smaller and "cuter". Also, snakes in these big box store often refuse food because their husbandry is poor.
Now the important stuff...

Tell us about your setup. You say "temps seem fine". Either temps are right or they are not.
How are you heating the enclosure? Are you running your heating equipment through a thermostat?
What are your actual temps? How are you measuring your temps? and where are you measuring temps?

What type and size enclosure?

How much does your snake weigh? What type and size prey are you offering? How often are you offering?

The more you tell us the more we can help. A few pics of your setup wouldn't hurt either.

[10mollykate]

So he will go to strike at it but then end up not? He defiantly seems interested then. How often are you feeding him? Typically you don't want to feed them more then once every 7 - 10 days. If you are waiting that amount of time and he still won't take then perhaps try and drop feed him instead. Just kinda make it dance around a bit to get him to notice that it's there then set it down in the tank and see if he'll go for it that way.

Also I was just a little confused about how you worded your whole heating situation. Is it you have a lamp or something on one side and a heat mat on the other or just a heat mat on one side?

Yes I have my heating lap on one side and when I turn it off I put a heating mat under the opposite side at night because my room is freezing. I did all that, pets Mart had him on a schedule where I feed him every Friday. They were feeding him eight Fuzzy's for him to be so young. He is quite big for his age, when I got him the first week I fed him 2 small mice because that's what they told me to do and then the next Friday I fed him once mice because that's all he'll eat. and then this Friday he gets in attack mode like he's ready but seems to be a little bit squeamish he's striked a few times but missed, yhe was breathing pretty hard so I got nervous I don't want to stress him out or anything and he was shaking. Also not forgetting I changed his bedding earlier this day so I have a feeling that might have be the problem but I'm not sure.So I left the mice in there for a little bit. Saturday I try to do it again he wanted to eat but this time he seemed scared still he just kind of sat in the Striking mode looking at it. And then when I went to get it out of the cage he was frightened of my hand. So I don't know what's exactly wrong. I looked up and some people say he might be constipated or just doesn't want to use the energy.

[Craiga 01453]

They were feeding him 8 fuzzies how often?

Your snake sounds stressed to me. I think you need to check out the stickies on this forum about all the basics. It sounds like you are putting a lot into what PetSmart told you. Unfortunately, you need to forget most of it and start re-learning here on this forum. Their employees are just that, employees. They are not snake keepers, they are not properly trained and just piece together some of what you need to make sales. They are also feeding on a maintenance schedule, keeping their animals in horrible husbandry and this is all they know.

If you want to share the info I asked about in my last reply it would really be beneficial to you and your snake.

[Ogre]

Ok well swapping the warm side isn't necessary, the temps and humidity on your setup would really help us. Also if he refuses on Friday don't try again the next day wait a week. Also try not to mess with him on days that you plan to feed him. Also it's pretty normal for ball pythons to be timid and attempting to hide from us.

Like we've all said we need information. It is difficult to tell you what the issue could be with out knowing your husbandry.

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[10mollykate]

I'm going to upload a video to youtube to show you him and explain more! Okay, that's good news to me! Ill forget their stuff and look on here for answers. I purchased him June 22 and need to feed him June 23. He ate 2 small mice, because they told me to upgrade to small because he could eat 8 fuzzies. June 30 he ate only 1 small mice and wasn't very hungry for the other. So then the 7th of July comes around and when i went to buy ood the did not have small mice so i had to buy fuzzies. I cleaned his cage and then tried to feed, he tried to strike the last small mice I had and soon gave up. So then I tried a fuzzie which he turned down the same. He seemed stressed (breathing hard and shaking) so i gave up. Next which is saturday i tried again with a fuzzie and he did the same just very stressed but hungry ? He tried to only strike it once then gave up again just sitting their stressed i left it in the cage just to see if he would go but he didn't move muscle when i came back. I took it out and when I did he was scared and flenched. So im guessing hes super stressed.

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I'm going to upload a video to youtube to show you him and explain more! Okay, that's good news to me! Ill forget their stuff and look on here for answers. I purchased him June 22 and need to feed him June 23. He ate 2 small mice, because they told me to upgrade to small because he could eat 8 fuzzies. June 30 he ate only 1 small mice and wasn't very hungry for the other. So then the 7th of July comes around and when i went to buy food the did not have small mice so i had to buy fuzzies. I cleaned his cage and then tried to feed, he tried to strike the last small mice I had and soon gave up. So then I tried a fuzzie which he turned down the same. He seemed stressed (breathing hard and shaking) so i gave up. Next which is saturday i tried again with a fuzzie and he did the same just very stressed but hungry ? He tried to only strike it once then gave up again just sitting their stressed i left it in the cage just to see if he would go but he didn't move muscle when i came back. I took it out and when I did he was scared and flenched. So im guessing hes super stressed.
I'm going to upload a video to youtube to show you him and explain more! Okay, that's good news to me! Ill forget their stuff and look on here for answers. I purchased him June 22 and need to feed him June 23. He ate 2 small mice, because they told me to upgrade to small because he could eat 8 fuzzies. June 30 he ate only 1 small mice and wasn't very hungry for the other. So then the 7th of July comes around and when i went to buy ood the did not have small mice so i had to buy fuzzies. I cleaned his cage and then tried to feed, he tried to strike the last small mice I had and soon gave up. So then I tried a fuzzie which he turned down the same. He seemed stressed (breathing hard and shaking) so i gave up. Next which is saturday i tried again with a fuzzie and he did the same just very stressed but hungry ? He tried to only strike it once then gave up again just sitting their stressed i left it in the cage just to see if he would go but he didn't move muscle when i came back. I took it out and when I did he was scared and flenched. So im guessing hes super stressed.

[10mollykate]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mg2TGseNH_I