New Ball Pythons Not Eating

[joker1]

Hey,

New to the forum and hoping that someone here can give me some advice.
I have got 3 fairly young ball pythons (18 inches give or take) and one 4.5ft female. The 3 young snakes have all recently shed and now 2 of them won't feed. Before their shed they were eating great however now they just won't take food. Any ideas and is this normal?

Thanks

[daniel1983]

How long have you had them?

Here is something to read for hatchlings:
http://www.8ballpythons.com/journal/...ingseating.htm

[Python-77]

First off welcome to the forums! Second welcome to the world of finicky eating snakes!

A couple questions to help us help you

1. What are your temps like?

2. How is the humidity in the enclosure?

3. Are the young snakes housed together?

4. How often are you attempting to feed them after they refuse a meal?

5. What are you feeding? Live, Dead, Frozen/thawed?

[tigerlily]

Before their shed they were eating great however now they just won't take food.

How many times have they eaten for you? Any changes?

[joker1]

Hey Guys,

Sorry I had to run some errands.

They have eaten a good five or six times for me with no problems and no changes.

1/2) Temps are around 75 to 80 degrees and I can't remember the humidity off the top of my head. I have tried to keep my enclosures within the ranges I have read in all the caresheets.

3) Two of the young snakes are housed together and one is housed seperate.
The large female is also housed seperately. However I don't feed them in their enclosures I take them out and feed them in a seperate enclosure.

4) If they refuse to eat I don't puch the issue, yet...
Currently if they don't eat I will wait the normal 6 or 7 days until the next feeding time to try and feed them.

5) I am feeding them live hoppers.

Thanks for the quick response,
BJ

[Python-77]

Hey Guys,

Sorry I had to run some errands.

They have eaten a good five or six times for me with no problems and no changes.

1/2) Temps are around 75 to 80 degrees and I can't remember the humidity off the top of my head. I have tried to keep my enclosures within the ranges I have read in all the caresheets.

3) Two of the young snakes are housed together and one is housed seperate.
The large female is also housed seperately. However I don't feed them in their enclosures I take them out and feed them in a seperate enclosure.

4) If they refuse to eat I don't puch the issue, yet...
Currently if they don't eat I will wait the normal 6 or 7 days until the next feeding time to try and feed them.

5) I am feeding them live hoppers.

Thanks for the quick response,
BJ

1) I would try and raise the cool side up and around 82 and try your best to keep it over 80 at all times. I know this can be hard.
3) Since you do have 2 snakes housed together a. be prepaired to seperate them if the feeding doesnt resume and b. make sure you have plenti of hides for them and watch for any signs of stress. C. feeding out of the enclosure for Bps can somtimes be stressful to them.
4) Cool, your not doing the daily feeding.

[joker1]

1) I would try and raise the cool side up and around 82 and try your best to keep it over 80 at all times. I know this can be hard.
3) Since you do have 2 snakes housed together a. be prepaired to seperate them if the feeding doesnt resume and b. make sure you have plenti of hides for them and watch for any signs of stress. C. feeding out of the enclosure for Bps can somtimes be stressful to them.
4) Cool, your not doing the daily feeding.

Thanks for the tips.

I was planning on seperating the 2 snakes in the next couple of days so it sounds like was headed in the right direction. I will definately try and get the temps up to around 80 degrees if that is where they need to be. Hopefully I will be able to post some pics of my bps over the next couple of days. Thanks again for the advice....

[drdingo21]

My BP is 22 inchs long and eating adult mice.

[tigerlily]

Make sure your hot side is around 92 and your cool side around 82. The temps could definitely be one of the factors for them not eating. If they don't feel like they'll have enough heat to help in the digestion they will refuse food. Once the temps are right, hopefully the little boogers will start eating again for you! Good luck!

[joker1]

Thanks. I am going to work on getting the temps up in their enclosures. Any tips on getting the heat up. I am using a heating pad (under tank) and a heat lamp in all enclosures. Would it be best to just up the bulb in the heat temp or is there a better solution? Thanks Again