Concerns....

[AustimusMaximus]

I picked up my first BP almost 4 weeks ago and i'm starting to get a tad worried about it. It's housed in a 30qt. 7x17x23 rubbermaid container, with UTH's on each side each controlled by a dimmer. The temps are staying at a constant 92ish and 82ish with only a small amount of fluctuation. I am starting to get a little worried, because in the time ive had it, it has refused to eat. It had a complete shed on the 20th and overall looks quite healthy, with no mites or signs of infection. The dealer i purchased it from said that his snakes were eating CO2 gassed fuzzies on a regular basis. Is the snake refusing food because im trying to feed him f/t mice? Is there a trick to changing them over to different types of food? hope to get him eating before he gets any leaner.... thanks

[shadraak]

i've been told on another forum that i've been on, that try dropping the heat on the warm side, to low to mid 80's and then the cool side to mid - high 70's that it will often keep them more stimulated for food, the hot temps just causes problems sometimes....but you can read it on redtailboa.net under my own post of BP refresher.

[Jeanne]

Do not worry about your temps. It has been my experience that the temps reccommended to you by Shad are detrimental to your snakes health potentially. Can you tell us how you are thawing out your mice? It may be that they are not warm enough, wet, etc.

[frankykeno]

Congrats on the new bp and I wouldn't suggest dropping temps either.

It's sometimes best to stick with success when you are getting a new BP in, then change it over to your preferred prey type and method of offering prey once you have it eating consistently for you. Is there any way you can get rat fuzzies for it from the person you purchased it from (if they are local) or from another supplier?

Welcome to BPNet!

[rabernet]

i've been told on another forum that i've been on, that try dropping the heat on the warm side, to low to mid 80's and then the cool side to mid - high 70's that it will often keep them more stimulated for food, the hot temps just causes problems sometimes....but you can read it on redtailboa.net under my own post of BP refresher.

Hmm, hopefully Adam will step in, but I believe he's told me that a warm ball python is a hungry ball python and that bumping their temps UP a few degrees may help stimulate the feeding response. I don't recall a recommendation of dropping them before.

Hopefully Adam will correct me if I've "mis-remembered"

[JLC]

Something else to consider besides temps right now (because yours seem fine to me) might be stress. Do you handle the snake often? Is its cage in a high traffic or noisy area? Here is a trick you could try:


Make sure the cage is in a quiet room. Take some newspapers and crumple them up (not tight little wadded balls, but just crumpled) and fill the cage with the paper....right over the top of the hides and such. Wait a week, and then try feeding him/her with the newspapers still in there. If it eats, then you can start gradually reducing the amount of paper each week until there is none in there. Meanwhile, don't mess with or handle your little friend at all...just provide fresh water and make sure the cage isn't soiled...nothing more than that, until they are eating regularly for you.

[iceman25]

What are you using to measure your temps? Are you using a digital thermometer or are you using one of those analog dial thingies? Try what everyone has suggested except lowering the temps scenario!

Make sure you have everything setup correctly as far as temps/humidity/hides go. Leave the animal alone for a week except spot cleaning and providing fresh drinking water. Fill the enclosure with crumpled up newspaper as Judy suggested and try feeding again in a week!

If you have been feeding FT, try switching over to a live mouse if you are not opposed to that type of feeding. Also, leave the mouse in the room for about 30minutes before feeding the snake. This "scenting," will get the bp into feeding mode. If you are going to try live feeding, make sure the mouse has been well fed! Attempt feeding during the time of day when ur bp is most active! Good luck.

[elevatethis]

i've been told on another forum that i've been on, that try dropping the heat on the warm side, to low to mid 80's and then the cool side to mid - high 70's that it will often keep them more stimulated for food, the hot temps just causes problems sometimes....but you can read it on redtailboa.net under my own post of BP refresher.

Just a heads up to anyone new to this reading that post- this dude is completely wrong. Deliberately dropping temps on a ball python will NEVER stimulate their appetite. What he's saying is that the warm-up will magically make their appetite come back. This is complete bullcrap. These temperature fluctuations will just make the problem worse.

[elevatethis]

The dealer i purchased it from said that his snakes were eating CO2 gassed fuzzies on a regular basis. Is the snake refusing food because im trying to feed him f/t mice? Is there a trick to changing them over to different types of food? hope to get him eating before he gets any leaner.... thanks

My first instinct is to say that the "dealer" had no clue when your snake last ate. Unfortunately there's people out there that will lie just to make a sale.

In any event, the best you can do for him is keep the temps you have 92 hot 82 cool and try to not to disturb him as much as you can. After a couple weeks of seclusion and good temps, his appetite should come right back. If he continues to refuse f/t or p/k, there's no harm in offering live food. Your focus now is to get him eating. You can always switch him back down the road once you get him feeding consistently.

[AustimusMaximus]

OK thanks for all the suggestions. Someone asked what type of thermometer i am using; its one of the Accurite kind from walmart. Also, whats the best way to reheat a F/t mouse? currently i am heating a bowl of water in the microwave, putting the mouse in a plastic bag, then thawing it in that, but that gets the mouse kind of.... juicy. Should i leave the mouse in the cage for a while or dangle it around in front of him? Should i leave the snake in his hide and put the mouse out front of it or take the hide off of him? I am kind of inclined to believe the dealer about the eating thing, he is really "plump".