feeding issues

[uro1001]

i am not experienced with ball pythons. i have a 700 gram female that was aquired from a redneck that tried to feed it grass(shes that stupid) and said she found it in her yard(this is at a flea market in florida) so long story short the bit** flicked its head and what not until the poor thing was completely horrified of any movement including food(rats) and she was about 150-200 grams at the time. now as previously mentioned shes 700 grams and still horrified of any monvement including food. best thing that happens is she strikes at a rat/mouse for defence when they come to close to her. ive tried f/t(sat for 2 hours trying to get her to eat) and nothing. is there a way to entice her lose her fear of movement?

ps:its been 5 months 3 days since the last feed.

[Nate]

Well one piece of advice that I am a fan of is 8Ball Adam's advice. Wad up some newspaper and put it in its enclosure to make it feel more secure.

Can you give us some info on the set up? temps? humidity? # of hides? size of enclosure?

[West Coast Jungle]

If she has grown from 150 to 700 grms she is obviously eating some thing. What was she previously eating. I had a very shy snake that would not eat until 2-3 in the morning when all was still and I was asleep. So what I did until he got over it was leave a live rat pup with him over night and it would be gone in the morning. The rat pup had no teeth to speak of and could not do any harm to the snake. Some times we are impatient with trouble snakes and want to see them eat right away! While this is normal for most snakes there are exceptions and we need to be patient. Some times leaving some stinky rodent bedding in the snake enclosure prior to introducing the rodent will get them sniffing and excited. Snakes that have been bitten by rodents will sometimes be shy for weeks but they usually get over it and hunger eventually takes over. With BP's you need to be patient with problem feeders and not force them. If temps and humidity are correct they will eventually feel comfortable and start eating. A vet visit may be a good iadea to rule out parasites or respitory infection or some other problem if all else fails. Good Luck!

[Thunder Kat]

I got my girl from a pet store with the same problem. Try lightly rubbing chin so he knows not all movement = pain. I'm sure more experinced people might have better ideas but it worked for me. Some people shouldn't even be around animals let alone have pets. I'm glad you got him before it was too late, kutos, and good luck!