Havent eaten in almost 2 months please help

[Damen]

Hello everyone it's been a long time since i have been on here, well Damen is now in a 55 gallon and man does he try to exscape alot, anyways since i have put him in this bigger tank he has only eaten once since, for the past two that i have put the dam small rat in he shows a little bit of interest but then this rat will run up to damen's head and damen flips out and just hides. So i left the mouse in his tank over night and when i awoke the dam thing was still in there and it seems that they made a friend ship, what the hell do i do i am starting to get worried. Please does anyone have any suggestions?

thanks

[steveo]

Leaving a rat or a mouse in the tank unsupervised can be fatal to your snake , especially over night :eek:
what i would do is move the snake into a smaller enclosure make sure temps/humidity levels are correct and leave for him/her for a week then feed him either f/t or live (live feeding MUST always be supervised
)
i dont mean to sound rude to you , im just trying to get the point across that unsupervised live feeding can be dangerous to your snakes health...why risk it??

[Spaniard]

Well the first thing you shouldn't do again is leave a live prey item in with a snake over night. In fact there should never be a live item in your snakes tank without you watching it. If it doesn't happen in 15 minutes it isn't going to happen at all. You're lucky you didn't wake up to find your snake dead or missing an eye.

The reason he hasn't eaten is due to the fact that a 55 gallon tank is just way to big for a ball python. They do no like open spaces and I would assume that your temps and humidity aren't as constant as in a smaller enclosure. The behavior you described of your snake when feeding is typical of a snake with insecurity issues. I would move the snake back into a smaller tank and never feed live without supervising yourself.

[rabernet]

Wow, where to begin?

well Damen is now in a 55 gallon and man does he try to exscape alot

Hmmm, clearly he's trying to tell you that this new large enclosure is very stressful to him, and he's feeling a bit overwhelmed with so much space. Why not move him back to the enclosure he was comfortable in, in the first place?

anyways since i have put him in this bigger tank he has only eaten once since, for the past two that i have put the dam small rat in he shows a little bit of interest but then this rat will run up to damen's head and damen flips out and just hides.

Again, Damen is clearly stressed in his new HUGE enclosure. Again, have you considered moving him back to a smaller, more appropriately sized enclosure? How many other signals does he need to throw you that he's stressed? What's more important to you? His physical and emotional well-being, or keeping him in an enclosure that's stressing him out?

So i left the mouse in his tank over night and when i awoke the dam thing was still in there and it seems that they made a friend ship, what the hell do i do i am starting to get worried. Please does anyone have any suggestions?

First of all, you should NEVER leave a rodent overnight with your snake, especially an adult rat - which I'm assuming this was, not a fuzzy or pink, correct? And did you also make sure to leave water and food for the rat, so that if it got hungry it wouldn't choose your snake as its dinner?

If Damen isn't interested in the rat after about 20 minutes, you remove it and don't try again for the following week.

Get Damen back into a smaller, more appropriately sized enclosure, let him re-acclimate for at least a week before offering food. In the case of this stressed out snake, I'd recommend you give him THREE weeks to acclimate, with no handling, then offer a small/small rat to him.

[jglass38]

Wow, where to begin?




Hmmm, clearly he's trying to tell you that this new large enclosure is very stressful to him, and he's feeling a bit overwhelmed with so much space. Why not move him back to the enclosure he was comfortable in, in the first place?



Again, Damen is clearly stressed in his new HUGE enclosure. Again, have you considered moving him back to a smaller, more appropriately sized enclosure? How many other signals does he need to throw you that he's stressed? What's more important to you? His physical and emotional well-being, or keeping him in an enclosure that's stressing him out?



First of all, you should NEVER leave a rodent overnight with your snake, especially an adult rat - which I'm assuming this was, not a fuzzy or pink, correct? And did you also make sure to leave water and food for the rat, so that if it got hungry it wouldn't choose your snake as its dinner?

If Damen isn't interested in the rat after about 20 minutes, you remove it and don't try again for the following week.

Get Damen back into a smaller, more appropriately sized enclosure, let him re-acclimate for at least a week before offering food. In the case of this stressed out snake, I'd recommend you give him THREE weeks to acclimate, with no handling, then offer a small/small rat to him.

Tremendous advice!!

[Damen]

thank you for all your advice see i have talked to several pet stores and every one says that a 55 gallon is ok, but not to go any bigger. Yeah that was my mistake for leaving the rat in there over night, well i will be putting him back into his 30 gallon then tonight, see this is why i love this site. all of you have been a great deal of help. If there is anything anyone would like to add please do.

Thanks again