First Time Feeding!

[nlankas]

Hi, i just got my ball python about a week and a half ago, and my roomates and I thought it was a good time to feed her yesterday. she's about 2 1/2 feet at the moment and she ate a few days before we bought her according to the petstore worker. The problem is she didn't eat the mouse whatever way we tried, so does anyone have any ideas on what we should do? thanks.

[lillyorchid]

Give her time to settle in. A week and a half is a very short period of time for a snake to make a huge adjustment like that. Try feeding her next week but in the mean time don't handle her at all. Do you know if the pet store was feeding her mice or rats... Live or frozen? Also run over your temps and humidity and make sure they are all correct. 80-85 for the cool side. 90-93 on the warm side. 50-60% humidity.

PS. Welcome to the Ball Python world!

[xdeus]

Allison gave great advice. Your snake probably need more time to settle in, but it may also be a husbandry issue. Can you describe the setup and/or take a picture of her cage? Also, how is she behaving? They should be sleeping in their hide most of the day and possibly roaming around at night.

[nlankas]

geez...that was quick...thanks alot for the advice, but yeah i was doing some research and did feel that might be the reason too. It's hard because I'm in college right now and I live off campus with my friends and they always want to play with her, which I know might not be the best for the snake, but all I can say is they paid for her too.
From what I know, the storekeeper was feeding her the same kind of mouse he sold us yesterday, like a typical small-medium sized mouse (white). We told him we wanted to feed her once a week at least, so she can grow bigger, so he picked the size mouse for us.
It could also be a problem with the temperature though, i'm in Santa Monica right now, and the past few weeks have been pretty cold. We have a clamp lamp, a ceramic light, and an under the tank heat pad as well, but it seems as if it isn't enough to get the tank warm.
Other than that, she handles fine and isn't aggresive or shy at all when we take her out. I'll try to post pictures up of our setup here, but please don't be too harsh on the judging. thanks again.

[nlankas]

My temperature and humdity right now are 63% and 78.4 F and everything's on and working okay.

[nlankas]

http://www.ball-pythons.net/gallery/...4/0/SMC116.jpg
http://www.ball-pythons.net/gallery/...4/0/SMC111.jpg
http://www.ball-pythons.net/gallery/...4/0/SMC119.jpg
http://www.ball-pythons.net/gallery/...4/0/SMC118.jpg
http://www.ball-pythons.net/gallery/...4/0/SMC120.jpg
http://www.ball-pythons.net/gallery/...4/0/SMC121.jpg
http://www.ball-pythons.net/gallery/...4/0/SMC124.jpg
http://www.ball-pythons.net/gallery/...4/0/SMC125.jpg
http://www.ball-pythons.net/gallery/...4/0/SMC131.jpg
http://www.ball-pythons.net/gallery/...4/0/SMC132.jpg

[nlankas]

the pictures of her in the cage are from a few minutes ago, and the ones with her out of the cage were from when we just got her.

[dr del]

She's a real looker.


It has to be said the cage set up needs a fair bit of tweaking so bear with us.

Temps first - was that 78.4f on the cool or warm side? The recomended temperatures are 80-85 cool sode and 90-95 warm end. This means your temps are one reason she might be off her food.

Another is hides. Ball pythons are really quite shy snakes on the whole and to be happy its best top give them 2 identicle hides - one on the cool end and one on the warm end. This means they never have to choose between the hide they prefer and the temperature they prefer.

Heres a link to the caresheet which has a lot of the information you will need to know. Dont be afraid to ask any specific questions that you dont see covered though. To sort out the heating and hides (the two most important problems I think your suffering from) check out the "caging" section of this site or use the search - there is a wealth of information on here but it is occasionally tricky to find.


oh and welcome to the wonderfull world of ball pythons.



dr del

[nlankas]

thanks dr. del, she is gorgeous, which is one of the reasons why we got her.
i know, the temperatures are too low, which is what we told the guy at the pet store, but he said it was fine? Our setup right now averages around 80 F on the warm side everyday, but drops to around 65-70 F at night! this is with how the cage is right now. The problem is, we can't seem to get the temperature to rise at all, even when we put everything on one side, like how it is currently. This is the only way we can even keep the temp. above 80 F.

[nlankas]

another thing, it seemed as if she was scared of the mouse, or wasn't even interested in it, for example, there were points where she was staring the mouse right in the face, but instead of going for it, she turned away and went to the other side of the cage. any comments?