How to deal with a wild caught snake

[DAVIDOFF]

Hi
I have a big problem here, i am dealing with a wild caught BP and its refusing to eat . The vet had a look at him (i am not sure she knew exactly what she was doing) and told me he was doing fine , not very dehydrated , not very skinny . When i told her he refuses to eat , she replied to me he will eventually when he is hungry ... any snake will eat sooner or later ?/
I was not very conicned by her comments , so i am ask you guys how to deal with this ... I am ordering very soon a whole cage system with thermometer and humidity checker ... So that will come soon.
Currently my snake is in a plastic box , hidden somewhere very dark so that he doesnt get stressed .
Thank you.
PS : Some members here have really helped me a lot and i am so gratefull to them .. they know who they are . Thank you.

[Nate]

have you tried different feed methods? f/t, p/k, live?

[CntrlF8]

Refusing meals is not uncommon in ball pythons, especially new ones. From what I understand this is a new pet for you. My advice would be to leave him/her alone in the enclosure except to clean and attempt to feed once a week. If his health becomes an issue due to not feeding other measures can be taken, but don't panic too quickly.. A healthy BP can live for months (I read reports of up to 22 months) without eating anything.

[DAVIDOFF]

Hi i have tried live mouses, live baby rats , even baby hamsters...
nothing wont even eat .As a matter of fact he will curl around and turn ?//

[xdeus]

Your snake may not eat until it feels comfortable and secure in an adequate environment. In spite of what your vet stated, some snakes have been known to starve themselves to death if they remain stressed. I would suggest that you keep trying to feed once a week with the same type of meal. If you can't find out what your snake has eaten in the past, your best bet would be to try a small live mouse or gerbil. Try to feed it about an hour after dark and try not to disturb your snake after you introduce the food. Also, do not handle your snake until it starts to eat for you.

Good luck!

[Freakie_frog]

WC animals are know for being problem feeders. It might take weeks or even months of then settling in. How long have you allowed it to settle in and what is your set up like. ??

[DAVIDOFF]

Hi
Well the snake is currently in a rubbermaid box big enough for him to curl around . I am trying to buy online and get it shipped here to the middel east a complete cage set up so that might take some time. I have checked the temperature of the room were he is kept . Its around 37 degree ,but i maintain it at around 35 by using a fan .
So i guess i have to wait untill he is confortable enough , but to be honest before when i used to hold him he was so energetic and used to curl all around me , but now the more i read the more i realise that i should have kept him in a dark , dark , pitch black place for weeks to let him settle .
Will try this and hope for the best

[Nate]

it should be around 28 (cool side), 34 (warm side)

[frankykeno]

You've seen the vet, you've got the snake set up in a safe, secure container in a quiet dark place and it has clean water to drink. That's about all you can do at this time really.

The biggest thing we've seen with the three WC adults we've worked with and everything I can read on the subject, is to minimize their stress. Stress can really knock a snake down, way worse than not eating in many peoples minds. Tracey Barker (an expert in this field by anyone's standards) refers to this as "the-lights-are-on-but-nobody's-home syndrome" (LONHS). She says basically that the snake, after living it's life in a very small area in the wild, is in shock so it's adjustment takes a long time.

Since I'm no expert I'll quote some excerpts directly from Tracey...we are going to be following this ourselves with our current WC adult female who is a non-feeder at this point but is still in good body weight (much as yours is)...hope it helps...

Ball pythons in the throes of LONHS can look good, move normally (when they are not coiled tightly in a ball), look around, flick their tongues out, and in general seem to be happy snakes. The diagnosis of LONHS is a matter of realizing the history of a snake, and also taking into account the fact that it has never fed and that it shows no interest in any food presented to it.

It's true that offering a live rodent will sometimes entice a snake that has been reluctant to feed; however, it's not a good thing to try ive rodents on a snake with LONHS. The problem is that if the snake does not eat immediately, the rodent will walk all over the snake, and that annoyance can drive the snake deeper into LONHS.


Actually, it's easy to start a wild-caught snake. It just takes time, perserverance, and patience. When we receive any wild-caught adult snake, we automatically assume that it is suffering from some degree of LONHS. We first examine the snake closely to be certainthere are no medical problems requiring our immediate attention. We then set up the snake in a cage. We use either newspaper or aspen bedding, a hide boxx, and a water bowl. We then put the cage in a quiet place, away from noise and activity. From that point on, we do not disturb the snake, we don't handle it, we don't touch it. We lift its hide box to look at it once a week, just a quick peek. We keep its water clean. If the snake is out, active and exploring (usually only young adults do this), we offer it a dead small rat. If the snake stays in the hide box, then after a week or so, we place a dead rodent in the cage near the entrance to the hide box. In some cases the rat is eaten, but more commonly it is not.

At this point, we start peeking in the cage, looking at the doorway of the hide box. Eventually, usually two to four months after the arrival of the snake, when you peek in you will see the snake, inside the hide bos with its head in the doorway, peeking out. It's hunting. It's awake. It has shaken off the bonds of LONHS. When we see it peering out, we open the cage - quietly as possible - and lay a dead small rat at the door to the hide box. We then close the cage and leave the area for at least twelve hours. Invariably the rat is gone when we check back. Four or five days later, we lay another rat at th edoor, and usually it will disappear as well. After we have succeeded in getting the snake to eat three meals, we begin to handle it - minimally at first - working to acclimate it to us and our collection. Once it has fed, it's on its way to a very successful stay.

The interesting thing about these ball pythons that went for more than a year without feeding is that they lost very little weight during their extended fasts. And it's possible that they had been fassting for some period of time before we received them. Even the snakes that went 27 months without feeding looked like normal ball pythons - a little rangy, maybe, but not emaciated at all.

One the other hand, we have seen other nonfeeding adult imported ball pythons suffering from LONHS, usually pet-store snakes, that were handled every day. These animals never fed, visibly lost weight until they looked skeletal, and died within four or five months. We can't quantify it, but to us it seems a spectacular example of the harmful effects of additional stress caused by human contact on a snake that is already terribly stressed by its removal from the wild.

You may want to do follow up research at www.vpi.com and also consider purchasing their books/tapes which are just invaluable resources.

[Lucifer]

Dont know if this has been posted, but since he is WC, try gerbils...they dont eat mice in the wild, and very rarely do you NOT have a problem switching prey items on even CB balls.

You said you tried hamsters, wrong route...try gerbils.


***Edit*** Anybody can correct me if im wrong, but as far as i know, gerbils are their natural diet when they are wild.


Hope that helps!