peculiar feeding situation

[tazron]

New ball owner here. My sons 8 (or so) month old ball has been an awesome immediate feeder. He has shed with us twice and looks great. We went from frozen fuzzies to small frozen mice. Has fed on the mice 3 times. This last feeding (last thursday) he is not interested in the food. He goes toward it then shows no further interest and just moves away. We have tried every day for the past 4 days to feed him. He has eaten regardless of his shedding until now. The past two tries (two days ago and yesterday) he opened his mouth as if to yawn but never showed interest in the food. His eyes are a bit bluish but not shedding yet.
We are stumped. Could someone shed some light on what is happening and why he opens his mouth wide with no intention of striking(only whille in the feed box)

Thanks,
Ron

[Indigo]

Try it again once he sheds. And going without for a couple weeks isn't going to hurt him.

[Thor26]

my 8 month old ball is on jumbo mice how often are you feeding him?

[tazron]

feeding him weekly

[tazron]

any ideas on the "yawning"? only seen him do this in the feeding box the last two tries.

[frankykeno]

Ron, the yawning may be related to his shed cycle or it may indicate the beginnings of an RI. Keep a close eye on that and do check your temps in his enclosure and listen to his breathing closely just to be sure. If you've any worries it's health related don't hesitate to check that with your herp vet.

Since you mentioned a "feeding box" I'm assuming you are feeding him in a seperate container. If you are trying to feed every day for 4 days that means that you are removing this snake from his home, his safe zone, every day. This isn't going to encourage him to hunt, it's just going to tick him off and make him defensive and antsy. There's no really solid reason to feed these shy snakes outside their homes but there's also no harm in it if the snake feeds well. However, pulling him out daily to offer food just isn't going to work. Even offering food daily in their own home just tends to put them off.

Keep an eye on the snake regarding that yawning, double check your temps and humidity and just leave him be is my best advice. Whent the shed is over, offer him his normal prey item either in his home or in his feeding box (personally I feed all ours in their own enclosures) and see how it goes. If a health snake skips the occasional week it's no big deal. It's not like in the wild someone is running by every Thursday at 8 p.m. to hand out the rats. These snakes are very well fed in captivity and can easily manage an off week here or there.

[tazron]

Franky,

Temps are in the high 80's humidity 40 percent.
We are in Phoenix some days it may get to about 90 in the hot end of the cage still mid 80s in the cooler end.

[beardieguy]

try to keep the humidity 50 to 60 percent and 60 to 70 percent during shed cycle the yawing is normal too a certain extent as long as no mucus bubbles or popping noises are heard.the first thing my bp does when he gets out of his hide is yawn and hes fine

[tazron]

I have had a hard time keeping up the humidity. Very dry here.

Any suggestions. I am using aspen bedding in a glass enclosure with a screen top and a heat lamp.

[Reptile Man]

I live in pheonix too and it could be that maybe it just doesnt want to eat