snake wont eat?!? what do i do??

[JM_90]

my snake will not eat. its a ball python. ive had him for over two weeks now and he jus wont eat. what do i do? he has only ate once since hes hatched and i didnt even own him yet.

[littleindiangirl]

Woot, back up. Here, read this and answer, it will help us to help you.

Okay first things first, Chuck. You need to think like a snake here. This snake is fairly young. She's just come into your home recently, a home with new smells, new routines, new vibrations, etc. She doesn't have the mental capacity to understand these changes. She's a creature driven by instincts and the greatest of those is simply to survive. Part of that survival instinct is also to feed but if she's stressed, she'll pass on that for now.

Handling stresses these snakes. They aren't domesticated or tame pets even if they are hatched in captivity from captive snakes. They can get used to us and learn to tolerate our handling but I truly don't believe they can ever be like our pet dog or cat in that they seek or want handling from us. Think of handling like a gift the snake allows you. For now that gift isn't one you should be seeking from this young, stressed non-eater.

Focus on the basics. Make sure your enclosure is correct and appropriate for a ball python of this age/size. Make sure the room you keep this snake in is quiet and has low traffic. Do not handle the snake or bother it unduly. Don't allow others to constantly bug at the snake or it's enclosure. Don't constantly push food at it. Allow this shy, young snake to start to feel at home in it's new home. Basically leave it be and let it settle in for the next 5 days or so (that's dependent of course on whether she's currently set up properly).

To help you more it would be helpful to know more about this snake and it's home and your routines.

Where did you get this snake from?
How long have you had this snake?
Describe in detail the housing this snake lives in (size, substrate, hides provided, heating source, temps and humidity and how you measure those as well as where the enclosure is located in your home - pictures help here).
What have you tried to feed and how often?
What information do you have about this snakes routines prior to you purchasing it? (things like when it fed, what it ate, how often it ate, etc.)

Refusing to eat, Chuck, isn't a problem. It's a symptom or a sign of a problem or set of problems. Let's try to figure out what those problems are and hopefully get your snake eating and you feeling a bit better about the situation.

[TanyaL]

Great post by Frankykeno!

[JM_90]

ok well i got the snake from a private breeder that i kno. it lives in a twenty gallon tank set up wit a hot and cool side with hides at both ends. humidity goes between 60-65 normally. ive tried live and dead pinkies and even tried a dead fuzzie. i tried to feed it a week after i got it and now another week later ive tried again and it still didnt want to eat. and it only ate once since it was born but the guy said he had no problem at all getting it to eat.

[blackcrystal22]

Wow, that post explains everything off the bat!

Since you've only had the snake 2 weeks, you've probably tried to feed too much. My snake stopped eating for almost 4 months. 2 weeks is a bigger deal for a young snake, but you need to check all your husbandry details and most likely, there are one or two things that you will need to be prepared to change.

The most important thing is enclosure size. If your using a glass tank, and this snake is very young anything over a 15 gallon is too large and a 10 gallon is desirable. If your using a tub a 6quart or a 15 quart is good.
If your using a glass tank, you also need to cover up 3 of the 4 sides with something dark.

For substrate if you are using cedar, pine, or sand it needs to be removed immediately. Good choices for substrate include aspen, paper towels, newspaper, or reptile barks.

Hides are very important for ball python security. You should have to identical and tight hides that touch the ball python on all sides. Log hides can be stressful and are not very good. One hide should be on the warm side and the other on the cool side with the water bowl.

Temperatures need to be between 80-85 on the cool side/ambient air temperatures and the warm side should be between 90-93. Humidity should be between 50-60%.

Those are just some of the important basics, go to this caresheet on ball pythons for complete information.
http://www.ball-pythons.net/modules....warticle&id=59

[blackcrystal22]

ok well i got the snake from a private breeder that i kno. it lives in a twenty gallon tank set up wit a hot and cool side with hides at both ends. humidity goes between 60-65 normally. ive tried live and dead pinkies and even tried a dead fuzzie. i tried to feed it a week after i got it and now another week later ive tried again and it still didnt want to eat. and it only ate once since it was born but the guy said he had no problem at all getting it to eat.

If your talking about pinkie mice those are too small. Food items should be about the same size as the thickest point on the snake.. fuzzy mice are too small too.
Right now you need to try to feed him a very small Petco mouse, pick the smallest one you can and it needs to be LIVE.
Don't try to feed frozen right now, you need to get him eating before you even consider feeding f/t.
A 20 gallon cage is much too large. You need to move him immediately to a smaller cage. That is the reason my ball wasn't eating for so long and he ate when I moved him to his 15q tub.

[frankykeno]

my snake will not eat. its a ball python. ive had him for over two weeks now and he jus wont eat. what do i do? he has only ate once since hes hatched and i didnt even own him yet.

I'm still trying to figure out how you have the snake in your home but don't "own" it????

Why in the world did someone sell you a hatchling so young it's only had 1 feeding when you obviously are new to keeping ball pythons let alone a fragile little hatchling? I think you need to be having a conversation with this breeder about why they put this responsibility on to you instead of properly starting this snake themselves prior to selling it.

[Chuck1289]

hahaha that post was too me!!!!

[JM_90]

yay he ate!! woohoo!

[Sonya610]

I'm still trying to figure out how you have the snake in your home but don't "own" it????

I believe he meant that the one time the snake ate was at the breeders, and at that time he did even own it yet.