Need Help

I've had my ball python for a year and a half now and things have been fine, hes on a dark wood bark substrate and i've been feeding him mice once a week of approximately the same size as his thickest point, hes been healthy up until now but in te past couple of days whenever i've been trying to handle him he has been hissing at me, at first I thought this was because he was hungry so I fed him, left him 2 days for digestion to start etc but he continued, so I tried lowering his heatmats etc in case he was overheating with all the hot weather we've been having recently but that hasn't helped, he also looks abit grey and msity as he normally does before his malting period, is this the cause or is he ill? any suggestions? thanks Andy

I think by malting you mean shedding? Some snakes get a little peeved around shedding time, leave him alone for a bit and see if he really looks like he's about to shed, (clouded over blue eyes). And if he does, make sure you raise your humidity a little bit, give him a warm bath(if he'll allow) or if you have a humid hide, make sure it's nice and humid for him.

how many mice are u feeding him every week? if its only one mouse then the guy is prolly still hungry shedding can cause them to be a lil hissy cuz they cant really tell whats coming at them so they get scared easy and hiss to scare u away.

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Originally Posted by mpkeelee

how many mice are u feeding him every week?

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Im feeding him one mouse every tuesday-thursday as I heard differeing the times between feeding would help him feed as he would in the wild and give him a longer life expectancy, but always at least one a week, the snake wieghs approximately 200-300 grams and im currently feeding him on frozen adult mice, as live mice are illegal to be sold as food in the UK.

I think you could up it too two mice. Our approx. 1 1/2 year old ball was on one mouse every week with his previous owner, and we tried two and he gobbled them both up :D

There is no reason to believe that restricting food will make a ball python live longer. It simply makes them much smaller animals as adults. Ball pythons continue to grow throughout their lifespan, but the rate of growth slows dramatically once they're around 3 years old.

This is the season when most ball pythons instinctively eat more. He may be hungry. In combination with going into shed, that could certainly result in crankiness.

200-300 grams for a snake that is 1 to 1 1/2 yrs old is very small! Based on the size you might want to feed it more. As the other poster stated...the only thing in regards to feeding that May cause your snakes life to be shorten is power feeding...and even if you are feeding it 2-3 mice on a 7 day schedule...it is NOT considered power feeding. (That is more like forcing another mouse into a snakes mouth as she is finishing the last one)

Also based the look you were describing I would think she is going into a shed. This can be very uncomfortable for them...hence they do not like to be handled.

It's best not to handle a snake that is opaque, anyhow. The underlying skin might be damaged.

wow... my snakies hit 400g in 6 months or less...... there is always the exception.... I dont ever feed mice unless I cant get them to take rats.... Actually started rasing my own asf's just for such pickey eaters. I would serously look at changing over to rats if at all possible.... Getting him on a regular feeding schedule, and increasing prey size should help.....