BP Feeding questions help for a newbie D:

I bought my first ball python a couple of weeks ago, and he's a real sweetie, but I haven't gotten him to eat yet.

When I first bought him it was 3 days prior to the next scheduled feed at the pet shop. I gave him a few days to settle in, and tried to feed him a thawed pinkie, but he didn't want it. So I gave him a couple more days thinking he hadn't quite settled enough, and then I bought a live one, because when I asked the petshop about it they said they fed their snakes live. I left the pinkie in the cage with him for several hours, and he still didn't eat it.

My friend said the pinkie was probably too small for him so I tried feeding him a thawed fuzzie yesterday, and he wasn't interested. I got a live one today and he smelled it, but was more interested in getting out of the cage than eating.

She said they go off feed for a while, so my question is how long do I wait for him to want to eat? Or how can I entice him to eat something?

Here's a photo I took for my friend to show the size of the pinkie I bought compared to my bp, Rizolli.
http://img12.imageshack.us/img12/944/rizolli.jpg

A fuzzy is still far too small. You want a rodent that is as big around as your snake is at its widest point. A hopper is what I would go with.

just a heads up, pet store employees generally know very little about reptiles and tend to give out bad information about them.

You should wait at least 4 days in-between feedings, no more than 7 days.

Do not handle your snake at all until he starts eating for you.

What are your cage temperatures/humidity?

What are you using to provide heat?

What are you using to measure temperatures/humidity?

Ok I'll leave him alone more then. I've been handling him a little everday after the first three days.

The temperature on the warm side is 80-85ish
I have a flat rock right under a ceramic heating bulb that almost hits 90


I have a digital thermometer sitting next to the flat rock to read the warm side.

I'm not certain on the exact humidity I've been misting twice a day. Once in the morning and once at night and I have a large water dish in the cool side.

ok, you need to make the hot side warmer. It should be 88-92 degrees. (if it isn't warm enough BP's won't eat. This might be part of your problem)

What do you have as far as hides go?

You should get on of these, they cost $12 at Walmart and measure 2 temperatures (hot side and cool side) and humidity all in one unit.

http://i1186.photobucket.com/albums/...nt/photo-3.jpg

What is the cool side temperature by the way?

I suggest you give this a read, it should help.

http://ball-pythons.net/forums/showt...ius)-Caresheet

Hey,

Congrats on the snake! The Serpent Merchant hit it right on the nose. He needs bigger for sure. If he still wont keep eating frozen you may have to feed him live at least a few times and then wean him off of live and onto f/t. Search around the forum there is alot of good advice on how to make the switch and tips and tricks on how to make your bp take f/t.

Also on a side note. What bedding are you using? The stuff in the pictures in my eyes is a big no no. Thats just my point of view though. I say this because snakes WILL ingest their bedding if it is loose bedding like bark or shavings. Its happened to mine. Its happened to a lot of peoples but what worries me about what you have is that if it ingests one of those large pieces it will start choking and you are gunna have to stick your fingers down there to get it. I have read about it happening and have read a few people on here have had that happen. What if it happened during the night while you were sleeping or while you were out of your house. Its not a risk to take my friend.

I go with paper towels. Others go with news paper. Both work, think about it. It may end up saving your snakes life.


Good luck,

- reptiliachnids

The Serpent Merchant : On the warm side I use several pieces of drift wood and on the cold side I have a hollow plastic rock

reptiliachnids: He's on Eco earth right now, that photo was when I first got him, the petstore didn't have any ecoearth bricks so I had to make due D:

Eco earth is safe right?

Eco-Earth is fine

you need better hides, that is the other piece of the puzzle.

there are some decent "natural" looking ones but these are the best:

http://i1186.photobucket.com/albums/...t/da98c371.jpg

They are sold here:

http://www.reptilebasics.com/hide-boxes

I would get the small size

These are the best because they are very durable, are easy to clean, and make your BP feel really secure.

They like a tight fit so no matter what hides you get keep that in mind

http://i1186.photobucket.com/albums/...t/21819934.jpg

You should have 2 identical hides. one on the hot side and one on the cool side. this allows them to thermoregulate properly. (BP's will sacrifice proper temperatures to feel secure)

Remember a hiding BP is a happy BP. they should hide during the day and come out at night.

Hide types are not important that you have them is. A good hide is on the small side, opaque, with out a opening that is O shaped it should be U shaped. The ones Aaron posted are great hides but there are certainly many many other options. Eco earth is fine. Wood chips are also fine ingestion happens but problems are uncommon and rarely life threatening. Paper towel ingestion is often lethal, I would never suggest paper towel for anything but a hatchling.

http://www.redtailboas.com/f16/hopef...ll-make-42177/

You really need to keep hands off your new snake yes it is hard I usually wait to handle until 48 hours after the first meal. Small snakes do not 'go' off food that is a adult trick. Temps are critical with all reptiles. Ideally you need 88-90 inside the hot side hide and 78-82 inside the cool hide and an air temp between 77º-85º I try to avoid the wings 80º is usually thought to be quite reasonable. As snakes age the hot side temp range changes to 90-94º but small snakes produce (proportionally) more heat during exercise and digestion and that will often add core temp and hide temp so the adult range is not needed. I have measured +3º 9 hours after feeding, higher than regulated.

I think Aaron has you covered. Getting temps right, better, more secure hides, and no handling until he is eating regularly. Then ease into short handling sessions. 5 minutes or so at a time every few days, and working up. Also, prey size does need to be upped. If you have a scale, 10-15% of snakes weight is what prey size should be. Or you can eyeball it and get a rodent as big around as your snakes widest part.. Usually if a young bp won't eat its due to husbandry. Once you get all that squared away, you should be fine! Welcome to bp.net! Oh, and hides Aaron posted are the BEST!! You can order them from reptile basics.

Ok I got an UTH and put it directly under his warm hide which is a repti-shelter cave. Inside there is about 90-93. I've noticed him crawling back and forth between the hides a lot more where as before he used to just sit on one side of the tank for days.I also added some sphagnum moss to keep up the humidity. The cold side is still a little cold, should I get a weaker heating bulb for that side?