160g baby ball python won't eat for me :(

Okay guys so I know this question has been answered about a million times and I know I shouldn't worry too much but I can't help but worry about him. My new male baby ball python Bubo is a bumblebee that I got 5 weeks ago. He is my second ball python but my first morph. My first ball python is a big ole happy normal that's 5 years old and eats every week. Today was feeding day and even though she was in shed (super dull bright blue eyes) she ate like champ! Strong strike and it's already eaten. Bubo on the other has not eaten for me once!! The breeder I got him from has been feeding him rat pups and that what I have been offering him every week. He has a pretty noticeable head wobble (does cork screws and bobbles his head sometimes) the man I got him from said he is a great feeder but when he got to me that all changed! So today when I fed him he struck and actually coiled around the rat pup for the first time! Every other time I've fed him he would just strike and strike relentlessly until the pup would get cold. Today he coiled for only a couple seconds but let go :( and showed no more interest in the pup. So I let the f/t pup sit in for a Lil while just to see if he wanted some privacy. But I've just checked on him after almost 15-30 minutes and he is just slithering around his enclosure hanging around on the vines not interested at all in his meal.

Ill tell you what's going on with his enclosure. He is in a 20g tank with two hides, one on the hot side one on the cool side. He has a piece of drift wood in there from petsmart and a water bowl that he can soak in with some plastic vines that he likes climbing on and chilling up there. He has a heat pad on the bottom of the tank on the hot side and its controlled by a Hydrotherm thermostat. I keep the heat pad set to 90. I also have a dimmer heat lamp on top of the tank with a daytime bulb and night time bulb. I just use the lamps to keep the ambient temp between 80-85. The cool side is at about 75-80. I have this same exact set up for my big female normal and she is happy and eating. Bubo has shed for me once though in one pretty long piece. I mist his tank daily to keep the humidity between 50-70%. I don't really know what's up with him :( I haven't been handling him at all. I only work around him to change his water are to mist his tank and attemp to feed him. He has bitten me twice didn't hurt at all, he tried to bite me again today though when I retrieved his ice cold rat pup from his tank. He would've nailed me if I didn't put the lid on fast enough. He did strike the screen though and had to pry himself off, which was the saddest thing I've ever seen :( I love my little guy very much and try to do all I can to make him happy but idk if its enough. Any advice will be appreciated Greatly! Sorry for the extremely long post. Please help.


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Oh some additional info. He was hatched 6/813. And I've even tried braining the rats to get him more interested in eating but it still hasn't worked :(


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You said the breeder was feeding pups, but were they live or f/t? You could always feed live until he's feeding reliably, then make the switch to f/t. Also, what are you measuring your temps with? And what is the hot side temp? You may have your tstat set to 90, but that doesn't necessarily mean that's the temps he's experiencing in the enclosure.

That's a good question, I just asked the breeder but he hasn't emailed me back yet. So ill let you know when he does. And I'm measuring temps with a Hyrdotherm thermostat. It regulates the uth and measures ambient temp and measures the humidity as well. I think it's pretty reliable though, I paid a pretty penny for it. I have the uth set at 90 and I keep a heat lamp on top to keep the ambient temp on the hot side at like 85. The cool side is at 75-80. If he doesn't start eating soon I may have to start feeding him live. I have this same set up for my female ball python Eva and she's been eating great for 5 years. This is my first experience with a very young snake that hasn't wanted to eat. Eva has always been a great eater. And I know it's nice and warm in his tank. Our house is very small and our thermostat is always set at 73 degrees. So it's not hard to keep temps at where they should be.


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He seems like a normal little guy. He stays in his hide all day but at night right when the sun goes down he explores his tank. He sheds fine he just won't eat for me.


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Hmm I've never heard of that model. Where are the probes at in the tank? Is there any way you could get your hands on a temp gun to check it against the Tstat?


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http://zoomed.com/db/products/EntryD...D=2&SearchID=5

Here's a link to the product you can check it out and see if its a nice thermostat or if I should get a better one. And the prob is right against the heat pad so it can control the temp. It's secured with aluminum foil tape. And the thermostat itself acts as a prob since it goes inside the tank for an ambient temp reading and humidity reading. But I'll definitely invest in a temp gun just to compare to make sure it's on point. It's just weird that he strikes at his food but doesn't coil around it at all. I don't understand why. I know he's hungry though. Today was the only day he coiled around his food but as fast as he coiled he let it go. Do you think his head wobble has something to do with his struggle to feed? It takes him forever to just strike the rat and when he does he usually misses. It seems like he really want to eat and is trying really hard but he's just struggling and idk why.


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Ok the breeder just emailed me back and he has been feeding all of his snakes LIVE!! that's why he won't eat for me! Ill definitely get him a live rat pup for him next Monday on feeding day :) ill keep you updated though and tell you if he ate! Thanks for all the advice though. I really needed some.


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Hang in there! The transition of a BP to a new home, new surroundings, and new feeding habits can be overwhelming. I have a couple I am trying to transition to F/T right now and it is slowly driving me nuts. :)

By the sounds of it he is showing interest in his F/T pup. If possible keep it warm and try to do the zombie dance with it. After they strike and coil I pull lightly on the F/T rat to encourage them to coil a bit tighter.

Good luck with your little guy!

Thanks for the encouragement! I really don't want to feed him live. I don't even know where I could get any live feeder rats. But he isn't dropping any weight so far so I'm hoping I can convert him over to f/t. Today was the first day he actually showed any interest in the pup by actually coiling for a couple seconds. So hopefully next week I will have more luck. If you have any more tips on how to convert him over to f/t I'd love to hear them all. If he doesn't eat next week ill try dipping the pup in some chicken broth. I hope he becomes more like my other snake Eva when I comes to eating. She'll eat anything I put in front of her, even if she's in shed lol.


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