Our Ball Python we just bought won't eat and it's been three weeks!

Hi there,

My sons ages 15 and 18 love snakes and they have begged for one for years so I finally caved since they are both good kids get good grades and even though I am not necessarily a snake person I finally gave in and bought one for them. We bought a nine month old female Mojave Ball Python. We bought her a on a Sunday almost three weeks ago and she had eaten that morning. Her belly still had a bump so we knew this to be true. The following Sunday we went to Petco and bought three frozen mice, thawed one out per the recommendations given to us and tried to feed it to our snake. She wanted nothing to do with it. We tried again a few days later and still no interest. By the following Sunday she was beginning to shed so we didn't think she would want to eat so we waited a few more days. Yesterday, my son thawed out another hopper, put chicken broth on it and she still has no interest in eating. Can anyone give me any other tips on how to entice our snake to eat? My son is trying to be a wonderful snake owner and he is very discouraged and worried about his snake. I really don't want to resort to live feeding. If anyone has any suggestions, please share!

Thanks!

Maureen

Information about your setup is helpful - type of enclosure, temperatures, humidity, hides, etc. If those are off, that could lead to feeding issues.

Also, what was she eating before you bought her? Live or frozen? If live, you may have to do that before you can covert her to frozen.


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What was its history from where you got it?

Read and then re-read this: http://ball-pythons.net/forums/showt...-hatchling-101

This just happened to me. I've read the new environment can cause them to go off feed. In my case she was just about to go into shed which I've also read will cause some hesitation in feeding.

First, check all your temps. If hot, cool, and humidity is spot on, then what happened the first week, did you handle her a lot or leave her alone to get used to her new home, She should have 2 hides both the same, one on hot side and one on warm side. Did you heat the food to 100 degrees before you offered it. You can do this by heating the head with a hair dryer, or putting the food item in a baggy and warm in hot tap water for 5 mins. If the breeder fed live then feed live and slowly convert her to ft. If she was eating rats feed rats, Try not to make any big changes all at once, this causes stress and stress is the biggest reason for not eating. Don't handle her till you get a few meals into her. Without seeing your set up this is all i can think of. Hope this helps, good luck.

Definitely some information about your setup would be helpful, maybe some pictures.

On a side note if you're feeding and they don't eat, I wouldn't try to offer anything before a week after you tried. That will only serve to stress the snake out more.