Feeding Issues

At what point do you become concerned when a ball won’t feed? My female took her first feeding fine. She never actually struck, just kind of picked up the mouse and ate it. It’s ten days later and she shows no interest in feeding.

Do I wait for her to start cruising before trying again?




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I just read your other post and you are getting a thermostat Thursday and will have stable and proper temps on a go forward basis. That will help.

A few questions:

1. How old is your BP and how much does she weigh?

2. Do you know what she was eating before you got her and how often?

3. It sounds like you are feeding F/T and that's good. Are you feeding an appropriate sized prey item (feel free to ask or I can post a feeding chart if you are not sure) and are you defrosting it and offering it correctly (I can post a step by step list of how to properly defrost F/T prey and how to offer as well)?

4. How often are you offering food? When you say she has not interest, has she refused a meal, or more than one?

5. What size tank and what is the temp range (hot side, ambient, cool side) and what is humidity?

6. Are there at least two identical hides? At least one on the hot side and one on the cool side?

Quote:

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Originally Posted by dakski

I just read your other post and you are getting a thermostat Thursday and will have stable and proper temps on a go forward basis. That will help.

A few questions:

1. How old is your BP and how much does she weigh?

2. Do you know what she was eating before you got her and how often?

3. It sounds like you are feeding F/T and that's good. Are you feeding an appropriate sized prey item (feel free to ask or I can post a feeding chart if you are not sure) and are you defrosting it and offering it correctly (I can post a step by step list of how to properly defrost F/T prey and how to offer as well)?

4. How often are you offering food? When you say she has not interest, has she refused a meal, or more than one?

5. What size tank and what is the temp range (hot side, ambient, cool side) and what is humidity?

6. Are there at least two identical hides? At least one on the hot side and one on the cool side?

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I weighed her last week and she was 77g. She was born in July according to the breeder I got her from.

I don’t know what they were feeding her but I assume it was F/T.

Her first feeding was a hopper mouse which she ate but not aggressively. I tried another hopper mouse for her second feeding which she refused. Last night I tried an adult mouse which she refused as well. Her first feeding she didn’t take the mouse from me. She waited until I sat the mouse down then she slowly picked it up and ate it. She has refused about three feedings now. I’ve presented the prey in every way I can think of.

The tank is a 40 gallon. Eco Earth substrate, three hides. Humidity stays between 50-60. Cool side is 77, ambient fluctuates around 85, hot side stays close to 90.

My male Axanthic is in the enclosure with her and he eats great. They are the same age. I’ve tried feeding her in the enclosure and in a tub.



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Quote:

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Originally Posted by Jbabycsx

I weighed her last week and she was 77g. She was born in July according to the breeder I got her from.

I don’t know what they were feeding her but I assume it was F/T.

Her first feeding was a hopper mouse which she ate but not aggressively. I tried another hopper mouse for her second feeding which she refused. Last night I tried an adult mouse which she refused as well. Her first feeding she didn’t take the mouse from me. She waited until I sat the mouse down then she slowly picked it up and ate it. She has refused about three feedings now. I’ve presented the prey in every way I can think of.

The tank is a 40 gallon. Eco Earth substrate, three hides. Humidity stays between 50-60. Cool side is 77, ambient fluctuates around 85, hot side stays close to 90.

My male Axanthic is in the enclosure with her and he eats great. They are the same age. I’ve tried feeding her in the enclosure and in a tub.



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First of all your asking for trouble housing 2 snakes together. You didnt say how your feeding them both but I assume your removing one or they would already be locked onto each other.
Yout offering to much. This can become a bad habit of refusing. If she doesn’t take a feeding wait 2 weeks.. some Balls will eat every week and others wont. I have one that ate whenever id give her something and another that eats about every 3 weeks.. both healthy just different strokes for different folks (or snakes hahaha)
You need to do some research because by saying you hhave two snakes in the same enclosure tells me right off the bat you really don’t know what you’re doing because that’s the first No No besides No Tape or anything sticky.
The fact she is housed with another snake could be your main problem, that will sstress them right out they are not social animals at all.


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Problem 1 : they are housed together. You will have nothing but trouble that way. Seperate them asap and then we'll help from there.

Ok I will separate them tonight when I get off of work. I have a 20 gallon tank I can use to house one of them. I honestly never came across anyone that said you couldn’t house two of them together. Thanks for telling me that! I’m learning something new about this everyday.


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Quote:

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Originally Posted by Jbabycsx

Ok I will separate them tonight when I get off of work. I have a 20 gallon tank I can use to house one of them. I honestly never came across anyone that said you couldn’t house two of them together. Thanks for telling me that! I’m learning something new about this everyday.


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Cool. You’ll learn a lot here and it is all from people that really care and do things correctly. There are cases where one has eaten the other.. they can also have Rat breath after and mistake each other for Prey not to mention they will compete for the best area by laying on top of one another.. thats bot affection, thats competition [emoji1360]

https://ball-pythons.net/forums/show...nanks-one-tank


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Yeah I had no idea they were that territorial. It’s funny you mention the laying on top of each other thing. I assumed it was for warmth. It makes sense now. He is always covering her up.


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Snakes are now separated. Thanks again for the help.


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Success!!


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