Baby Ball Not Eating

So I believe we tried everything. I have a baby mojave female that will not eat. She is in a 10 gallon tank with a zilla hide water and its roughly 90 on hot end and 85 on cool end. It’s a small tank so the temps will not be that big in difference. I have had the most patients with this one and for some reason she is testing it lol. I played the waiting game, wait a week and trying to feed nothing. Wait a week and a half and try to feed, nothing. We even cut her off from society by not letting anyone hold her, see her or even know of her. Her tank was wrapped with paper towels so no one could look in and she couldn’t look out. We are trying to get her use to her surroundings. We are now going to wait a 2 weeks and try to feed her again. We know not to keep attempting because of stress. I feel as if we are getting more stressed out than she is.

any suggetions would be greatly appreciated.

How long have you had her? How many times have you tried to feed?

What do you measure the temps with? Analog or digital?

What size is she, and what are you trying to feed her? Live or FT?

Have you cluttered up her tank with newspaper balls?

Have you prescented an hour before feeding?

I personally think the warm side could drop a little bit. I prefer the ambient to be right around 82, especially in a tank that size, there is very little real gradient. But that's up for debate...

We have had her since the last hamberg expo. I would say she is bout 2 months old. I believe the weight was 57g yesterday when we weighted her. She is very young. Yesterday we tried a mouse pinky. I left the pinky on top of her cage in a bag for at least an hour before we tried to feed her, I even left the pinky in over night and when I left for work this morning she was still in there. My buddy will be checking again when he wakes up in about an hour. We are looking into buying a digital therm and a temp gun. We will need them we just built a rack and are other ball pythons are in there. i will tell him to put the crumbled paper in the tank and have him change the bulb to lower the temp we also tried soaking her before a feeding. Like I said we tried a lot of things.

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Originally Posted by Headsy

We have had her since the last hamberg expo. I would say she is bout 2 months old. I believe the weight was 57g yesterday when we weighted her. She is very young. Yesterday we tried a mouse pinky. I left the pinky on top of her cage in a bag for at least an hour before we tried to feed her, I even left the pinky in over night and when I left for work this morning she was still in there. My buddy will be checking again when he wakes up in about an hour. We are looking into buying a digital therm and a temp gun. We will need them we just built a rack and are other ball pythons are in there. i will tell him to put the crumbled paper in the tank and have him change the bulb to lower the temp we also tried soaking her before a feeding. Like I said we tried a lot of things.

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She is incredibly small, and most likely sold to you without taking her first meal? This isn't great for her or you, it will be harder to eat I suspect.

Fill up her tank with the newspaper balls as soon as possible. Keep her in a very secluded place, dont bother her.

A mouse pinky is very small, and provides no nutrition or stimulation. I would try a mouse crawler or rat pup equivilent in size.

Prescenting with a pinky isn't prescenting, there isn't any scent there to give off. Go to a pet store, ask for a cup of soiled mouse or rat bedding. Before you feed, around 9 at night, put the cup in her tank, or right on top.

Around 10 at night put the mouse or rat in there, and leave. Check in the morning. (prey that small cannot bite, they have no teeth)

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Originally Posted by littleindiangirl

She is incredibly small, and most likely sold to you without taking her first meal? This isn't great for her or you, it will be harder to eat I suspect.

Fill up her tank with the newspaper balls as soon as possible. Keep her in a very secluded place, dont bother her.

A mouse pinky is very small, and provides no nutrition or stimulation. I would try a mouse crawler or rat pup equivilent in size.

Prescenting with a pinky isn't prescenting, there isn't any scent there to give off. Go to a pet store, ask for a cup of soiled mouse or rat bedding. Before you feed, around 9 at night, put the cup in her tank, or right on top.

Around 10 at night put the mouse or rat in there, and leave. Check in the morning. (prey that small cannot bite, they have no teeth)

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Excellent advice. Also I would up the prey size to a small hopper if you can find one.

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Originally Posted by JasonG

Excellent advice. Also I would up the prey size to a small hopper if you can find one.

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I'm not all up on mouse sizes, but for her first meal and her size, I think a hopper would be too big in this case... she is only 50 grams. Most hatclings are bigger aren't they?

Headsy...where are you located? You may want to find a local breeder to assist you in this case. 2 months and 50g is starting to push the limits. Have you tried assist feeding? I have an 08 hatchling in the same boat. I have to force feed it. This would be something you would probally need help doing. It is VERY stressful on the snake and the owner.

2 months is the oldest i would say if not younger. we are from philly pa. the changes are now going into affect. my buddy is up and adding the crumpled newspaper and changing the bulb. now would it be good to try and feed her tonight? the petstore is right around the corner so either way its not like we have to travel far. and i kinda figured we would have to force feed soon i didnt want to wait to long. thats y i posted we looked all over this website for ideas and ran out. thanks everyone for helping.

You will need to wait and let him get used to the changes before attempting to feed again. In a lot of cases the crumpled newspaper works. It eliminates stress. Try and assist feed before you attempt to force feed, there is a big difference. If you have to get to that point make sure you get advice from here before doing it. I would suggest you get on the phone with a breeder and talk in person before assisting. Most breeders websites will have a phone # for contacting them.

I agree... Try assist feeding, its very easy, place thumb and forefinger one each side of the snakes head and apply light pressure to the jaws, then you place a DEAD mouse head into its mouth, a lot of times they will then coil around the mouse and start feeding...

To get your fingers behind its head I find it easier to grab the snake further down the body and work your hands up to the head, they seem a lot less skitish this way than just trying to go staright for the head... Also your snake is going to struggle a bit....