Help me make them eat!!!

My female just went back to feeding after a 5-month long fast. Don't worry, they do this to themselves on purpose during the winter and it can last a REALLY long time. Just be patient. :)

I'm no where near an expert but from my research I would say you don't have anythign to worry about. If the snake still looks like it has some meat on it and is maintaining its weight pretty well then you are just fine. If the snake starts to lose weight and look thin then I would seek help. Until then I would recommend to stop trying to feed it every 5 days and wait like 2 weeks to try again.

It really is not breeding season anymore. Everything is starting to warm up now and if anything, your snakes should be going back on feed, not off.

I am curious as to how you have them housed. If one out of three snakes is eating, it leads me to believe they are being housed together.

They are being housed together in a 100 gallon tank. There are five seperate hides including a humidity box with damp moss for them to get into when they want. We've been housing them like this for quite some time and they haven't seemed to be bothered by it. In fact they often stuff all three of themselves into the biggest hide. We made the tank ourselves and were planning on dividing it at some point but didn't feel it was a priority since it didn't appear to be causing problems!

We take them out and feed seperately in a smaller cage. I think it might be a 20 gallon tank. I put the mouse in the cage by itself for a while and then put the snake in with the mouse.

They don't look skinny at all. Thier last shed was all in one pice so I don't think they're dehydrated either.

If its that we've got them in the same cage together then I will gladly seperate them to put an end to this nonsense!!!



Thanks again everyone!!!

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Originally Posted by snakemomma

They are being housed together in a 100 gallon tank. There are five seperate hides including a humidity box with damp moss for them to get into when they want. We've been housing them like this for quite some time and they haven't seemed to be bothered by it. In fact they often stuff all three of themselves into the biggest hide. We made the tank ourselves and were planning on dividing it at some point but didn't feel it was a priority since it didn't appear to be causing problems!

We take them out and feed seperately in a smaller cage. I think it might be a 20 gallon tank. I put the mouse in the cage by itself for a while and then put the snake in with the mouse.

They don't look skinny at all. Thier last shed was all in one pice so I don't think they're dehydrated either.

If its that we've got them in the same cage together then I will gladly seperate them to put an end to this nonsense!!!



Thanks again everyone!!!

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Ahh...a point you failed to mention(all together). It's breeding season. How big are these animals...are you sure they're not breeding? Separate them and then try and feed them. You still may need to wait a couple months. You may get eggs depending on how big they are also.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by snakemomma

They are being housed together in a 100 gallon tank. There are five seperate hides including a humidity box with damp moss for them to get into when they want. We've been housing them like this for quite some time and they haven't seemed to be bothered by it. In fact they often stuff all three of themselves into the biggest hide. We made the tank ourselves and were planning on dividing it at some point but didn't feel it was a priority since it didn't appear to be causing problems!

We take them out and feed seperately in a smaller cage. I think it might be a 20 gallon tank. I put the mouse in the cage by itself for a while and then put the snake in with the mouse.

They don't look skinny at all. Thier last shed was all in one pice so I don't think they're dehydrated either.

If its that we've got them in the same cage together then I will gladly seperate them to put an end to this nonsense!!!



Thanks again everyone!!!

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If you separate them they will most likely start eating. A 100g is far too large for even three snakes. They are probably stressed by the enclosure, eachother, and not being at the proper temps.

Ball pythons are shy snakes. Some won't feed at all in separate enclosures.

Have you looked at the caresheet on this site?

Well...no. :oops: I'll definately do that now. Honestly since my boyfriend had Boris when I met him and Isis came shortly after I thought he must have it all figured out. I asked him when he put them together in the first place if they would breed and he told me that she wasn't old enough. She is almost one year old. Like a month away. I guess I should read into it alot more since I've kinda taken over in that department now that he got Felix for me.


Also I guess the cage is probably closer to 75 gallons than 100. (Per boyfriend)

So if tomorrow I divide it and make them equally sized will that be too big for an individual snake?

Should I do away with the feeding cage as well? Thats how we've always done it. There is a hide in there and its heated. I put the mouse in for a while before I put the snake in.

Thanks!

Also as far as the temps go we do have that monitered on both side with a basking area at low to mid 90s and the other side is low to mid 80s. The light has a timer as well.
Thats about right isn't it??

Quote:

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Originally Posted by snakemomma

Well...no. :oops: I'll definately do that now. Honestly since my boyfriend had Boris when I met him and Isis came shortly after I thought he must have it all figured out. I asked him when he put them together in the first place if they would breed and he told me that she wasn't old enough. She is almost one year old. Like a month away. I guess I should read into it alot more since I've kinda taken over in that department now that he got Felix for me.


Also I guess the cage is probably closer to 75 gallons than 100. (Per boyfriend)

So if tomorrow I divide it and make them equally sized will that be too big for an individual snake?

Should I do away with the feeding cage as well? Thats how we've always done it. There is a hide in there and its heated. I put the mouse in for a while before I put the snake in.

Thanks!

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If you split it in 3, it shouldn't be too large. Might be a bit on the tall side but the best thing you can do for them is separate them. They are not social animals and do not benefit from being housed together. They would most likely prefer to be apart.

If they are separated, there is no reason to feed them in another enclosure. If you want, you could use that 20g for one of the snakes.

As far as heating, how are you measuring the temps (what kind of thermometers)? What kind of heating devices are you using? How are you controlling them? (thermostat? rheostat?).

I'd prefer to keep them all together(but divided) in the same cage. We made it ourselves and I must say it is pretty nice haha. I'll save the 20 gallon for the next snake once I get this all figured out and fixed!

We have heat ropes throughout the bottom of the cage. Both are on a lamp dimmer thing and are monitered by two thermometers. One on each side of the cage. We don't have a device to measure the humidity in the cage but we do have a humidity box in the cage for them to hang out in if they want and they shed in one piece. We also have the heat lamp on a timer.

Also Nick seemed concerned that feeding them in thier enclosures would make them more likely to bite you when you handle them. He also said that they could swallow thier substrate and that would be bad for them.