BP won't eat... or has a disorder

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Originally Posted by blk02ssmonte

NEVER NEVER NEVER NEVER!!!!! leave a live mouse or rat unattended in a snake cage. Did I say NEVER NEVER enough. Sorry but you could have a dead snake doing that. I have seen horror pics and stories.

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AMEN!!!'

When I was new, I did it and got lucky!

I left the rat in with the snake for a few days. Thought it was cute. The rat built his own little home in the aspen and stored his food there.
The snake stayed on the other side like she was afraid.

Then when I happened to be in the room watching, the rat attacked my snake! It started chewing on her cloaca, literally reaming her a new one. The snake moved some but the rat had a death grip.

Needless to say I got that rat OUT OF THERE PRONTO.

That was when I decided to try out fresh kill.

Failure

This all happened before I knew about this forum. I learned the hard way at my snake's expense.
Fortunately she healed fast with neosporin.

Now I NEVER leave her unattended with a rat.

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Originally Posted by Fireproof

You also might try cleaning the habitat thoroughly to maximize intensity of the prey smell. (There's a sticky somewhere about feeding habits that talks about how they prefer ambushing in a clean burrow).

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This is it (and it works for me every time):
http://ball-pythons.net/forums/showt...n-eating-again

It doesn't say that you have a heat mat. Heat mats are very important for ball pythons. Heat lamps are a very poor way of heating up the enclosure of a bal. A heat mat (regulated by a thermostat) is a must. You can use a heat lamp along with it but it's not necessary. I'm assuming your snake isn't eating because the temps aren't right. There should be a hot spot of 90 degrees. Normally this would come from the heat pad. The lamps can help the ambient air temps get where they should be (and it sounds the air temps are good) but you need a spot for your BP to lay on that is 90 degrees


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Originally Posted by Ballpythoncrazy

It doesn't say that you have a heat mat. Heat mats are very important for ball pythons. Heat lamps are a very poor way of heating up the enclosure of a bal. A heat mat (regulated by a thermostat) is a must. You can use a heat lamp along with it but it's not necessary. I'm assuming your snake isn't eating because the temps aren't right. There should be a hot spot of 90 degrees. Normally this would come from the heat pad. The lamps can help the ambient air temps get where they should be (and it sounds the air temps are good) but you need a spot for your BP to lay on that is 90 degrees


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Not necessarily true. They don't absolutely need belly heat for digestion. What they need is access to appropriate temperatures for digestion. How someone provides those temperatures is up to them. Commonly this is done with heat mats/heat tape and a thermostat, but it is certainly not the only way.

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Originally Posted by Eric Alan

Not necessarily true. They don't absolutely need belly heat for digestion. What they need is access to appropriate temperatures for digestion. How someone provides those temperatures is up to them. Commonly this is done with heat mats/heat tape and a thermostat, but it is certainly not the only way.

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Nice post again Eric! There are many ways to provide appropriate conditions for these animals.

The O/P needs to keep in mind that this is winter, at least in North America.

I've had our royal go 7 and 6 months without eating with no issues.

This is very COMMON amongst this species of snake.

In general boas and pythons are designed by nature to go long periods without food. That snake looks fine and continued efforts to feed at this time of year will do you no good. Once you get the flavor of a royal, waiting it out is no problem. We are doing it here going on 3 months. The snake is totally fine!

I didn't see a hide in the tank but I've not read every post is this the normal cage?

Don't ever leave a live ANYTHING in with your snake over night again.

Passive rats change on a dime when they become dehydrated, hungry or bored.

A disinterested, non threatening snake is an easy chew toy for a rat.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Eric Alan

Not necessarily true. They don't absolutely need belly heat for digestion. What they need is access to appropriate temperatures for digestion. How someone provides those temperatures is up to them. Commonly this is done with heat mats/heat tape and a thermostat, but it is certainly not the only way.

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Sorry, I didn't say they needed belly heat to digest their food. I said that they need a basking spot of 90 degrees, which this person isn't providing. Don't twist my words.


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Originally Posted by Ballpythoncrazy

Sorry, I didn't say they needed belly heat to digest their food. I said that they need a basking spot of 90 degrees, which this person isn't providing. Don't twist my words.

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Still not correct.
They don't "bask either".
If proper temperatures are provided they will do just fine.
Many people including some of our nations largest breeders heat the whole room and not even to 90 degrees.
Your words posted earlier were not twisted, they were attempted to be corrected.

Hi all -

Ok fine - so we won't leave a rat in there, regardless of how nice it is again. Oops.

Just a little info of the snakes habitat: there are two lamps, on the left is a heating which heats up a hot spot (with a water dish below it) to ~90F. On the right side is a UVA/UVB as recommended by a local vet, with another water dish below it.. She says there's debate whether or not snakes need UVA/UVB and that there's no solid proof either way... but she feels that snakes get it when in natural habitats and other reptiles do, so it makes sense that snakes would too. Only the two lights are on a 12hr cycle. We use a humidifier with a makeshift attachment to direct humidity to her cage to keep it around 70-80%. The top of the cage is covered with plexiglass with drilled holes to help maintain heat and humidity. We use distilled water for humidifier and spring water for water dishes. We clean/disinfect/rinse her cage every couple of weeks and replace the ground with fresh wood chips.

In the middle of the aquarium are two hides. The left hide contains a heating mat under it. The right one does not (and is cold). She must know the difference because sometimes she's in the left, and sometimes in the right. There's also some drift wood that she gets on from time-to-time.

When the lights go off, she comes out from her hide and sits on top of her hides, or roams around like she's looking for food... she does the "reaching" to the top of her cage... which in the past indicated that she's hungry - and when we tried to feed her, she'd eat. This time she doesn't.

Also, how can snakes know it's winter time if their cage never drops below 70 with heating lamps off? She can't see outside or feel the cold air.. it's basically summertime in her own little ecosystem.

Also, at night, sometimes she is under her hide with her head at the end of the hide.. she isn't balled up.. it looks like she's in striking mode, waiting to ambush food...

dumb snake. :tears:

UV lights would possible be helpful on snakes that are active during the day time cycle.
I highly doubt it will do any good for a nocturnal animal that usually lives in rodent burrows.
I could be wrong.