Is my ball python very thin?

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Originally Posted by m1n054

Oh I've tried him to ball up by touching his head but he's surprisingly not head timid. He doesn't really care if I stroke or tap his head. I don't want to get too rough with him either :/

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Ah! This method may not work for you in balling him up for weighing then. You could put him in a tupperware? Weigh the tupperware, weigh snake in tupperware and subtract the tupperware?

Feed live,my one guy will only eat live. I tried FT in every way possible,no go...he actually just made the switch today from mouse hopper to a rat pup,I'm a proud of my boy :oops:

It doesn't sound like your scale is off much. When I bought mine the guy at the store said a nickel weighs 5grams so you can check with that if you want. My snakes don't sit still at first but even when they do the weight is still really close, I assume you've double checked his weight and made sure the scale was zeroed out and not in the negatives.

I would probably try live if you can. If not make sure you're thawing it out completely maybe let it sit on top/near the enclosure for a while and see if he starts to come out looking for food then heat the head up with the blow dryer and try that. If he don't take it leave it in front of his hide for a while.

Try feeding in the evening/night when it's already dark. Good luck!

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Originally Posted by tlich

It doesn't sound like your scale is off much. When I bought mine the guy at the store said a nickel weighs 5grams so you can check with that if you want. My snakes don't sit still at first but even when they do the weight is still really close, I assume you've double checked his weight and made sure the scale was zeroed out and not in the negatives.

I would probably try live if you can. If not make sure you're thawing it out completely maybe let it sit on top/near the enclosure for a while and see if he starts to come out looking for food then heat the head up with the blow dryer and try that. If he don't take it leave it in front of his hide for a while.

Try feeding in the evening/night when it's already dark. Good luck!

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I got him a live hopper, going to try feeding him early tonight. He's sitting outside his cage and so far he hasn't even come out of his hide. Hopefully he comes out tonight and maybe he'll go for it. The mouse is barely 10 grams I'd say, but hopefully I can get him starting to eat. Otherwise I'm just gonna get 1.1 mice and freeze the excess for my corn snake.

These little guys will put you through the wringer sometimes, you just have to deal with it as best you can.

I know you were hoping to avoid live, but as little as he is, it may be best to cave in for a little while and get his weight up then try the f/t again. If you can get him up around 200-250 grams, you can try the f/t thing for a few weeks, if he doesn't go for it, you can repeat the live-then-f/t cycle a few times. In general I would try f/t for 3 weeks, then go back to live for say...4-5 weeks, then try again.

Sometimes, keeping a live mouse/rat that you can place on top of or very near his enclosure on feeding day to get him going, can help persuade a reluctant feeder that f/t isn't really all that bad. Kind of a bait-and-switch type deal. I do know that in most cases, if the f/t prey is not putting off a good heat signature the baby won't strike it. Some prefer their food to be left overnight in the tub, so by all means once he gets some weight on try it both ways again.

Gale

Welp, this guy had his first meal. A live mouse, can't tell if it was a hopper but it couldn't have been bigger than a rat pup. He swallowed it and now he's on his hide. Hopefully no regurges:please:... Now I'll leave him alone for three days. This is the first time I see a ball python eating such a large meal... I'm really scared, it's just that the neck part is so thin compared to his body.

Thanks everybody!

Lol sometimes they seem huge. I've seen them go down kind of sideways/folded in half.

I would just check on him off and on but not mess with him much, even after 3 days not until he's eaten a few times, it will just cause stress. Congrats!

Glad he ate! Don't worry it may seem big but I'm sure it's fine, it should leave a lil lump. :)

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Originally Posted by m1n054

it's just that the neck part is so thin compared to his body.

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That's part of why I've always thought snakes in general were fascinating. How they can eat things so big compared to their mouth, head and neck is just amazing to me.