Is this normal?

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Originally Posted by Deborah

Feeding outside there enclosure is also something you want to avoid, it can cause enough stress that it can lead to refusal, not mentioning that when moving an animal in feeding mode the risk of getting tagged increase.



The problem with petsmart and petco is that they cannot feed live (per company policy) and in many cases they actually assist feed their import since they fail to take F/T willingly (they generally won't tell you this ither). They obviously also do not know what appropriate size prey to feed (fuzzies are way to small, any hatchling is started on hopper and quickly move to adult)

Feeding live will entice the snake to eat, and the priority is always to get the animal to eat for you, then once the animal is consistent, at least 5 consecutive meal you can switch to F/T.

Young hatchling are voracious and are very easy to switch especially if kept in optimal conditions.

The right prey size is equal the animal's girth size (widest part of your BP's body)

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Sounds good, thanks!!

With a glass aquarium tank you should really consider covering the back and sides of it... When ball pythons are in an open enclosure like that they can stress real easy... They are hiders naturally so they like to be in snug closed off areas. Another thing that was covered was that belly heat works better then lights... In the wild they live in holes and are warmed from the heat in the ground... They don't generally bask. Good luck! I had an aquarium for my first ball... I ended up going with a rack system but I also ended up getting 15 other snakes lol!

Just a quick update: we took everyone's advice and we finally got Kaa to eat on the 6th! I think the big thing here was the fact that we never really let him settle in. He took a frozen/thawed fuzzy almost instantly in his tank.

Thanks again everyone!

-Emma

Also something to consider, Take black craft paper and cover 3 sides of the tank

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Originally Posted by CORBIN911

Also something to consider, Take black craft paper and cover 3 sides of the tank

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Thanks, we did do that actually. We also "cluttered" his tank up a bit as suggested by other users. We're so glad we didn't have to try live feeding lol we also left him alone for a full week. No handling or attempt to feed, worked out great!

-Emma