Newbie first post

That night drop is nice though when you are ready to begin cycling temps. :thumbsup:

Quick question here....did you get these females from a breeder or a pet store or what? If you can contact the seller/breeder and find out exactly what they fed as far as mouse or rat, live/frozen thawed/pre-killed, size offered, time of day offered and what method they used to present the prey it might help. Some BP's seem to imprint really strongly on what they are used to so if you change up anything to much on them they can get a bit put off. We just went through a move and even though we tried like heck to not stress the BP's they all skipped a meal or two until they settled back down again.

I'm just thinking if you can duplicate the way they fed successfully, then maybe they will pick up for you. Then if you want to switch to something other thing, you can do so slowly down the road when they are regularily eating for you.

Well just got my new digital camera here the first pic of one of my normal females. This girl still hasnt begun feeding but she still looks beautiful and healthy. She weighs in at 400 grams. My other female who has begun feeding ate yesterday so I dont wanna disturb her by taking some shots I'll take them tomarrow and post'em up.


http://81x.com/Authors/BallPython/python_normal2.jpg

http://81x.com/Authors/BallPython/Python_normal1.jpg

She looks lovely. Just follow the advice here and also use the search function for threads on feeding and I'm sure you'll get them all going within a reasonable time. You may want to get fecals done on them to rule out any issues. Are they all captive born and bred?

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by frankykeno

She looks lovely. Just follow the advice here and also use the search function for threads on feeding and I'm sure you'll get them all going within a reasonable time. You may want to get fecals done on them to rule out any issues. Are they all captive born and bred?

---

Will do thanks.

Yes born and bred the first three (0.3 normal ....400grams)witch just 1 has begun feeding are from Mike Willbanks from Constrictors Unlimited witch I got on May 2ndof this year. Today I got my new 1.0 Pastel Jungle (235 grams) and 0.2 normal (500 grams & 1500 grams) from Tracy Barker of VPI

Nice! :)

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by frankykeno

Nice! :)

---

THANKS :D

Of my 2 ballsthat I recieved on 5/2/06 1 ate probably about a week after I recieved them. She has been eating weekly2 lrg mice aweek. The 2nd hasnt eaten at all. She doesnt look sick or skinny or like she's starving. She has shed 1 since I got her. The one that is eating is going in to her second shed now. Today makes about 1 month and 15 days since I got her and she hasnt eaten. I have tried giving live mice, freshly killed mice frozen thawed out mice. I have tried different sizes. small mices meduim mices nothing. I offer her her meals 1 a week. Live mices I stun'em and leave them knocked out or twitching for a couple hours. Freshly killed or frozen thawed mice I have left in the tub for 5-6-7 hours and still nothing.

She's in a rack . for large balls that has been divided in the middle. The tub measures 33long / 17wide / 6high. Her space is 33 long 8 1/2 wide 6 high. She has a hide box in the back water bowl in the front. Since she hasnt eaten I rarely rarely handle her. I might just pull the tub open to check if she's alive cause she hasnt eaten. I probably handle her in my hands a hanful of times in the last month. I open her tub to change her water. She stays in her hide all the time or at least whenever I check on her or when I change her water. I have a herpstat therm. attatched to the rack 92 degrees in the back 84 in the front. 24/7 The other female is housed under the same conditions in the same tub seperated by a divider she thriving and has grown noticbly bigger since I recieved them.

I feel very uneasy and I dont want to lose her. Im not scared of her dieing because she looks so healthy and she's strong. When should I start to think about force feeding her. Should I be thinking about it or be preparing to force feed soon. If thats the case I dont have a pinky seringe can I force feed by hand.

Not that I have the experience that other keepers here do have, I can only speak from my own experience with Kashmire - 1.5 months is no where near long enough time to even think about force feeding.


Instead, I would recommend waiting 2 or even 3 weeks before offering food to her again and let her get really settled in.

Kashmire went almost 4 months (starting at 350 grams) without eating. He's just started eating again. He started back up with hoppers only, and would only eat one a week. Last week he took his first adult mouse in the past four months. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that he takes another this week. When I weighed him today, he's over 400 grams now with three weeks of hoppers and one week of an adult mouse and he's opaque today - Yayyyyy, hasn't shed since January!

At this point, I don't think that you need to be too concerned, but I do understand the worry! Good luck with her!

balls, can go several months without food and be fine.


double check all your temps! make sure each shelf in the rack is working. what are your room temps the rack is in? do the room temps drop at night? try the newspaper balls trick, give it a couple of weeks. give mike a call and discuss this with him. i'm pretty sure he can tell you how and what he was feeding them.


vaughn