Will a BP starve itself to death?

P.S. If your BP does end up refusing F/T, to the point where his health is endangered, you WILL have to deal with feeding live. As a sensitive animal lover myself, I was afraid that would be difficult for me... but you get over that real quick, especially when it's about your snake's well-being. Heck, now I kind of enjoy watching them eat live - it's cool, LOL. :oops:

Hi and welcome to BP.net!

If you haven't had a chance to review our caresheet here yet, there's a great section on "Why Won't My Snake Eat?", which gives you a list of potential problems that can cause them to refuse to eat (improper set-up, improper temps, over handling, etc) - which goes back to what Kaorte said, that most food refusals are husbandry related.

Here's the care sheet:
http://www.ball-pythons.net/modules/...warticle&id=59

I personally feel that ball pythons have gotten a bad reputation for being poor feeders, when, in fact, young ball pythons tend to be (as a rule) fabulous feeders once their environments are set up correctly.

The refusals that I experience are with sexually mature adults during breeding season, and even then, most of mine are so conditioned to my feeding routines, that unless they are gravid females, will only miss a week or two at most. My males ate right through breeding season.

The other refusals that I experience are with some hatchlings. I did lose two normal males last year, due to them refusing to eat, and my not intervening sooner. They "appeared" to still be healthy and active, and not particularly thin, so I didn't intervene sooner with assist feeding them. Lesson learned.

I've got two hatchlings right now, a normal male and a possible het clown female holdback that haven't "figured out" what to do with their prey, that I'm assist feeding.

BUT, with that said, a well started, feeding baby ball python should feed for you as long as everything else is set up correctly.

You may have to offer live for the first few feedings, and then work on converting him/her. I don't recommend the "tough love" approach for babies, only for juveniles or adults that have a good body weight established. Coming from a pet store, I'm assuming that yours is a baby.

Like I said, *I* will be willing (even if I won't be happy about it) to feed her live if it comes down to that and no other options.... What my MAIN concern is is my parents, they won't even let me feed live minnows to my turtles =/.... My snake is in my room so they don't have to watch, but I'm pretty sure they'll hate me AND Artemis if it comes to that.... Fingers crossed.... Oh, and I put some dark colored shirts around 3 walls of the tank, now only the front and top are open.... Well... even the top is mostly covered with the binder cover.... So only really the front she can see out of, so I think that will calm her down... What all different things can I use to make humid hides out of? Right now I'm using halves of a hermit crab sponge soaked in water, I tucked them inside the hides and she's laying her head on the one in the hide she's in. ^^ So sweet.... So is that okay, or do I need to get moss or something? I dunno, just read I needed humid hides....

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Originally Posted by ranapipiens89

Like I said, *I* will be willing (even if I won't be happy about it) to feed her live if it comes down to that and no other options.... What my MAIN concern is is my parents, they won't even let me feed live minnows to my turtles =/.... My snake is in my room so they don't have to watch, but I'm pretty sure they'll hate me AND Artemis if it comes to that.... Fingers crossed.... Oh, and I put some dark colored shirts around 3 walls of the tank, now only the front and top are open.... Well... even the top is mostly covered with the binder cover.... So only really the front she can see out of, so I think that will calm her down... What all different things can I use to make humid hides out of? Right now I'm using halves of a hermit crab sponge soaked in water, I tucked them inside the hides and she's laying her head on the one in the hide she's in. ^^ So sweet.... So is that okay, or do I need to get moss or something? I dunno, just read I needed humid hides....

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sphagnum moss. i used aspen in the tank that i had, i just left a very thin layer of aspen, then put the moss on top, then the hide on top of that. made sure the moss was damp, but not wet (if u squeezed it, water didnt come out)

That is a bit extreme of your parents. Everything has to eat. Are they all veg heads or something?

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Originally Posted by Kaorte

That is a bit extreme of your parents. Everything has to eat. Are they all veg heads or something?

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No, they are your typical hypocritical carnivorous "animal lovers" As long as they don't see the chicken they are about to eat while it's alive, they couldn't give a crap... They are just overly sensitive to the way nature is... Mom MAKES me change off the discovery channel if a show about carnivores hunting comes on.... They just can't do it...

Quote:

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Originally Posted by ranapipiens89

Well right now I have a mutilated 3 ring binder and a bit of scrap plastic covering the top of the tank.... I sprayed the tank a bit when she was soaking today just to see how the humidity was doing (I don't have a humidity gauge, I didn't know or think at the time that I would need one with a snake....) Anyway just a spritz or two from the tank and the glass was moderately foggy for a good 60 minutes before it was burned away.... Plus the bowl I have is HUGE not even kidding you on that one... haha. I bought the bowl as an after thought after the cashier had rung everything else up, the snake was in the box I made mom hold it up front and I RAN back to the dog section and got a big heavy bowl, but I vastly over estimated my snake's size.... oh well, she'll just get to use it longer I guess...

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did you say she was soaking? She might have mites and that could be why she is soaking and not eating. I'm having a little bit of a hard time understanding this thread, but i'm super tired.

- check for mites (look under her jaw, mites love the scales under the mouth and around the eyes).

- if mites are found (and it happens :) ) get a can of Provent-A-Mite (also known as PAM but not the kitchen PAM), and follow the directions.

- bam, mite problem is gone.

- try covering 3 sides of her tank with dark paper. This will help her feel more secure.

- feed her 2-3 times on the prey they told you she was eating at the store, once she is feeding for you regularly, then you can play around with switching her to F/T.

- the most common mistake made when switching to F/T is not making the prey item warm enough. Just defrosting the mouse/rat dosen't work, it needs to be warm. You can search how to do that using the search feature. I find that a hair dryer on low does the job very well.

good luck with your girl and dont feel bad! you are here and learning and that is the best thing you can do for your snake :)

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Originally Posted by Kaorte

99% of the time peoples snakes go off feed or don't eat because their husbandry is off. Two months is not a long time for an adult ball python. Breeding females will fast yearly for up to 8 months with no ill effects. It is mostly a problem when people get baby snakes and THEY go off feed. People don't know how to take care of them right and they get stressed and that can lead to sickness and even death.

If you want to double check your husbandry, post some details or a picture of your setup. We are all more than willing to help you refine your husbandry to prevent your snake from going off feed.

As for the millet seed, get the snake off of that and onto aspen, paper towels, or newspaper. I am sure she will be okay though as long as nothing is profusely bleeding.

Generally, over activity is a sign of stress. Slow cruising at night or around feeding day is normal. But day time roaming, climbing the walls, and general "get me out of here" movements are usually an indicator of improper husbandry.

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What's your source to that statistic?

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Originally Posted by cinderbird

did you say she was soaking? She might have mites and that could be why she is soaking and not eating. I'm having a little bit of a hard time understanding this thread, but i'm super tired.

- check for mites (look under her jaw, mites love the scales under the mouth and around the eyes).

- if mites are found (and it happens :) ) get a can of Provent-A-Mite (also known as PAM but not the kitchen PAM), and follow the directions.

- bam, mite problem is gone.

- try covering 3 sides of her tank with dark paper. This will help her feel more secure.

- feed her 2-3 times on the prey they told you she was eating at the store, once she is feeding for you regularly, then you can play around with switching her to F/T.

- the most common mistake made when switching to F/T is not making the prey item warm enough. Just defrosting the mouse/rat dosen't work, it needs to be warm. You can search how to do that using the search feature. I find that a hair dryer on low does the job very well.

good luck with your girl and dont feel bad! you are here and learning and that is the best thing you can do for your snake :)

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I'm sorry, Cinderbird that this is all confusing. I just got her on friday, day before yesterday, they told me that they had fed her that day, I don't know if that's exactly TRUE, but she did have a nice big belly lump. She seems to be pre or post shed, pink belly and one eye cap (the other eye is clear with no cap) I have NOT tried to feed her yet, as I'm waiting until next friday, which will be her next feeding day if information I received it correct, or at least it will be a week since I had her anyway and feeding time anyway. I am simply trying to do as much research and be prepared for as many situations as I possibly can be... Please bear with me.

ADD: I also have already covered the back and 2 sides of the tank with black and dark purple t-shirts, it's rough looking, but it does the job for now until everything smoothes over with my stepdad, he's livid that he spent nearly 100 dollars on the animal that he despises the most except for spiders... But he did it because I wanted one, so give him a little credit... he may not be happy, but I sure am!