I give up... my ball python is a vegetarian

I just bought my first snake about a month ago. He's a ball python and I assume he's a few months old. He has yet to eat and hopefully someone here can give me a few pointers. First off, I'm gonna share what I have tried already:

Week 1: Used F/T hopper, let it sit overnight in front of his hide. No success. :(

Week 2: Used feeding tongs with F/T hopper, and after no success I left it in front of hide overnight. Still nothing. :(

Week 3: Used paper bag method with F/T hopper, and yet again, no dinner for my snake. :(

Week 4: Bought a live fuzzy. For the past half hour, the fuzzy has literally been crawling all over my ball python, and my snake has no interest whatsoever.

So I've come down to two conclusions: either my ball python is a vegetarian, or I'm doing something wrong and need a new approach. Any help from you guys is very appreciated. I really want him to eat, I mean, I haven't even handled him at all yet because I read that stresses him out.

(P.S. what should I do with the live fuzzy in his tank? In other words, what's the quickest and easiest way to kill mice?)

Thanks again! :rolleye2:

tell us about his enclosure (better yet, take a pic and post it) it could be a number of things:

what size enclosure is he in
what are the hot side and cool side temps
what is the humidity
what are you using to measure them?
what was he eating before you got him
where did you get him from

etc.

It may be helpful if you tell us your set up- cage size, size of hide, temps, humidity etc.



And cinderbird beat me to it....

He's in a 10 gallon tank, I got him at Petco, I'm not sure what they fed him, and I haven't set up a thermometer/hygrometer yet....

I just bought a thermometer and hygrometer at the store today so I'll set it up soon.

I would move him to a shoebox sized tub until he starts eating. It's honestly your best bet in my opinion. Otherwise crumple up a bunch of newspaper and fill the tank with it. He'll feel much more secure with less space. Also, make sure your hide is really small so that he has to ball up to fit inside of it.

I'm assuming you have a heat pad as your heat source you can just put that right under the tub. Also, put a towel over the tub so that it's dark inside and secure. You can leave a pinky in overnight if you have to, they can't chew on your snake. Otherwise you might have to start assist feeding.

Ok yeah I'll try moving him to smaller shoebox sorta tub thing next time. Thanks :).

Edit: I have a heat lamp at the moment, but I was thinking about getting a heat pad.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by -Achilles-

He's in a 10 gallon tank, I got him at Petco, I'm not sure what they fed him, and I haven't set up a thermometer/hygrometer yet....

I just bought a thermometer and hygrometer at the store today so I'll set it up soon.

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This could be part of the problem. You have no idea what his temps are. Are the thermometer and hydrometer you bought digital, analog or stick on? If its an analog or stick on unit return it and get your money back. If its too cold or too hot they wont eat.


Go to lowes or home depot and grab an Accurite with a probe ( http://images.google.com/imgres?imgu...LtStlAfOnrH2Dw )

Once you make sure your husbandry is correct, leave him alone for a week. Then try a mouse hopper, not frozen but live. Don't mess with frozen until he is eating consistantly. Hoppers usually get a feeding response just from all the movement.

ahh petco. Ill put money on that he is wild caught. se if you can get your hands on some asf rats, or try a rat pup

Quote:

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Originally Posted by -Achilles-

He's in a 10 gallon tank, I got him at Petco, I'm not sure what they fed him, and I haven't set up a thermometer/hygrometer yet....

I just bought a thermometer and hygrometer at the store today so I'll set it up soon.

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What kind of hides are in there?

Chances are he is stressed because your husbandry is off.

If you can, take a picture of your set up. It will help a lot.

temps are huge. Make sure their right. People always think since their ball pythons and are considered beginner snakes, but some people consider them much harder to take care of then most snakes. They can be finicky eaters or have bad sheds. Make sure your temps are right. I have mine 90-92 on the hot side and 80 on the cool. Your humidity should be about 50-60%. Put him in a 12qt plastic shoe box. Drill holes in the top and then cover all the sides with black paper or paper towels. Make sure its quiet, peaceful and dark where he is located. My first bp wouldnt eat at first either. But i covered the sides, made sure his temps were right and left him alone. Also make sure the F/T is warm enough. That makes a huge difference. Hes not going to go at something cold and lifeless, especially if hes from petco.

Ok, I'm gonna get to work on my husbandry and set up a thermometer/hygrometer and make sure the values are all suitable for ball pythons.

As for the hide, I have this:

http://www.petco.com/Assets/product_...561228541C.jpg

Sorry, I'm a poor college kid and I'm not in possession of a camera right now :P.

And thanks for everyone's help! I'll get back next week with new (and hopefully better) results.

you need 2 hides and really ...you don't need to buy the rock thing...go to the dollar store and get a small plastic bowl and cut a hole in it. Burn the edges down so it is not sharp. One on the cool side....one on the warm side.

Cover his cage up with a towel and don't touch him for a week. This literally is the hardest part cuz you just want to love on them. Don't freak out....balls are reknown for not eating when something is off. This will pass and soon you will be posting what a fatty you have. :D

Also considering where you got him....check him for mites....you can check out posts on here concerning this. And also read up on RI's ....just so you know the signs to look for.

most petco snakes are captive hatched. what you need is a small shoebox tub setup. your pretty much going to have to clutter up the tub so the snake thinks there isnt alot of room in there use waded up newspaper.
get the temps and humidity right(if they are not right that snake will not eat).
leave the snake alone as much as possible for one week tehn attempt to feed a live hopper mouse or a larger fuzzy mouse.

I actually purchased my BP from PetCo as well. I didn't know any better at the time, but then I found this forum and well... let's just say i'd get my snakes elsewhere from now on. The place was clean and the snakes looked healthy and well fed but, it's still a chain pet store. Not alot of T.L.C. there.


For the enclosure, I took a black large plastic container, cut it in half and used it on either side of my 20g long tank. One side I put a heat pad directly under, the other I didn't. To help with temps, I put aluminium foil across 74% of the screen lid.

I live in southwest Florida, so in all honesty it's easy for me to keep the temps and humidity perfect at all times. My enclosure is glass but if you have temp/humidity problems, many people suggest a rubbermaid type tub.

Bought the snake as a hatchling and two years later, my BP is past 3ft 6in as of today and is fat and happy. The snake is a PIG, never had a feeding problem. Sometimes he seems disintristed and will bump his nose against the mice and 'taste' it, but if that happends I just skip that week and next week he's striking at it as soon as the mouse gets within range. Never gone more than 1 week without eating in 2 years.

I feed 5-6 frozen-thawed adult mice every week, once a week. I tried rats a few times but he won't even consider eating them. Hopefully soon he does though because that many mice are a pain in the butt to thaw.

Never weighed the snake. Pretty sure now that he is actually a 'she' because of the time it took to get this size but I never got 'her' sexed so I don't know.

I'm also pretty lucky since i've never been bitten or struck at in the time i've had my snake. Such a gooooood snake! lol.

Ok thanks guys for your help, I really appreciate it. I think one of the problems I need to fix is the heat. I placed my thermometer inside about an hour ago, and I definitely need to raise the temperature. Right now I just have a heat lamp, but I think I'm going to get one of those heating pad things (I forget what the called) for the bottom of the tank.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Karbon

I actually purchased my BP from PetCo as well. I didn't know any better at the time, but then I found this forum and well... let's just say i'd get my snakes elsewhere from now on. The place was clean and the snakes looked healthy and well fed but, it's still a chain pet store. Not alot of T.L.C. there.

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Yeah I'm kicking myself right now for that. I actually found this place about a half an hour from where I live that breeds ball pythons... and currently they have some babies on sale for like under $20... and it's too late to return my ball python to Petco to get a refund.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by -Achilles-

Yeah I'm kicking myself right now for that. I actually found this place about a half an hour from where I live that breeds ball pythons... and currently they have some babies on sale for like under $20... and it's too late to return my ball python to Petco to get a refund.

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I'd feel bad returning an animal back to a PetCo, unless it was deathly sick and there's nothing that could be done. Its life is much better outside a store like that. Just think of it as you're saving an innocent animal and giving it a better life.

Makes is easier to deal with the snake not eating. :D

get some used rat bedding from you local pet store, put the heated rat on it for few minutes to get the smell on it thentry feeding. my two baby lessers would feed for three wks i tried that and it worked. for the last 10 feed didnt need it anymore.

My suggestion is to ask your local pet store for some used gerbil bedding... then after you thaw your rodent place it in the bedding so it picks up the gerbils scent. I know a lot of people who had picky eaters and gerbils seem to do the trick to discriminating tastes.