are we tired of feeding ??s yet??

im starting to worry, my 400 gram bp has been off feed since last week of march, a week ago i fed him a live rat and he took it, but i can't get him to eat anymore, my new albion i got in march hasn't ate yet, she still balls up when you put one near her. is that normal, then stopped, havn't checked for weight loss since march, cause im scared the more i touch the my streesed she;ll get. also heard of asf, but can't seem to find anywere that sell them, i dont want a big bulk order, so i can change over to normal rats when needed. any help, also i've tried freezing the rats/mice together but im gueesing there smell won't mix if there frozen

first off how is your husbandry temps hides substrate If you are doing everything right, you probably shouldnt stress to much. BP's are notorious for going off feed randomly. I have all mine in a rack so temps humidity hides everything is identical, and I have snakes randomly go off feed at random sometimes. I had a 600gram pastel female go off feed from november and just started eating the end of march. If your snakes are healthy and your husbandry is good dont stress it so much

You want to give the rats smell?

If so I guess getting a mice and keeping it around would be the easiest. Then put the rat in the mice bedding a while, before feeding the rat off.

The next easiest thing would be to "ask" for mice bedding at a pet store. But Im not sure how long the mouse scent will stay on it.

As per the off-feed. My Axanthic male has only eaten 1 mouse since before November. He makes me nervous too. Before that about 8 months before, he was a 300g 1.5 year old Axanthic male. he was very underweight and eating a small rat every week. Then he just stoped. He was at 900g.

i keep them in tubs, 2 hides, and clutter since the tub is 28qt., the temps go between 89-94, if i set the stat any hgher it goses up to 98, casue im not to keen on the 89, mark, humidity is 65. thanx for help on the mouse bedding, didn't think about petstore, its worth the try.

I'm confused - the 400 gram has been off since the last week of March, but ate last week. The last week of March was just 2 weeks ago. :confused:

Have you tried moving the albino to a smaller tub? Have you asked the breeder how they had it set up before you got it and what it was feeding on?

so sorry in a hurry while writing, was in class, the 400g i meant to say last week before march, the last weekend in February. in the 2nd week of march, so 2 weeks after first failed attempt i fed a live rat and it was hesitate but gobbled it down. it wasn't a big name breeder, he was selling rack more than anything, said it was a hold back and was in a 20 gallon tank, assuming 20L, i should of got more info, i feel really dumb, but excitement took over. that was my lesson learned, thinking of going and buying smaller tub, but didn't get to go out yesterday. do you think a smaller tub is needed??. on my 400g normal, i doubt it is stress, he has been in the same tub for 3 months. and seems fine

One of the best things I have found for troubled eaters is newspaper. Sounds strange but ball up pieces of newspaper and cram the tub full (I mean FULL) of newspaper. It wont even look like the animal will have room to get out of his hide but he will. Pack it to the top then wait about a week, offer food (with paper still in tub) This has worked for me with several trouble feeders. I was told of this method by a big breeder a few years ago.
And if it don't work, you're only out $.50.

Could that breeder. Be the master himself. Guns, lol thanks fatboy, put
her in a 15qt wide tub. And when I kill this soc. Test. I will go home and do it

Drop both snakes to a 16 qt tubs if their still 400g under.

Most if not all who use tubs keep them till about 800g in 16qt tubs.

Once you switch to smaller tub, give a week to adjust and offer live rat or mouse.

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Originally Posted by BOWSER11788

Could that breeder. Be the master himself. Guns, lol thanks fatboy, put
her in a 15qt wide tub. And when I kill this soc. Test. I will go home and do it

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No Bowser, not BG. BG has given good advise but I can't give him the credit here (even though he is probaly no stranger to this trick). This little trick was suggested to me by Adam Wysocki when I experienced my first problem eater. That was followed up by many more great tips and advise from Adam. I really appreciate what he is doing, we all should, but sure do miss 8ball Pythons!!!!

I've had that trick work for me, too, with difficult starter hatchlings.

Come on Bowsie...you have Ball Pythons. You know this is what they do. BG has said it many times before..... you can do all these tricks and you still may need to wait it out.

BG will say this though to everyone.....again. He probably should make a thread. Always ask the person you bought your ball from how they had it set up(babies are not as critical usually). It's best to set it up as close as possible to how they had it when you first get it....even if they use a different substrate. If you don't do that, there's a good chance it may go off feed....especially in the winter.

Also, BG has no proof of this, but if you keep trying to feed it(it scares it after a while) and keep changing it's enclosure, it doesn't really get a chance to acclimate to it's new environment. This may exacerbate the problem. Some tricks may of may not work, but BG is starting to believe if you can't set it up like the other person did, set it up within the proper temps and humidity and wait it out. Most will eat eventually. If it loses too much weight, then you'll need to try more drastic measures. One simple dose of Flagyl works miracles. It's too bad some people who have been told this over and over by BG(none of you) just let animals starve to death and die.:taz:

Ok, in 15qt. With enough paper to burn an hour. Lol actualy I was dumb at first. Omg, fitting the snakes in tubs is awful. So when I got into tubs I got 28 &. 32qts. Today I bought 3 15qt. I moves miss. Albino and will move the others if I have problems. I truely belive my normal just is being hard cause I'm trying to switch to rat pups. The pastel in the 28qt has ate every meal is happy.

i WISH i HAD A SHOT OF FLAGIL FOR MY FEMALE ALBINO.BEN SINCE DECEMBER & NO SIGN OF COMMING ON FEED YET.

how or were can i get flagil, what is it..

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Originally Posted by BOWSER11788

how or were can i get flagil, what is it..

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You can get it from a Vet and BG believes it's a miracle drug.

Not really...it just works well.:gj:

Are you currently offering live or f/t? Are you pre-scenting before offering? If you are offering f/t, how are you thawing/heating the prey? and how are you presenting the prey to the snakes?

BG, so i can't order it, i have to pay BIG vet prices to get it. also Vyprz, i use a blow dryer, pre-cent for about 10 minutes, usally =, when i do pre-cent the other bps usally come out of there hides, it quite funny. i'm trying f/t with the zombie dance at frrst, last weekend i put it at the edge of her hide, and coverd it with a shirt(complete darkness) i gave in on my normal male, the one thats problem is trying to sitch over. and gave him a live adult mouse, he was slithering out the cage before i even un-did all the clips and struck the mouse half-way out of his cage.. but no-go on the albino, but as stated im doing fatboys paper trick, and will offer saturday, wich is feeding day.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by RichsBallPythons

Drop both snakes to a 16 qt tubs if their still 400g under.

Most if not all who use tubs keep them till about 800g in 16qt tubs.

Once you switch to smaller tub, give a week to adjust and offer live rat or mouse.

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Once you put the critter in a smaller tub, you may find that your snake needs two more things. A hiding place - the snake may prefer to ambush their [live] prey. And a dark place, so feed at night and cover the enclosure when you see the snake is active.

And BG recommended aspen bedding. That most likely helped, but they also had mites and respiratory infections that needed treating. Not saying yours has either, but it contributed to my animals not eating.

never heard it wheeze, and cant you see mites, ive never seen anything crawl on her, oh God CA you have me paranoid on the highest leval now.

Also, for the f/t's, make sure you are holding it by the scruff of the neck or the skin on it's back when you do the dance and kind of walk it about 2-3 inches in front of the hide. I think holding the rats by the tail and dangling it from above might freak out some snakes...

Do you thaw them out in water before heating them with a blow dryer?

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Originally Posted by BOWSER11788

never heard it wheeze, and cant you see mites, ive never seen anything crawl on her, oh God CA you have me paranoid on the highest leval now.

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Sorry to alarm you. Not my intent. :)

If you've kept them at the proper temps and humidity, I doubt there is any sickness going on. Don't panic just because my snakes had those problems, it is not rare to have a bp go off its feed. And yes, you will see mites on an albino rather easily, and for normal colored snakes, you can check under the chin in the skin flap, and in the heat pits and all around the head. And one symptom that my snakes did that had the RI, they would regularly open and adjust their jaws, a lot similar in motion to a person who is trying to "clear their ears" after swimming. And they would "stargaze," by keeping their head up like they are looking at the stars (this is to help clear the moucus from their respiratory system). I wouldn't get hyped up because my snakes had these problems.

If you have a scale that reads down to the gram, weigh the snake once a week and that'll help monitor if the animal is losing too much weight.

Just listen to what BG shared, and try to mimic the conditions the snake was in before you took ownership. Your snake should eat when its hungry. :)

thanx everyone, yes i soak it in warm water for about 10 mins. before blow dryer, i've been, in a hurry before and went straight dryer, but thats been a while ago, and i usally hold in by tail, my other take it, guess i'lll hold its neck for this one.

While doing the "paper trick" I would suggest offering live prey until you get him eating. Just drop a mouse in the tub with the snake and paper, then sit and listen. Allow the snake to "hunt" his prey. The added security and thrill of the hunt usually results in the snake eating. After he is established then you can try to work F/T.

The only problem with that is the only pet stores around here sell large mice and skip to big rats, are is a large mouse equal to a weaned rat or rat pup

Just look at your snake and the mouse. If they are about the same size around you are ok. If he is a problem eater I would consider offering a little smaller than normal prey anyway until he gets established. IMO...yes, an adult mouse and a just weaned rat are about the same size. I just think at the stage your animal is at now you will find much more sucess offering live. Remember...that's just my opinion.

def, try, thanx a bunch guys, small question does albinos eye go blue before shed, or pink, probelly dumb ??

They get a little bit cloudy, but its less obvious than with darker colored eyes. And you might notice the body of the snake become a bit dull. For me, fairly new to keeping albinos, it is trickier to notice.

well she is going into shed as well, her eyes abit duller, red, possibly say pinkish, cant tell with her body, she has more white than yellow

hmm... if she sheds in the next two weeks (or at this point, next week) you'll know that's a possible cause for not eating. What might help is taking a picture now and comparing it to what she looks like normally. To compare if she's any less colorful, sharpness and contrast in the pattern, etc. Definitely would help to use same lighting and background if possible. :)

Any news as of yet?