Baby Refuses food

Hello, I'm new here, my names Sara and I live in Fairbanks, Alaska.

A month ago I purchased a baby ball python who appeared and still appears quite healthy. Nice weight on him, good color, no signs of resperatory or any other illnesses.

I have a pretty extensive knowledge about reptiles and have had many different kinds, geckos, skinks, etc and have taken care of ball pythons before.

My baby ball python though, has not eaten for the last month. He's in a 20 long, but it has hides everywhere, on the cold and warm side, in the middle, basically a lot of cover for him to hide and feel safe. He moves around every now and then, exploring, etc..He knows where his water is, and he looks hydrated.

I only held him once in the beginning and haven't really held him for the past couple weeks to let him settle in, he's a pretty nice baby, no nipping, just a little easily spooked. I've tried every week to feed him thawed pinkies/fuzzies.

I'm not sure if he was eating live fuzzies before but he will not eat frozen/thawed and shows absolutely no interest in them. He pretty much just runs away from the food. I have no problem with live, but I can't find anyone who sells live anything. We only have a petco, and they only sell frozen, but sell adult live, but I don't think he's big enough for that. His body is only probably a little thicker than my thumb.

Is there anything I can do that might help him start eating? I know ball pythons can be finicky, I just don't know how long he can go before getting really thin, etc. His name is Petrie by the way haha

Thanks for any and all help!

Grab the smallest live adult mouse you can find, if need be--it will probably be fine. You would be absolutely amazed what the little ones can put down. :)

Where did you get him?

Everyone will advise you to make major changes to your setup, since a 20 gallon is generally too large for a baby ball python. However, I would try the live mouse first, before making any changes.

It looks like you have a local herp society.
Fairbanks Herpetocultural Society
P.O. Box 71309
Fairbanks, AK 99707
Phone: 907-452-5400

So, you could try contacting them, and see if anyone there breeds rodents and has some extras you could pick up that are the right size. If no one has hopper mice or fuzzy rats, try the small adult mouse.

If hopper mice, fuzzy rats, or the small adult mouse don't work, then it's time to make some changes to your setup.
It's important to get him eating quickly now, since he is so young, and has already gone without eating for a month. Many people will advise that ball pythons can fast for long periods--and they can, if they're a year old or more. Hatchlings cannot, they lose weight at nearly the same rate as older pythons, and they don't have it to spare.

Thanks a lot, sorry but that herp society doesn't exist. It's some type of law office.

Petco is only getting in about 15 mice a week, and there all gone for this week, they get bought up in the first day or two...

I have a spare 10 gallon, but it had a baby ball python in it that had IBD and died so I'm just worried about using it and not disenfecting it properly.

I'm going to probably start breeding mice soon, because, well, it is Fairbanks, Alaska.

I'm going to try posting on craigslist tonight again looking for any live mice.

Thanks for all the help so far.

Under the circumstances, breeding your own rodents sounds like a viable option.

I would destroy the tank that had the IBD ball in it. Definitely get it out of the house asap.
Think how easy it is to transfer the common cold virus. IBD isn't well understood, but it could be just that easy to transfer it. Anything that other snake had any contact with, even indirectly, should be bleached.

Yeah it was a couple months ago, but I haven't even gone within a couple feet of the tank. I just found another 10 gallon tank but it'll have to be really cleaned as it had fish in it and still has the water in it, so if I can't get him to eat in the next couple days or find any live, I'll change him over and then go from there.

Could I possibly just separate his 20 long in half with something like cardboard, rather than moving him to a new tank?

And looking at him now he is getting noticably thinner. =/

I guess you could. I'd use something nonporous if at all possible.

You can just clean out that 10 gal. Won't take longer than a day. Maybe an hour of actual work. Just fill with bleach water. Let dry in sun.

You can get small plastic storage tubs. Like the size of a shoebox. You can put it inside the 20gal until he grows out of it.

What were the people you got him from feeding him? Anything he'd eat would help. I'd go to them and demand help/food.

He got shipped here from lll reptile, there are no breeders here or reptile shows, and I've always gotten good healthy critters from lll before.

Still hasn't eaten =/ Petco is getting some live mice in tomorrow, but if he's scared by a thawed fuzzy...I'm sure he's going to be scared by a live almost adult mouse...

I have one who is skittish and WILL NOT eat while I am around or during the day. I had him for nearly 3 months before I figured out his taste. He will only eat Pre Killed left in his tank over night. Not F/T just P/K. Before I found that out I tried literally everything else.

Some people will argue with me, but I switch over to hopper rats as soon as my snakes are around 90g. I hate mice and ASFs I have terrible luck with them. So if I were you, I would kill a hopper rat and leave it in overnight. I usually take the hide out of my guys tub, but then again its a tub so he feels more secure. You could cover your tank with towels or something of the such to make him feel safe enough without any hides.

Good luck and don't worry, he will eat!

i would leave your prey item in your feeding enclosure for 15-30 mins take it out and put the snake in for a bit so he gets the scent and gets hungry but that just me =)

Most baby balls want live hopper mice. If you let him go too long without food it'll be really hard to bring him back. They go from looking "ok" to looking not "ok" in a very short time frame as babies.

Corey

We don't have rats here. I just tried a live small mouse and he showed no interest so...he is just refusing everything...he just was scared of it, like he was scared of the thawed mice..but then he just ignored it and went about his own business.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by AkHerps

We don't have rats here. I just tried a live small mouse and he showed no interest so...he is just refusing everything...he just was scared of it, like he was scared of the thawed mice..but then he just ignored it and went about his own business.

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Hmmm... no rats that sucks! Try killing the mouse and leaving it in with him over night. Same effect just with a mouse.

If he starts to get thin you could consider assist feeding. I have had a couple little ones who would only take prey out of my hands for their first couple feeds once I brought them home. Terrible of me to do that, but hey they have to eat!

He got out of his cage somehow and escaped into the garage, which is filled with everything and anything, and some more..The cage was locked, I don't know how he got out..

I found him. So back to square one, and securing his cage better, it's one of the slide in lids with the locking clips at the back, I think the locks weren't clipped on all the way.

Still hasn't eaten...=/

If he venturing out and escaping odds are he is stressed with his enclosure. If he is stressed, it is extremely likely that he won't eat. I know its redundant but check his husbandry all around

He ate for the first time last night and ate a small mouse :D I left it in his house with him in the middle of the night, 20 minutes later he had killed it and ate it :D :D

He gets very active during the night and is constantly scaling the walls of his tank.

All my temps are just as this forums care sheets recommended, so, I'm not really sure why he didn't eat, I think he just wanted it left in his house with him for a while.

Thanks for alll the help!!

Awesome to hear! I just read the whole thread, I was getting worried just reading it.