Fish?

My BP has a beautiful viv, with 1/3 of the land area being filtered water. In that water I have 8 fish (or I did last Thursday when I brought home 3). They are all community non-aggressive fish, Mollies, Platies, Tetras. One disappeared a few days ago and another yesterday.

There is no...evidence of the fish being attacked, jumping out of the water to their death, being sucked into the filter, etc. None of the fish seem large enough to have eaten the fish that are missing and smaller fish have managed to survive thus far.

So my question is, is Slide eating these fish? I've seen him hovering his head over the water.

Although there are many species of snakes that can and do eat fish I am not aware of any accounts of ball pythons being one of them. That being said a fish eating ball although odd, I don’t think would be beyond the realm of possibilities, they are predators after all and lots of different types of snakes take prey in captivity that they might not eat in the wild (milks, kings, corals just to name a few). Maybe it’s time for slide to get a “nanny cam”. If he’s really eating the fish that’s something I would really like to see

What's the substrate in the water area? Our tentacled snakes get fed live fish and if they die, they decompose really quickly and become "part of" the gravel substrate on the bottom if we happen to miss one or two when we're doing our daily cleaning.

ya post pics that sounds awesome

If a fish passes away in a tank and you dont find it, it could have been eaten by the others. Dosn't matter the type, fish will eat other fish. I see it everyday at work.

I have gravel and large rocks on the bottom of the tank, and I look at it everyday. If I fish died, there's no way it was dead more than a day without me seeing it. Plus, if that's it, what is killing them initially?! I mean we're talking like 2 inchx3/4 inch fish here roughly...:)

I did just buy a video camera...maybe I should set it up, that seems like the only way I'm going to know for sure what is going on. LoL

It sounds like a beautiful viv--just make sure that the land area is completely dry, and never damp, as damp substrate isn't good for ball pythons (it tends to lead to blister disease and skin infections).

As for the fish--I'm really guessing the others ate the missing fish after they died, but as others have said, if the ball python is eating them, that is likely a discovery new to science, and I'd love to see it.

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Originally Posted by candidecoating

I have gravel and large rocks on the bottom of the tank, and I look at it everyday. If I fish died, there's no way it was dead more than a day without me seeing it. Plus, if that's it, what is killing them initially?! I mean we're talking like 2 inchx3/4 inch fish here roughly...:)

I did just buy a video camera...maybe I should set it up, that seems like the only way I'm going to know for sure what is going on. LoL

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Fish are also dependent on a good enverment, the most commom problem with fish dieing is water quality. Bad water can kill a fish in hours to days. Take some water to a fish store and have it tasted. Most of the time its free.

Is the water heated? Mollies, platies, etc are tropical fish and require heated water. If the water is just room temp the fish will die. And yes, once the fish die, the others will eat the dead ones

Pics of said enclosure!!

Set up a camera! We must get to the bottom of this!
I have been wondering this the past couple days!!
DO IT! :gj:

time to get more fish and set up a camera lol.. my ball hates the water so much he barely drinks it..

but honestly its pretty cool.. it would be awesome to walk in and catch him in the act lol

ya it sounds like im one of the few if only believer of your fish eating snake. I mean its possible . and if fish were eating it there would be tons of white fleshy particals and skeleton on the bottom of the tank, I have large cichlids and have had tropical com. tanks as well and fish Totally eat fish but theres allways evidence, unless we are talking a large fish which it soundslike you dont.

I have a betta chilling in the water tank in my snake enclosure. My snake tank is a 55g and the betta tank is 2g. The betta is right under a 75watt night bulb which keeps it's temp at lovely 82 deg. What's really funny is the betta is aggressive to the snake! When Symy's drink water or has her tail in the tank , Baustwhyck will attack her like another betta. This of course does nothing to Symy. It doesn't even look like she notices...

I've never heard of a ball python demonstrating a feeding response without stimulating their heat pits (as in, they don't seem interested in other ectotherms)

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Originally Posted by LOSTCOAST_BALLZ

ya it sounds like im one of the few if only believer of your fish eating snake. I mean its possible . and if fish were eating it there would be tons of white fleshy particals and skeleton on the bottom of the tank, I have large cichlids and have had tropical com. tanks as well and fish Totally eat fish but theres allways evidence, unless we are talking a large fish which it soundslike you dont.

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"and fish Totally eat fish but theres allways evidence," Yes they eat fish, But there is not allways evidence. I base this statement on 50 years of fish keeping, owning fish stores and managing them.

Its is true! thats how my snake got his name , Arthur. He was getting a drink in the feeder tank at work, a goldfish touched his face he snapped out(underwater) grabbed it and ate it in my hands within 30m of being at my store it was same size as his head nad it was gold and black tailed.

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Originally Posted by Akren_905

Its is true! thats how my snake got his name , Arthur. He was getting a drink in the feeder tank at work, a goldfish touched his face he snapped out(underwater) grabbed it and ate it in my hands within 30m of being at my store it was same size as his head nad it was gold and black tailed.

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I'm sorry but how did he get the name Arthur because of that? lol

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Originally Posted by chris4554

I'm sorry but how did he get the name Arthur because of that? lol

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Eating the "lady in the lake"?

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Originally Posted by chris4554

I'm sorry but how did he get the name Arthur because of that? lol

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Originally Posted by thedarkwolf25

Eating the "lady in the lake"?

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HAHAHAHAHA!!!
:rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl:

LOL sorry I'm not very good with my literature but I still don't remember Arthur eating the lady in the lake :colbert:

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Originally Posted by chris4554

LOL sorry I'm not very good with my literature but I still don't remember Arthur eating the lady in the lake :colbert:

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My mind is always in the gutter...LOL..........that was a behind(under the sheets) scene that was left out:)

And is Arthur a BP or some other kind of snake?

To everyone with the dying fish debate - the fish are all no longer than 2-3inch and there are 2 smaller 1inch fish. I agree that there would be some evidence in the amount of time that I am away from the tank. In fact, on the one or two occassions where fish have naturally died in there, there was bodies. Same size fish, etc.

It is a weird phenomenon, but my husband seems to have no desire to set up the video camera for us to find out. Besides, who knows how long it would be before it happened again. I mean, when did I post this originally, and I had "lost" 2 fish in 6 days before that, but I still have the same amount of fish since then.

Is the snake drinking the dirty fish water?

i agree about the fish water, that might not be a good things, and ive kept fish for a while cichlids and salt water tanks primarly, and im just getting into the snake keeping business and drinking fish water might not be that great, theres elevated levels of toxins in the water such as nitrites, nitrates, possibly even amonia if the tank isnt filtered well, also if its a real slow filter/ water running, the water could contain diseases, even ones brought home from contaminated fish from the pet store...:confuzd:

but about the OP a BP eating fish would be a sight to see, but i dont think it could happen, i mean it COULD but i have my doubts...and if it was, would fish be healthy for the snake?

still no pics?

I make take forever, but occassionally I do get around to doing the things that others have asked of me.

Here is a shaky and too zoomed in view of my palludarium, one or two of my fish friends and the side of a very shy Slide.

http://www.facebook.com/?ref=logo#!/...92126&comments

As far as the mysterious disappearing fish - still no more have disappeared since the OP.

Grrr my FB is set to private, I'm thinking that link isnt going to work....

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Originally Posted by candidecoating

Grrr my FB is set to private, I'm thinking that link isnt going to work....

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Nope...didn't work.

how about this? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nes_UCq-IZc

OMG I think that it has to be Slide. I know, I know, I should set up the video camera, but that's just not what I want it's first usage to be for. So after just about a month of nothing, my catfish seemed to be missing this afternoon. He most certainly was there yesterday, possibly even this morning. We're looking and looking, and....here he is!
http://ball-pythons.net/gallery/file...0/dsc00008.jpg

Yep, if you look at it close enough, you will see that most of that picture is a fish, lying in the dirt. He doesn't seem to show any signs of being squeezed or bitten, but he's just lying there in the dirt. I'm guessing that it is at least possible the other fish were not looked for as hard in the dirt and perhaps decayed on the ground, though even that seems unlikely (as those fish started out lighter colored that Mo, who died today and if we spotted him, why wouldn't we have been able to spot them?!)

So...the mystery continues!

" He doesn't seem to show any signs of being squeezed or bitten, but he's just lying there in the dirt."

He jumped. They do that. Have you had that water tested?