Clumsy, Blind? Normal?

Please give me your advice. I brought a medium rat to my 1year old ball python yesterday. I put him in a container with it, and over an hour, he sprung at it, bumping it really hard with his nose, but didn't get hold of it.

I put it in his home aquarium with him, and the same thing happened.

Now, he's in his home aquarium and the rat is in there, too, and they're both sleeping.

What should I do?

Take the rat out and try again in a week. How much does your bp weigh? How much did rat weigh? Maybe it was too big, or he just wasn't in the mood to eat. They do that. What ever you do, don't leave a live rat unattended with your snake.

Have you been watching the entire time? Live Rodents should never be left alone with a BP, the rodent very easily can hurt your snake or even kill it. At this point it is clear that your BP doesn't want to eat, you should remove the rodent.

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Originally Posted by The Serpent Merchant

Have you been watching the entire time? Live Rodents should never be left alone with a BP, the rodent very easily can hurt your snake or even kill it. At this point it is clear that your BP doesn't want to eat, you should remove the rodent.

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Omg, +1000 you really can't leave a live rodent in with your snake unless you want the snake to become a meal. Take it out and wait a week or so. How's your husbandry? Most common reason for snakes to refuse food is improper husbandry...

I think the environment is good for the snake. Its clean, has a warm hide, and a cooler side with water. The bedding is aspen. He has grown a lot over the past year.

I took the rat out and put it in it's own box. Great, I don't want to get attached to it. It's been a month since the snake ate. He's been coming out at night, knocking things down in the terrarium, which is usually a sign he's looking for food.

I've wondered before if he's blind because he will miss when he attacks. I thought it might be because there's a heat pad on one side of his terrarium, so the body heat might be camouflaged by that, so I turned it off last time. He missed a few times but did get the rat. This time I put him in a different box with no heat sources around it, and he missed many times, never getting hold of the rat. I could see the rat fly away from him, he hit it pretty hard, but didn't coil up on it.

I'll wait a week and see...

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Teacher's Pet

I think the environment is good for the snake. Its clean, has a warm hide, and a cooler side with water. The bedding is aspen. He has grown a lot over the past year.

I took the rat out and put it in it's own box. Great, I don't want to get attached to it. It's been a month since the snake ate. He's been coming out at night, knocking things down in the terrarium, which is usually a sign he's looking for food.

I've wondered before if he's blind because he will miss when he attacks. I thought it might be because there's a heat pad on one side of his terrarium, so the body heat might be camouflaged by that, so I turned it off last time. He missed a few times but did get the rat. This time I put him in a different box with no heat sources around it, and he missed many times, never getting hold of the rat. I could see the rat fly away from him, he hit it pretty hard, but didn't coil up on it.

I'll wait a week and see...

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Temps? Humidity? Do you have more than one hide? Is he in a heavily traveled area/loud area or held a lot? How are you controlling the temperature of your heat mat? Heat mats MUST have a thermostat of some kind. How are you measuring your temps?

I cannot imagine a rat's body heat being camouflaged by the heat mat. I've never heard of such a thing. Misses do happen. Some are just clumsy. Some are just bluffing and trying to scare this would be attacker off. This sounds like what is going on so far. Feeding a separate tub is generally frowned upon. It adds unnecessary stress an is often a cause/factor for hunger strikes.

Blind snakes don't normally have a too much harder time eating than normal snakes. I'd talk to angellady, if I remember correctly she owns a beauty born with no eyes. From what I know it's never had any eating problems, but I'd ask her or hope she chimes in. What size rat are you using? How much does the snake weigh? I notice with my larger ones, if the prey is too small that have a harder time catching it...

Hi,

It doesn't sound so much like he is "missing" the rat but that he is using defensive strikes to try and get it to leave his environment.


dr del

I agree with it sounds as If he's defensive striking. I personally go for smaller meals with more frequency. I don't use mediums for even my largest girls. Id rather use weanling rats weekly with some of the big girls getting more than one rat a feeding. I would try a smaller rat. Also what are your temps? And your set up like. Most defensive strikes occur when the animal is stressed. That can be cause by the wrong set up or temps.
The rats body temp will never be camouflaged by a heat mat. The heat mat should be a constant 90-92.f and a rats body temp is near 100.f. They can also see the movement of the rat. Snakes in general are excellent predators blind or otherwise.


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So you took the rodent out right?

Good information here. Thank you.

Defensive strikes, that makes sense. That's what it looked like, now that I'm thinking about him purposely missing. Yes, Slithers is stressed. He's a classroom pet. The class is busy, noisy at times, and every kid wants to hold him. They rarely get to hold him because he seems stressed. He lives in his hide, sleeping. When I take him home for the summer, or breaks, he seems much more pleasant. He still sleeps a lot, but comes out in the evenings to stretch out on his branches, under the heat light. I don't think he likes the noise and busyness of my classroom at all. It's unfortunate. The kids are teaching everyone about snakes and debunking myths right and left. I may have to keep him home next year.

Humidity is always a problem here in Northern California. I keep it up to around 40% by soaking his branches - then they dry under the heat light. Without this, the humidity is closer to 10%. The temperature is about 79 on the water dish side, and 85 on the hide side. Inside the hide, it's warmer, about 90. I have a digital thermometer under the substrate under his hide; an analog thermostat/humidity gauge on the high wall on the water dish side, and a digital thermometer/humidity gauge on the floor in the front of the cool side. He knocks all of these off/over when he's out and about looking for food.

He rarely drinks (that I've seen) and never soaks in his water dish. He had two perfect sheds over the summer last year, then two terrible sheds in a row when school started again. I took him home for some rest and he had a so-so shed.

I don't know the weights of the snake and the rat. I can weigh them soon, but I don't think I'll pick Slithers up for a few days.

As of now, I have a rat in a covered box with a hide of his own, and a snake in his terrarium.

Im sure now that youve posted about the husbandry someone with far more knowledge will come along and give their opinion. It sounds like your temps are a little off. Also, you dont mention a second hide. They should have a 2nd one located on the cooler side of the tank. Especially if hes stressed - they will sacrifice temp regulation for seclusion. Your humidity is also low. That could be your problem with the sheds. You could try some damp moss within your hides or a damp towel on top, but keep enough open for airflow. Perhaps using different heating methods rather than lights would help the humidity.

I am currently dealing with a defensive BP myself. My guy eats though...he just doesnt like us! Good Luck!

My solution for now is that I brought Slithers home. He was so much more comfortable as soon as we came in the house. He stretched out and hung out with my husband and me.

I found a pet shop to take the rat back. They said he would be unlikely to eat that rat now, after all the stress with it. I also got some advice about the terrarium. I put a second hide in there (cpodraza, good call), put a tiny water dish inside one of the hides to humidify it, changed to cypress substrate, and moved the light so it shines next to (not right onto) the warm side hide.

I think the first and biggest change is being home. Is it possible he really likes being here that much more? I think maybe.

At the moment, humidity is 67%. It is about 73° everywhere because I just set the terrarium up. I'll check in a little while to see what each side is.