New Young BP Wont eat.

Hi, Me and my son have got ourselves a pet ball python.
He is pretty young, and we have had him about 5 weeks.
I made some mistakes at first :
1) improper hides, i only had one half log hide
2) glass was not blacked out
3) No Thermostat on heat pad (after 2nd day i measured 115 in the hollow log hide, i adjusted by moving pad off tank and installing a cearnmic tile. Now have thermostat on it)
4) tank too large.
5) heating pad too small for tank.


So the snake has not eaten since we got him. We attempted the first feeding 6 days after we got him, on f/t fuzzy. he snached it up without much effort and began to eat, then I put the top of my critter cage on and the light (now changed to heating element) it scared him and he dropped it.
Every time we have offered him after that he sniffs a little but doesnt show interest.

I have made the following changes:
Made flower pot hides 1 on each side.
Installed a nice hydrofarm thermostat for the warm side (the most stable part of the cage)
blacked out the back of the tank with internet green pics.
switched to an infrared element instead of a heat lamp
installed an internal, external, humidity thermometer.

So here's what I think may be going on.
First of all, this tank was given to us, it is a critter keeper around the 40 gallon size. My wife got the heat pad which is rated for 20-30 gallons.
The temps are:
Hot hide: 93 (heating pad under this and aquafarm thermostat probe in the hide)
Cold Side (75 - 86) there is no heat pad on this side (measuerd by the accurite walmart outside probe).
Ambient (center tank) , 85 -87 Measuerd by the accurite walmart inside .
Humitidy (all over) 40 -60 % ( just pour some water on the aspen daily and it stays around 40 %.

:snake:I think the cold side is too cold (he spends a lot of time on the cold side).
:snake:Tank too large.
:snake:Environment noisy (childrens room, 3 hours of loud children daily), ( Movies played on the computer at night to put kids to sleep).
:snake:change of feeding method, the guy at the pet store told me to come by for a live mouse , (I opted to go for f/t because i was afraid the mouse would hurt the snake. I am curretly trying to feed fuzzy f/t from petco).
:snake:Too many environmental changes, I have been rearranging the tank to accomodate for new hides, thermostats and some foliage, (I have not made any changes for 2 weeks now) the last change was adjusting the hydrofarm system.
:snake:hot hide was still too hot even after initial adjustments, it was adjusted by moving the heating pad off to get to 95 (and hotter) temps until i put the thermostat in there.

Please advise, I am learning how to be a good caregiver for this snake, obviously I have floundered around a bit but luckily these are pretty hardy snakes. ( i hope). I never realized it would be this tough to set up the snakes environment, however, we are learning to become great herpotologists.
Here are the changes im consider:

:snake:I'm considering going to live mice.
:snake:I am also considering a second heat pad and hydrofarm thermostat on the cold side (to keep it at 80).
Thanks!!.
pics included to check size of f/t mice.
http://valdez.bz/ballpython/wonteat1.jpg
http://valdez.bz/ballpython/wonteat2.jpg
http://valdez.bz/ballpython/wonteat3.jpg

Ok Ill give this a shot hope this helps

Try a Live Hopper mouse works like a champ
No handeling until he eats 3 meals for you
Move to a quiet room until he eats regularly
The rest you seem to have covered Black out the side correct hides and husbandry. What are you measuring your temps with? I would recomend a Accurite thermometer Wal mart should have them for about $15 looks like this
And feel free to ask lots of quaetions. I would recomend a 10G tank for now smaller would be a lot better for this little guy right now

Restless Robbie:
I am using the wallmart accurite to measure ambient and cold hide temps (outside probe is in the cold hide, aqua farm probe is in the warm hide). I am using the hydrofarm to measure the warm hide temp.

I also think the hopper will get him going. This snake is not a cheap petco snake, I'm most certain it is a captive bread / captive hatched snake.

I think the moving of the tank, into the quieter room is a good idea.

Thanks for the help, much appreciated.

I can get ahold of, what i think offhand is a 10g tank.
Will the environment change be too much ?
I talked to the guy last night and he was totaly down to give me his old tank and pad.
Is it worth switching to the smaller tank and upending this little guys world yet again?
thanks.

You should also move the thermostat probe, your snake can move it and the heat pad will then get too hot or not hot enough, you can hot glue it to the glass, I have mine duct taped directly to the heat pad, not too much tape though I also taped the probe cord so it won't go anywhere. You will have to adjust your settings again on the thermostat

I wouldn't handle the snake either until its eating regularly, and a smaller tank may help.

You can pre-scent: leave the f/t on top the tank for a while until your snake starts to pop its head out, this makes mine go crazy (come out and periscope to the top of the tank looking for food crazy) make sure ur feeders are warm enough too.

I have a younger snake who is a bit tricky to feed. I have found that warming up a hopper mouse, laying it on her, and then replacing her hide on top of her usually gets her to eat. She is a shy eater and apparently wants her food delivered and not to be disturbed :rolleyes:

The hydrofarm probe that controls the pad is hot glued down to the inside of the glass, in the hide, and i have hot glued the wire down in a few places. Its not going anywhere.
So thats covered.

The critter keeper, has a very loud top. Whenever i take the top off, it makes a loud (from what i think the snake hears) thunder noise. I have not done the tin foil, heater tape rig yet (pics on that thread are not up..>!!!).
Its really annoying, but whenver i pull the top off I know it scares the snake, I try to do it slowly but it is always not a natural thing.

Ok good, I wouldn't move the hide off of the snake, pre-scent and wait till your snake is in hunt mode: poking head out, flicking its tounge like crazy, maybe even searching around the tank for food. Then try to feed

I have tried tanks and tubs for my snakes. I always had a hard time with feeding and shedding in tanks its to hard to keep temps and humidity correct. Since I switched to tubs all my BP's eat on a regular basis and sheds are perfect. I put a small bowl of warm water in the tub at night and it keeps the humidity where it needs to be.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I897 using Tapatalk 2

Here are the things I recently recommended to someone else

• 6 quarts tub
• Aspen bedding
• 1 - 6 inches plastic flower pot saucer
• NO HANDLING - NO TAKING IT OUT OF THE ENCLOSURE TO WATCH HIM until he is a consistent feeder.
• Temps gradient of 78 (cool) to 88 (warm) - Your temps on the cool side fluctuate too much.
• Live hopper mouse offer in the enclosure.

Once you make the switch wait a week before offering food.

Personally I would give it a full 7-10 days to acclimate again. Relocate it to a quieter part of the house if you haven't already. Your on the right path with husbandry. The advise given anove is excellent. After it has acclimated try feeding live as suggested above. I am new to BP's as well an feeding live was a
what my breeder was feeding. It worked like a charm.

As far as noise goes, I have always preferred caves the open from the front with sliding doors for reptiles. Your hand won't seem like a predator entering the cage from above. They are also quieter to open. So
Something to consider when you start moving it up to bigger cages. Many people use tanks like yous successfully and it may get used to it.

I hope it eats for you soon it is stressful but try and be patient. Best advise I was given :)

Snakes are deaf, and "hear" by vibrations they pick up through their jaws, so kids being noisy wont really effect the snake. At night, since you use the computer for movies, throw a blanket over the cage, making sure you leave 1/4th of the screen top uncovered for adequate airflow. It doesn't matter how loud the cage is when it's being opened, as long as you're not giving the entire enclosure a sudden jolt as that would startle just about anyone if their house started shaking. High traffic areas where people are constantly passing by the cage and looking inside it will also stress it out next to inconsistent husbandry. Also to capitalize on Whispersinmyhead's post above me, it's always best to tap on the cage gently to alert the animal of your presence so that you aren't taken as an immediate threat before you reach in for him/her.

As for feeding - if it was being fed live hoppers by the previous owner/breeder, I'd stick with that. I generally feed all mice live but when feeding small rats I pre-kill them that way there's no chance of injury. If you want to reduce the risk of your snake being bit, pick up a set of feeding tongs so that your snake has a higher chance of a clean strike, minimizing the risk of the prey item being able to reach around and start biting.

Best of luck!

We are new to the BP world as well. Ours stuck a couple times and at right away. Now she seems to have become "shy"- she "hovers" over her prey (F/T) until its dark. Then eats it after we leave her alone. I often cover the tank with towel as well- to give her more privacy. (after feeding)

I think letting her settle is key lesson i've read on here. Also, ours was in her hide last night when we put the mouse inside and she never came out. I actually blew in her tank and apparently that was enough to get the scent to her hide- she came right out, flcking her tongue, searching for food. I think everyones advice to "fire her up" with the scent of it, before you drop it in, might help.

Good luck!

PS. Just a side bar- I keep a damp hand towel on part of our screen top to help keep humidity up. seems to really work for us.

Ok, so today i got on amazon for a second hydrofarm thermostat for the cold side.
I contacted my buddy with the smaller tank and will go by tomorrow to pick it up.
I let my son pull him out again this afternoon because he really loves his snake, i thought i would let him get one more good handling session with him before his three or four week no touching period.
Based on Twists post im not sure if I will switch him into the smaller tank yet.
I'm still up in the air on it.
Here is what im going to do.
:snake: Stop Handling.
:snake:Cover front of cage (all the time? not sure)
:snake:regulate the cold side with a hydrofarm and a second heat pad
:snake:in four days I will try a live hopper
:snake: no handling for three feedings.

If he doesn't take the hopper in the next 8 days (2 sepearte feeding sessions) I will set up the smaller tank in my bedroom and move him in there.

How does that sounds?

Again , thanks for all the help, it is much appreciated.

Brought home the little hopper (smallest one i could find).
I have been covering the tank at night for the last few days.
He was out at about 6 pm when i came home and i presented but didnt get much response.
So i put the mouse away for a bit.
At 11:00 (tank was all covered up). He was out hanging around, I presented and didnt see much response, decided to drop him in and , pretty close to in front of him.
Almost instant response, he struck him, held on to him and then dropped him.
I just let him be and he is currently eating him.
Thanks to everyone, im so happy.
Will let you know how it ends up. at least the mouse looks dead, if nothing else.

I saw him stretching out around him, and left for a few to give him som privacy.
Mouse is nowhere to be seen.
I wlll check in the tank in a few. I don't wanna disturb him.
Very happy. Thanks to all.
:)