New User-Feeding Help Please!

My girlfriend and I "rescued" a 2 1/2 ft regular ball python about a month ago. She has had a corn snake for about 3 years but this is our first ball. The previous owners kept her in a garage with only a heat lamp and a single log to hide under. Now she has the heat lamps, heating pad, gauges and 2 housings. For feeding they would simply drop a live mouse in her terrarium. We noticed that she has a few scars from bites. We were told the last time she ate was around April 1st and we've tried to feed her every week since she came home with us. She still doesn't want to eat. Here is what we have tried: putting her in a tub with a live mouse (supervised), tub with freshly killed mouse, putting a freshly killed mouse dipped in chicken broth in a bowl inside her terrarium and putting live pinkies in a bowl in her terrarium. Even with with freshly killed mice she backs away quickly after touching them. Our room is dark and quiet when feeding. What are we doing wrong/ what else can we try? Any advice is appreciated. Thanks guys!

pinkies are way to small, I would try a live rat pup or hopper mouse inside her cage (supervised of course)

A few things about her current cage.

Does the heating pad have thermostat regulating it?

What about thermometers do they have probes or are they just stick on?

Check out these 2 links:

Cage heating: http://ball-pythons.net/forums/showt...04#post1845904

BP caresheet: http://ball-pythons.net/forums/showt...ius)-Caresheet

and Welcome to BP.net!

No probes, just gauges. After reading that write up I think I'll go to WalMart and get one of those units. She is never really interested in the rock enclosure with the heat pad under it. She spends 98% of her time under her log day and night. I also noticed she hasn't been as active as she was at night when we first got her at the end of April. Temp is about 85 during the day with the hot spot about 90, night temp about 75-80 and humidity is always around 60%. I've also noticed she has never used her large bowl for soaking, just for drinking at night. Is this an indication that she's too cold? Ps Aaron, I love the name of your husky.

Also, she had checked the heat pad before and it was only warm. After reading your article we checked again and it was way too hot. That explains why she doesn't go under there. Getting a controller tomorrow!

Most BP's do not soak in their water dished, so that is normal.

Get a thermostat and some better thermoneters and you should be in good shape.

Thanks, I'm a total Trekkie lol. My spider BP is named Q. (another next generation star trek reference :)

Thanks for the help dude. I hope the rat pups and temp changes help her get over her fear of being bitten and make her less stressed. It's still weird to see one of natures perfect killers afraid of a dead mouse. Recently started getting into the next generation on netflix...it's pretty awesome. Just finished the beta zoid marriage episode.

Just a suggestion, you could try filling the tank with fake plants or if you want something cheaper, crumpled up paper. The extra stuff will provide cover and make your snake feel more comfortable. I've had this work on a couple picky eaters.

If she's been attacked by food, she will be nervous and slow to eat for a little while. I've had it happen with rescues before.

The key is patience and persistence. Don't offer more than once a week, you'll only stress her out. Offer late in the evening if you don't already, since that is the natural time for them to hunt. Try and make as little fuss about feeding as possible.

Gale

Blackout the sides and back of her tank with black consruction paper or something to make her feel more secure in the tank and add lots of crumbled up newspaper or fake plants like someone above said^ to make her feel more secure.

Also try live rats as that may be what she used to eat.

Now that we have the UTH controller she has been staying inside the dark rock enclosure and avoiding the exposed half log. One problem down! Ill wrap the terrarium in black paper tonight and throw some shredded newspaper inside. We have only been feeding once a week at night so we will keep that up and try rat pups or fuzzys tomorrow. Thanks for all the advice everyone! Ill keep updating as things happen. Crossing my fingers.

Just finished covering the cage in black poster paper. I attached the front piece with Velcro so we can take it on and off easily to check on her, mist and feed. Since the controller didn't come with a thermometer I put one in with the other probe to monitor. Newspaper is on the list for tonight. I also got a smaller container that I'm gonna cut a hole in so we can leave live fuzzies in and let her poke her head in the top if she wants to without worrying about bites as much. Keep u guys updated. Again, thanks for all the advice!

If you haven't already, replace both your hides with identical ones. If she's not feeling secure in the half-log she's not going to use it and isn't going to thermoregulate properly. These snakes will choose security over their own health! They know they should go in the other hide but they don't feel safe so they'll stay too warm/too cold.

You should be able to leave live fuzzies loose in her tank, but don't leave them in there too long. Pups would be a better choice until she's feeding more consistently because they're old enough to wriggle around but aren't really moving and still don't have their eyes open so they're not a threat. The most important thing is to make sure she's eating. If she's eating she's not stressed and if she's eating she's gaining weight. I bet she's really skinny if she's been kept in conditions like you described and hadn't eaten for several months before you rescued her.

If you have them, post pictures! We'd love to see her!

Smaller identical hides is on the list for tomrrow. She has probably lost a little weight since these pictures were taken a month ago but probably not much. She hasn't really been that active since we got her at the beginning of May.
http://i1166.photobucket.com/albums/.../WP_000178.jpg
http://i1166.photobucket.com/albums/.../WP_000175.jpg
http://i1166.photobucket.com/albums/.../WP_000177.jpg

She's gorgeous, I'm glad she's in good hands now! It always seems like people are rescuing nice reduced pattern females!

You don't necessarily need smaller hides - ball pythons need to feel secure in their hides, they should be able to touch all the sides while curled up inside. Your girl will definitely be needing bigger ones once you get her on a good feeding schedule and she starts putting on weight. If you want, check out the Reptile Basics hides. They're a little pricier than just cheap bowls and probably a little less than 'decorator' hides (especially of the size you're going to need), but they're durable, easy to clean, and seem to be loved by lots of snakes. They're not as pretty as fake rock hides, but they get the job done.

Find a digital scale as well. You'll be able to track her weight accurately and the best way to know just how big of a rodent to feed is to go by weight. You won't know if she's losing or gaining weight pretty much any other way and it helps you take the guesswork out of 'is this too big or too small for her?'. Digital scales are $20 at Walmart, but I guess I'm partial to my $30 one from Target.

Here are some pics of the new set up. I also picked up a scale at target so we can weigh her tonight. I'm actually terrified of snakes, but this BP is helping me get over my fear. I don't mind keep track of temps, humidity and feeding, I just havn't been able to pick her up or hold her yet, just touch her while my girlfriends holding her. I know it sounds funny but im working up the courage! After she takes her first meal with us ill probably give the whole handling thing a first try.
http://i1166.photobucket.com/albums/.../WP_000219.jpg
http://i1166.photobucket.com/albums/.../WP_000221.jpg
http://i1166.photobucket.com/albums/.../WP_000220.jpg
http://i1166.photobucket.com/albums/.../WP_000222.jpg

Just don't hold her too much until she's settled in and eating! Handling stresses them out and she's not going to eat if she's stressed out. Once she's eaten at least twice (or more) then you or your girlfriend can start handling 5-10 minutes a day taking off the 48 hours after feeding for digestion, of course. You want to reduce stress as much as possible until she's eating regularly.

You said you had a thermometer with a probe, correct? Does that thermometer also measure ambient temps and humidity? Seeing stick-on analog gauges is worrying, but I know you mentioned buying a thermometer with a probe for your thermostat, so I'm just asking. If you're not using those stick-on gauges, then remove them. The last thing your girl needs is getting stuck to one of those and losing scales as a result.

We haven't been handling her very much at all. Those pictures were taken when we first got her. Waiting for her to start feeding. We did take her out tonight to weigh her. I'm estimating she's about 2.5 ft and she's coming in at 223g. Can anyone weigh in (pun intended) as to if this is a good weight for her size. Will continue to get weight records and get more temp and humidity equipment.

She looks good... She could put some weight on but nothing to be worried about.

Awesome! The only question I have left (for now) is in regards to the AcuRite thermom/hygrom. Since its used to measure humidity, warm side and cool side, I'm assuming I leave it in the tank. Where is the best place to put the unit and the probe for the warm side? can i mount it to the back glass?

the probe needs to go directly over or under the heat source, and the unit goes on the cool side.

The probe will tell you the hot side temperature, and the unit will tell you the cool side temperature/humidity

Like so:

Probe goes on hot side directly over the UTH

http://i1186.photobucket.com/albums/...s/IMG_0451.jpg

Unit is mounted to the cool side wall

http://i1186.photobucket.com/albums/...s/IMG_0452.jpg

http://i1186.photobucket.com/albums/...s/IMG_0453.jpg

You want to make sure, though, that you leave the unit itself at ground-level. Because that's where your snake is most of the time and it can be warmer or cooler near the top. Also make sure to use hot glue to stick down the probe end - never tape. You might think it's secure until you find it stuck to your snake. I just put a dab where the probe-part meets the wire and one on the little circle end. Aaron has his screwed in, but that's not an option unless you have an enclosure like his. For a glass tank or a plastic tub, hot glue is the way to go. Just make sure it's completely cooled and hardened before you place your snake back in.

Just finished installing the Acurite and removing the analog gauges. Wow now that it's finished I had no idea how far off our setup was. She's has been A LOT more active these last few nights. I also noticed she pooped after the black paper went up even though she hasn't eaten since early april. Will they also not poop if they're stressed? A big thanks to everyone for their suggestions. I have a feeling she will eat in the next feeding or the one after. Hey Aaron, after at least a year or so "practicing" with Lenore, I might be in the market for a black pewter hatchling. Any plans for this morph after you get your breeding going?

Black pewter is a morph I want to get into... But I don't have a time frame on when I'll get one.

I'm definitely going to be putting black pastel into everything as soon as I start breeding. There's nothing it doesn't look good in and eventually I'll work my way up to panda pieds (because who doesn't want to produce a panda pied, seriously). Going to be investing in a couple awesome black pastel males sometime in the future, and maybe a black pewter.

Just an update. Man, everyone on here really knows what they're talking about! After the new hides, black poster board, plants and gauges, she finally took her first meal with us last night! Woo hoo! It was only a fuzzy, but hey its a start. We wanted to start slow so she could get over her fear of being bitten. Gonna give her a few more fuzzies every week just to be sure. I bought a small container to put an adult mouse in, then leave that in the cage. That way she won't get bit and has a choice to strike if she wants. Would anyone advise against this?