160g baby ball python won't eat for me :(

Okay guys so I know this question has been answered about a million times and I know I shouldn't worry too much but I can't help but worry about him. My new male baby ball python Bubo is a bumblebee that I got 5 weeks ago. He is my second ball python but my first morph. My first ball python is a big ole happy normal that's 5 years old and eats every week. Today was feeding day and even though she was in shed (super dull bright blue eyes) she ate like champ! Strong strike and it's already eaten. Bubo on the other has not eaten for me once!! The breeder I got him from has been feeding him rat pups and that what I have been offering him every week. He has a pretty noticeable head wobble (does cork screws and bobbles his head sometimes) the man I got him from said he is a great feeder but when he got to me that all changed! So today when I fed him he struck and actually coiled around the rat pup for the first time! Every other time I've fed him he would just strike and strike relentlessly until the pup would get cold. Today he coiled for only a couple seconds but let go :( and showed no more interest in the pup. So I let the f/t pup sit in for a Lil while just to see if he wanted some privacy. But I've just checked on him after almost 15-30 minutes and he is just slithering around his enclosure hanging around on the vines not interested at all in his meal.

Ill tell you what's going on with his enclosure. He is in a 20g tank with two hides, one on the hot side one on the cool side. He has a piece of drift wood in there from petsmart and a water bowl that he can soak in with some plastic vines that he likes climbing on and chilling up there. He has a heat pad on the bottom of the tank on the hot side and its controlled by a Hydrotherm thermostat. I keep the heat pad set to 90. I also have a dimmer heat lamp on top of the tank with a daytime bulb and night time bulb. I just use the lamps to keep the ambient temp between 80-85. The cool side is at about 75-80. I have this same exact set up for my big female normal and she is happy and eating. Bubo has shed for me once though in one pretty long piece. I mist his tank daily to keep the humidity between 50-70%. I don't really know what's up with him :( I haven't been handling him at all. I only work around him to change his water are to mist his tank and attemp to feed him. He has bitten me twice didn't hurt at all, he tried to bite me again today though when I retrieved his ice cold rat pup from his tank. He would've nailed me if I didn't put the lid on fast enough. He did strike the screen though and had to pry himself off, which was the saddest thing I've ever seen :( I love my little guy very much and try to do all I can to make him happy but idk if its enough. Any advice will be appreciated Greatly! Sorry for the extremely long post. Please help.


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Oh some additional info. He was hatched 6/813. And I've even tried braining the rats to get him more interested in eating but it still hasn't worked :(


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You said the breeder was feeding pups, but were they live or f/t? You could always feed live until he's feeding reliably, then make the switch to f/t. Also, what are you measuring your temps with? And what is the hot side temp? You may have your tstat set to 90, but that doesn't necessarily mean that's the temps he's experiencing in the enclosure.

That's a good question, I just asked the breeder but he hasn't emailed me back yet. So ill let you know when he does. And I'm measuring temps with a Hyrdotherm thermostat. It regulates the uth and measures ambient temp and measures the humidity as well. I think it's pretty reliable though, I paid a pretty penny for it. I have the uth set at 90 and I keep a heat lamp on top to keep the ambient temp on the hot side at like 85. The cool side is at 75-80. If he doesn't start eating soon I may have to start feeding him live. I have this same set up for my female ball python Eva and she's been eating great for 5 years. This is my first experience with a very young snake that hasn't wanted to eat. Eva has always been a great eater. And I know it's nice and warm in his tank. Our house is very small and our thermostat is always set at 73 degrees. So it's not hard to keep temps at where they should be.


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He seems like a normal little guy. He stays in his hide all day but at night right when the sun goes down he explores his tank. He sheds fine he just won't eat for me.


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Hmm I've never heard of that model. Where are the probes at in the tank? Is there any way you could get your hands on a temp gun to check it against the Tstat?


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http://zoomed.com/db/products/EntryD...D=2&SearchID=5

Here's a link to the product you can check it out and see if its a nice thermostat or if I should get a better one. And the prob is right against the heat pad so it can control the temp. It's secured with aluminum foil tape. And the thermostat itself acts as a prob since it goes inside the tank for an ambient temp reading and humidity reading. But I'll definitely invest in a temp gun just to compare to make sure it's on point. It's just weird that he strikes at his food but doesn't coil around it at all. I don't understand why. I know he's hungry though. Today was the only day he coiled around his food but as fast as he coiled he let it go. Do you think his head wobble has something to do with his struggle to feed? It takes him forever to just strike the rat and when he does he usually misses. It seems like he really want to eat and is trying really hard but he's just struggling and idk why.


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Ok the breeder just emailed me back and he has been feeding all of his snakes LIVE!! that's why he won't eat for me! Ill definitely get him a live rat pup for him next Monday on feeding day :) ill keep you updated though and tell you if he ate! Thanks for all the advice though. I really needed some.


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Hang in there! The transition of a BP to a new home, new surroundings, and new feeding habits can be overwhelming. I have a couple I am trying to transition to F/T right now and it is slowly driving me nuts. :)

By the sounds of it he is showing interest in his F/T pup. If possible keep it warm and try to do the zombie dance with it. After they strike and coil I pull lightly on the F/T rat to encourage them to coil a bit tighter.

Good luck with your little guy!

Thanks for the encouragement! I really don't want to feed him live. I don't even know where I could get any live feeder rats. But he isn't dropping any weight so far so I'm hoping I can convert him over to f/t. Today was the first day he actually showed any interest in the pup by actually coiling for a couple seconds. So hopefully next week I will have more luck. If you have any more tips on how to convert him over to f/t I'd love to hear them all. If he doesn't eat next week ill try dipping the pup in some chicken broth. I hope he becomes more like my other snake Eva when I comes to eating. She'll eat anything I put in front of her, even if she's in shed lol.


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I'm glad I'm not the only one going crazy about it. I just want him to eat soooo bad!! He is a really pretty little bee and I want to handle him and take some pics of him to post on the forum once he starts eating well.


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My hatchling girl wouldn't eat f/t tried for 2 months... hope you have better luck!

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You can also try putting her inside a brown paper bag with the frozen thawed rat pup. Staple it up and place it back in it's enclosure. I had trouble getting my bee started. So I went out and bought a 16 Quart Rubbermaid container. I just put newspaper down a hide and a little water dish. Once my bee went inside the hide, I placed the warmed up rat pinkie basically halfway inside the entrance of her hide. I came back and hour later and it was gone. Sometimes if they are in a small enough enclosure they will just eat it to get it out of their space. It worked for me and I've also had success with the brown paper bag trick as have many others. All my babies came to me eating live and I've always gotten them to eat F/T for their first feeding. Most likely lucky but give these 2 options a try if you still have any issues.

Ok great :) ill try out those methods too! Thanks so much guys! Any more advice will be greatly appreciated! I've never had to switch a snake from live to frozen thawed, and I never though I would have to, but I guess it's good that I'm learning now just any other snakes I get have been getting live.


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Quote:

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Originally Posted by AlexisFitzy

http://zoomed.com/db/products/EntryD...D=2&SearchID=5

Here's a link to the product you can check it out and see if its a nice thermostat or if I should get a better one. And the prob is right against the heat pad so it can control the temp. It's secured with aluminum foil tape. And the thermostat itself acts as a prob since it goes inside the tank for an ambient temp reading and humidity reading. But I'll definitely invest in a temp gun just to compare to make sure it's on point. It's just weird that he strikes at his food but doesn't coil around it at all. I don't understand why. I know he's hungry though. Today was the only day he coiled around his food but as fast as he coiled he let it go. Do you think his head wobble has something to do with his struggle to feed? It takes him forever to just strike the rat and when he does he usually misses. It seems like he really want to eat and is trying really hard but he's just struggling and idk why.


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Is it too late to return this?

Lol so there's a few problems with this model. 1. It's not regulating your heat pad. This is because it's not in direct contact with the heating element. Remember, heat pads don't do much for ambient temps. 2. If you wanted it to correctly regulate the heat pad, the sensor would have to be sandwiched between the outside of the tank and the heat pad, which would render the hygrometer function useless.

If you're going to use this model for anything, it should be hooked up to your heat lamp, which does affect ambient temps, and the sensor placed somewhere under the lamp. I'd definitely recommend using a suction cup or to glue, using any type of tape in the enclosure can result in missing scales on your snake :(.

So yes, unfortunately you will need another Tstat for your UTH. IMO zoomed loves to put out overpriced products that don't really work... May I ask how much you paid for this?


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I paid $75 plus shipping.


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He's still not eating for me yet and I've tried feeding him rats but he's not taking them so this upcoming Monday will be feeding day and ill offer him a mouse hopper to see if that will spark his feeding response. I have yet to find any live feeders in my area yet. But I'm going to keep looking. Hopefully he will warm up to the frozen thawed though.


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Are there any mom and pop type pet stores in your area? I had to drive an hour one way to get the younger feeders, thank the lord she's on normal mice now!!

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Hmmm I'm not quite sure. Ill have to try and find out though. I live in Nashville,TN. I don't know why it's so hard to find rat breeders here. I did find one person who supposedly breed feeder rats in middle Tn but every time I contact them I never get anything back it's weird. I might just have to go out of state to get them. I was thinking about making a post asking if any one breed and feeders here since everyone is from so many different places on the forum.


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Try CL also sometimes they advertise on there. Good luck :)

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Thanks :) I definitely need it! But ill try and see what I can find.


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Hey guys! Just wanted to give you and update on Bubo :) he took his first f/t meal with me today!! So I think everything is going to be okay with him. Thank you so much for all the helpful advice and encouragement! Nothing makes me happier than snakes with a full belly! :D


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Quote:

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Originally Posted by AlexisFitzy

Hey guys! Just wanted to give you and update on Bubo :) he took his first f/t meal with me today!! So I think everything is going to be okay with him. Thank you so much for all the helpful advice and encouragement! Nothing makes me happier than snakes with a full belly! :D


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Awesome news!

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