Anything you can do about picky eaters?

I recently acquired a male ball python that is a year old and only 275 grams. The previous owner said they'd offer to feed him every week but he wouldn't eat that often. It's been four weeks since I've had him and he hasn't eaten live or f/t mice or rats. I have him in a 28qt tub with aspen substrate, three hides, a water dish, and a towel covering the front at all times. Hot spot is at 89, cold side 82, humidity 55%. I've left him overnight with mice that aren't weaned but he wont go for anything. He strikes defensively at me and f/t and spends all of his time in his most secure hide. I've never had an adult snake be this picky and freaked out before. Anything you can do for a BP that seems to be finicky its whole life?

Downsize the tub to the smallest one possible it will in most cases do the trick, I only move male in a 32 quarts tubs when they are 650+ grams, this ensure that they are eating especially during their first breeding season or the winter months.

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Originally Posted by Deborah

Downsize the tub to the smallest one possible it will in most cases do the trick, I only move male in a 32 quarts tubs when they are 650+ grams, this ensure that they are eating especially during their first breeding season or the winter months.

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Agreed, snakes that small can get overwhelmed.

I originally put him in a 6qt hatching tub with a hide for a week, but he was always tightly balled up and out of his hide whenever I saw him in there and I thought he looked like he felt vulnerable? Anyway, went out and bought this tub tonight. It has a low roof which is nice and gives him more room than a 6qt. He slithered right into his hide and is peeking out.


Does this look like a good sized tub for him?

http://i.imgur.com/N2dLncd.jpg

Yeah, that looks better. I think you'll have success now. Good luck and keep us posted.

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Originally Posted by Bigfish1975

Yeah, that looks better. I think you'll have success now. Good luck and keep us posted.

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Thanks! I'm feeling confident with this tub and I'm thinking it'll do the trick. (: In a week I'll give him a rat crawler over night and see if he takes it.

Just a heads-up - cardboard is prime bacteria breeding grounds. It might work short term (like for the night), but I don't recommend it. The second it gets wet it's pretty much dunzo.

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Originally Posted by Eric Alan

Just a heads-up - cardboard is prime bacteria breeding grounds. It might work short term (like for the night), but I don't recommend it. The second it gets wet it's pretty much dunzo.

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I swap them out weekly or as whenever they get wet, do you think that's fine?

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Originally Posted by Galaxygirl

I swap them out weekly or as whenever they get wet, do you think that's fine?

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I wouldn't leave in a cardboard over hide over night or any time at all 1 because bacteria like said In the previous reply and two because when it gets wet the ink from the cardboard can come out and get onto the snake and it's a pain to come off

It's been 10 days since I originally posted. Gave him a live rat weanling that he won't eat. He's sitting at 275g for the last couple weeks. Weighed about 280 when I got him.

He's a little on the thinner side. He's a bit sunken in at certain angles.

http://i.imgur.com/TsfKcPe.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/pfYZRWN.jpghttp://i.imgur.com/HDApVte.jpg

Here is a really weird trick that I've never tried but a breeder told me has worked for him with picky eaters in the past. Hard boil an egg, cut the egg in half, rub the egg on the rat and then offer the rat. The rat doesn't need to be covered in it or anything, just kind of scent rubbed. I've also heard of people putting tuna water (the juice from canned tuna in water) on rats for a kick start. Also try the same trick with a mouse, some bp are mouse eaters for life no matter how big they get.

I have a few dozen tricks. I will start with a couple more obvious ones that are worth trying first. A new food item will sometimes really spark something. I would try an African Soft Fur or go to a pet shop and buy a Gerbil. In my experience, a Gerbil really gives off a scent that perks up a BP. Try a Gerbil first and if that doesn't work, try an African Soft Fur. Good Luck and please keep us posted.

I was thinking about getting a gerbil.. Maybe I'll try that

Try nicking a pre-killed feeder in the throat and squeezing some blood (or other bodily fluid) out, just a drop or two - gets their attention and tells them "food", without being very gruesome. If you have a f/t feeder that's leaked blood from the muzzle you can skip the knife work and just squeeze a bit more out.

African soft fur...:snake:

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Originally Posted by d_b

African soft fur...:snake:

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Know where to get some? No pet stores around here carry them.

When I received him he was 282g, and he is down to 255 now. As he is a 2014 I am concerned about his size.. I don't know how small is too small for his age. He doesn't look emaciated, but is pretty angular with his spine. He still will not eat mice or rats. He shows some interest but wont go for them. Really don't want to feed him ASF or Gerbils unless absolutely necessary. Tried assist feeding once and he spat it out over and over again for an hour. I held it in his throat for 15 minutes at a time and then would let him go, and he would just spit it out. Do I try something smaller and use tongs to massage it down his throat further?

Would the next step be:

Continue to leave him be and offer a mouse/rat every 7/10 days?
Assist feed again
Try ASF/Gerbils - I didn't want to do this as I didn't want a special eater, but I'd definitely do it if now is the time.. I think I've given him enough time to go for the rats/mice...

Thanks for advice, never had a difficult eater like this.

After trying many methods. Paper bag overnight, leaving mice fuzzies / rat pups over night, scenting with tuna, smaller enclosure, more hides, etc. I decided to buy him that $15 gerbil from Petco, which he proceeded to eat. Ideally it's not awesome to have him on gerbils price wise, but it's definitely better than nothing. I'm just glad he ate, and now I can work to switching him to rats using gerbil bedding and maybe chain feeding.

I literally just had this problem with my 2015 3 month old albino ball. My post is probably a week old. He wouldn't eat for a month from when I got him and I tried absolutely everything, frozen, live, offering at different times of the day, scenting he had no interest in the food. As a last resort I got a live mouse, stuck both of them in a plastic bin and closed the lid and covered it all over with black paper (as long as its dark) and just peeped in if I heard any noise or stayed close just in case. After 30 minutes of cornflake trying to escape paying to attention to the mouse he finally sat on the bottom, when I had given up and was about to take him out he snapped, coiled, and ate. I don't know if he was just annoyed with the mouse sniffing him and killed it to get rid of it or if his instincts kicked in but he ate and that's all that mattered. Cornflakes had became so skinny I could see his back bone all the way down, his neck was to small and if was to the point where if he didn't eat that day I was gonna have to force feed him. Try this and see if it helps. It was the only thing that worked for me.
P.S. I also put a drop of tuna water on the lives head, I don't believe this mattered to him since he was not interested for 30 minutes until he realized he couldn't get out it was him and the mouse but it's worth a shot, I will be using this method in the future to try to wean him into eatting frozen.)

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Excuse me I just notice you said he did eat lol. I'm glad to hear he ate I wish I could have gotten here sooner and explained I had the exact same problem but hopefully he won't be a special eater! You can always wean him away anyway. My little cornflake is still in day 2 of digestion (that's how close our issues were together) seeing your snake like that breaks your heart, hopefully your snake dousnt give you any problems next week and same for me lol.

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Originally Posted by Albinoballpython

Excuse me I just notice you said he did eat lol. I'm glad to hear he ate I wish I could have gotten here sooner and explained I had the exact same problem but hopefully he won't be a special eater! You can always wean him away anyway. My little cornflake is still in day 2 of digestion (that's how close our issues were together) seeing your snake like that breaks your heart, hopefully your snake dousnt give you any problems next week and same for me lol.

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I hope for the best for you! I was about to take the gerbil out because the snake was going crazy, coil throwing, striking defensively, and racing around his cage. Right as I was going to open his tub he grabbed onto the gerbil. This guy interestingly enough would show more interest in rats vs. mice, but still wouldn't eat either of them. I dunked a poor little live Rat fuzzy in tuna water and left him over night with him(I felt so bad, haha) and that had no effect. Next week I'm going to get some gerbil bedding from a pet store and scent his cage, and hopefully he'll take a rat or mouse instead.

Grabbed some dirty hamster bedding from the pet store as they didn't have any gerbils in stock (and I was going to try gerbil scenting). I put the dirty bedding in his tub about 3hrs before feeding. He wasn't acting hungry/was shy when I put the live rat in. I covered him and left him alone with it for 4-5 minutes, and he ate it. :party:

Little update on this picky guy. I think I've only had success once feeding him a rat without first scenting his cage with gerbil (and hamster once). He completely ignores mice surprisingly, and is eating another small live rat right now. I bought a gerbil to feed him a couple weeks ago, but tried giving him a rat first. He ate the rat, so I decided to just keep the gerbil as a pet and use its dirty bedding to scent rats for him for the future. If he absolutely refuses a rat even when scenting, I put him and the rat in the gerbils cage (I remove the gerbil first) and that seems to get him to eat it.

Hopefully I can get him eating rats without scenting and without having to move him.

He's a year old and has gone from 250g to 400g now. He will only eat for me about once every 12 days.