New Ball Python Not Feeding

Hello,
I made a thread last week about my ball python who is refusing to eat. She was hatched 8/16/17 and was shipped to me on 10/3/17. Upon arrival I had a tub ready to go with high temps at 89-92 and low temps around 78, with an ambient temp around 80-82 and a humidity 50-70%, depending on how full the water dish is. I tried feeding her 3 days after getting her with no success, and then waited 7 days to try again with no success. I took to this forum and with your suggestions tried adding more clutter to make her feel more secure. I didn't check on her often these past 7 days but when I did she seemed to be in her hides during the day and coming out to explore at night, flicking her tongue often. I just tried feeding her again with no success and I'm starting to get worried. I plan on leaving the mouse in the tub overnight to see if she will eat it, but otherwise I'm looking for any ideas or suggestions on how to feed.

With the feeding tonight I thawed the hopper mouse out completely for 10-15 minutes, and then heated it up for a minute or so directed at her tub to get the smell to possibly get her interested. I also did take a razor blade and "brained" the mouse to see if that would peak her interest. Upon opening the tub she was moving about and flicking her tongue, and after I dangled the moues an inch or so in front of her she did strike but missed. Afterwards I tried dangling it more and she was not interested, instead moving about the tub and exploring towards the top where I had it open. I placed the mouse in the tub and am now gonna wait overnight. A minute or two after leaving it in there she did go over to it and look down and kind of sniff it but then continued to explore the edges of her tub.

Personally I would feed her a live rat pup. Do you know any rat breeders in your area? Maybe you can call a pet store? Live rat pups are perfect for hatchlings, I actually feed 2-3 per week. Since I breed rats (by the hundreds) its easy for me to just pop a rat into the tub and walk away, they always eat it by morning. And if the rat pup is small enough to have it's eyes closed it's perfectly safe to leave in there overnight.

Ball pythons don't want to be fed, they want to hunt. It's instinctive. Just look at all the problems with the big chain pet stores, they have a policy against feeding live so their baby ball python hatchlings that they sell don't eat and they wither away. If the snake was bigger I wouldn't worry too much, adults can fast for months with no problems. But a two month old hatchling is another story. Personally I'd be calling all the pet stores in the area for live rat pups, also see if you can return it if it's not eaten (otherwise it will die without it's mom). FYI, if you have an incubator at about 95F you can put a rat pup in there and it will last for several days, but I'd bring it back to the store after a day or two if not eaten. It's actually easier if you have more than one snake, if one doesn't eat the other one will. And if you have a whole rack of snakes it's really easy, no rodent ever goes to waste. I use King snakes and Retics as my garbage disposals, eating all the left over rats LOL.

As far as I know there are no rat breeders in my area but there is one smaller "hometown" petstore that offers frozen feeders so they may have live. If not, would you suggest trying a frozen rat pup instead? Or would "scenting" the mouse/rat with rat litter be effective?

Just leave it overnight. See what happens.

Update because I wasn't able to access the site yesterday:

She did not eat the mouse so I will try picking up a rat pup (frozen or live if I can find) and maybe some litter to try scenting. When I removed the mouse I also weighed her quick and before shipping she was listed at 66g for weight and she was about 64-65g so it doesn't seem like she has lost much weight. My new concern is today I looked in and she was constantly parolling her tub, even though her tub is constantly in the dark, her hotspot was at 92, her cold spot around 80, the humidity was about 45-50%, and she still had the two hides and some vines over the rest of her tub: could this be a sign she is hungry, or somehow still stress?

I would get the humidity up to 60 and raise you cool side 3-4 degrees. It could be a sign of either or. Also you might if you haven't tried to just leave the mouse in there and walk away. No dangling, just lay it down nice and warm and walk away and check in 3-4 hours. I have a snake that will not eat unless there is no outside stimuli.

ok I read you left it overnight. Try live. Sorry you are goi g through this with your beep.

The little hometown store did have live feeders! Would it be too early to try feeding again or should I wait a day or so?

I would put it in in the evening. Like after dinner. Then leave it till morning. If it didn't work you can always take it back to the store.

Just picked up a live pinky rate about the size of the small hopper mice I was trying and will try feeding her later. Any idea on why she is so active? As soon as I open the tub she's trying to make a break for it and even when I pick her up to put her back in she curls slightly but then tries to explore more.

Bummer you and your lil' noodle is having a rough go of it :(! I'm still a newbie myself, and there are more experienced keepers here, just trying to offer some help ;).

The first time I fed Coco was after a stressful first 2 weeks. (week 1 bad shed, and week 2 letting her settle back in). She was on live when I got her, so switching her to F/T after a bad 2 weeks was a bit stressful!

If your husbandry is on point, you could try covering her enclosure with a hand towel so the snake feels fully secure. I covered the tub for about a week with the hand towel. My first successful feed was F/T hopper left overnight and the tub covered with a towel. Woke up and the hopper was gone! Granted it was a F/T, but could work for a live prey item?

As for the F/T/, After that, the following week, I thawed the hopper next to her tub for a few hours (3-4) may be slight overkill, but this drove Coco nuts. Like a snake's version of a Holiday feast :)! She was roaming her tub looking for the mouse. The last 15 minutes is when I put the hopper in a plastic bag, and I put it in hot tap water for 15-20 minutes. After that, I can feel if the mouse's head and belly are warm through the plastic bag. I take it out of the plastic bag, I use a hair dryer on low for 10 seconds, get the head nice and "warm". Coco is "S"ed up even before I open her tub and she strikes, coils, and eats like clockwork. For Coco, I don't get the hopper wet, as she may not be able to smell the prey item. Also forgot to mention I'm using feeding tongs for all food handling.

This chaps guide is what helped me get Coco to switch over:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CSX79DpN2b8&t=446s

One sidenote, is it possible your beep is nearing a shed cycle?

Hope these suggestions help and good luck!

(Just saw your new post) It sounds like she may be stressed out a bit :(.

I don't think it is a shed cycle because she's looked the same since I got her, and being a black eyed lucy her eyes have yet to "go into blue". As for the towel technique I can try that, but the placement of her tub is in a small "closet" in the dark with a majority of the time (a small fan nearby to regulate airflow and humidity) so I'm not sure if would be any different than how I have her now.

As far as stress goes I'm at a loss because the first week or so she was not at all active and much like a "pet rock", and she's only been this active after I've made slight changes to better her enclosure (better temps, humidity, clutter/hiding locations).

Ah I see, and can imagine how frustrating this is :(. Hmmmm, crud, there are some awesome people on here. Hopefully they see this thread and can offer better advice. Sorry you're going through this :(!!!

No problem, but thanks for your input!

Have you talked to the breeder? Did you get a feeding history and whether they were on frozen or live? They should be able to give advice on how well this one fed before selling it. That is they were a reputable breeder and not just flipping it.

1 I would drop the temp to 88 max

Second I would offer a live, unless the animal was feeding on F/T prior to you acquiring it (and I mean consistent) the animal needs to eat first before being switched. If the animal was eating rats offer rats if it was eating mice offer mouse.

It is very important to feed the same type prey while the animal is adjusting it makes switching once well established a lot easier.

The breeder himself was Garrick over at Royal Constrictor Designs and prior to purchasing I was in contact with him multiple times about the specific animal (I am in no way blaming him as I know he is a very reputable breeder and cares about his animals, and this is all about the individual snake): he told me she was fed on live hoppers prior to purchasing, and I had asked him if he thought she would do good on frozen feeders (as frozen is more accessible for me). The next scheduled feeding he had with her he offered her a thawed hopper and told me she ate it without hesitation and had no doubt she would do fine on thawed. He also gave me a very informative care sheet in an email once she was shipped. I have yet to contact him with these concerns as I can blame the two prior non-feedings on likely new-homing stress, and I am still trying things on his care list that could possibly help me out (like trying a live feeding).

Should I still attempt feeding with the live pinky rat I picked up, even though it isn't a small hopper mouse? At the store when I was asking about live feeders they were unsure about having live mice feeders at the time but knew they had pinky rats, so I went with the pinky rat never bothered to ask about hoppers because I had read that trying different food types was a potential way to get picky eaters to eventually eat.

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he told me she was fed on live hoppers prior to purchasing,

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This is what you need to offer for the next 3 to 5 feeding, trying to switch prey type when you just acquired a snake is counter productive, have the snake eating for you and then revisit the switching element and when you do so it's one step at the time either live to f/t and then mice to rat or vice versa.

Never assume that it will be easy to switch an animal to another prey type, yes it can be done but some may take longer than other and attempting while the animal is trying to adjust is only complicating things.

Once an animal eats the same prey type 5 times consecutively you can then consider the animal switched.

Good news!

Against my better judgement with your advice I still did offer the rat pinky to see what would happen and for two hours she was not interested in it and was sitting in one corner of her tub, and the pinky had actually crawled into her hide. I moved the pinky out and while doing that she curled into the "S" striking shape, so I slid her under her hide and placed the pinky out in front. A couple seconds later, she poked her head out and struck and got it!

From here on out should I continue to feed her live pinky rats for the next few weeks until she's on a schedule, and then if I want switch to frozen thawed?

Yep I would

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Originally Posted by LilDiabeetus

Good news!

Against my better judgement with your advice I still did offer the rat pinky to see what would happen and for two hours she was not interested in it and was sitting in one corner of her tub, and the pinky had actually crawled into her hide. I moved the pinky out and while doing that she curled into the "S" striking shape, so I slid her under her hide and placed the pinky out in front. A couple seconds later, she poked her head out and struck and got it!

From here on out should I continue to feed her live pinky rats for the next few weeks until she's on a schedule, and then if I want switch to frozen thawed?

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If / when you do switch to thawed frozen just ensure that they are WARM when offered ( a blast with a hairdryer then offer immediately) - rarely fails in my experience.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

Quote:

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Originally Posted by LilDiabeetus

Hello,
I made a thread last week about my ball python who is refusing to eat. She was hatched 8/16/17 and was shipped to me on 10/3/17. Upon arrival I had a tub ready to go with high temps at 89-92 and low temps around 78, with an ambient temp around 80-82 and a humidity 50-70%, depending on how full the water dish is. I tried feeding her 3 days after getting her with no success, and then waited 7 days to try again with no success. I took to this forum and with your suggestions tried adding more clutter to make her feel more secure. I didn't check on her often these past 7 days but when I did she seemed to be in her hides during the day and coming out to explore at night, flicking her tongue often. I just tried feeding her again with no success and I'm starting to get worried. I plan on leaving the mouse in the tub overnight to see if she will eat it, but otherwise I'm looking for any ideas or suggestions on how to feed.

With the feeding tonight I thawed the hopper mouse out completely for 10-15 minutes, and then heated it up for a minute or so directed at her tub to get the smell to possibly get her interested. I also did take a razor blade and "brained" the mouse to see if that would peak her interest. Upon opening the tub she was moving about and flicking her tongue, and after I dangled the moues an inch or so in front of her she did strike but missed. Afterwards I tried dangling it more and she was not interested, instead moving about the tub and exploring towards the top where I had it open. I placed the mouse in the tub and am now gonna wait overnight. A minute or two after leaving it in there she did go over to it and look down and kind of sniff it but then continued to explore the edges of her tub.

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Is a 10 to 15 minute thaw long enough? I thaw for 1 1/2 to 2 hours in cold water, then 20 minutes in hot. Never fails. Even eats it wet. Maybe the hopper is still frozen inside on the previous attempts?

When I did offer the thawed hoppers I would warm them for 10-15 minutes in the very warm water and then also blast them with the hairdryer/small fan-heater on low for a minute or so, checking with the temp gun afterwards until they were around 90 degrees, so they should have been thawed all the way though (as a hopper is not much to thaw).

You might want to raise the temp of the hopper up. My one and only refusal was not a warm enough feeder. I warm them to 99 - 100.