Juvenile Ball Python won't eat.

Hi we are newbees to the ball python world. We just bought a 3 month old ball python 5 days ago and was told by the pet store owner to feed him in 5 days to a week, so we purchased some frozen mice , thawed one mouse out for 2 hours and tried to feed him , with no response, I was then told to put the snake and the mouse in a brown bag with the mouse over night and try that , when we checked in the morning he still has not eaten, any suggestions?

The tank setup. Is a 10 gallon tank with heat pad on bottom 2 hides and water dish.

Was the pet store feeding frozen or live?

Sent from my Pixel 4a using Tapatalk

5 days may not be long enough for it to settle in and be ready to feed. They are all different, some take quickly some take longer. So don't panic.

do you know what caging, substrate and so on it is used to. It will settle in quicker if there is a similar environment. What kind are you using?

Are you sure you have the right humidity, temperature and so on?

Did you heat the mouse up to body temperature with a hair drier or hot water?

Keep an eye here, others will have lots more advice and questions to help you.

The pet store was feeding him live fuzzy's.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by bpsnake

The pet store was feeding him live fuzzy's.

---

well walzon1 hit the nail on the head first try. It can take some work to switch from live to frozen.

First is that UTH on a tstat? If not, it needs to be. They can burn, kill, your snake.


You say mouse. Does that mean a fuzzy?

Usually when a person says mouse they mean a mature one.....that is where my mind goes.


How did you heat it?

I thaw mine in warm water and then do a water change once thawed with hot tap water to serve them. I serve them wet. A mouse body temp is slightly over 100F so the feeder needs to be near the same for the best results....especially going from live to f/t.

The pet store owner gave me Zoo-med 100% cypress mulch substrate, 1 heat pad, 2 hides, water dish, and stick on temp/humidity gauge all for a 10 gallon tank. I asked if I needed light or heat lamp and or temperature regulator for heat pad, he said no. So they only light the snake gets is natural light the room window. I did order from amazon a heat pad temperature regulator and a humidity and temp digital gauge.to get more of a precise temp and humidly reading.
I am in really bad shape with this I feel, I have the wrong setup, any help again. to have in start eating.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by bpsnake

The pet store owner gave me Zoo-med 100% cypress mulch substrate, 1 heat pad, 2 hides, water dish, and stick on temp/humidity gauge all for a 10 gallon tank. I asked if I needed light or heat lamp and or temperature regulator for heat pad, he said no. So they only light the snake gets is natural light the room window. I did order from amazon a heat pad temperature regulator and a humidity and temp digital gauge.to get more of a precise temp and humidly reading.
I am in really bad shape with this I feel, I have the wrong setup, any help again. to have in start eating.

---

We can make it work and it does not sound like you are in a bad spot. You are doing what is needed.

Now just tell us more about what you are offering, how you prepared it, and how you offered it.

well first to prepare it I did have the frozen fuzzy sit out for about 2-3 hours before and then tried to feed it to the snake. then when that did not work I got the warm water and put the fuzzy in there for like 5 mins, and tried again "again nothing" the snake sniffed it a couple time and went on his way. Thats when I called pet store owner and asked and he said try brown bag feeding and leave the fuzzy and snake in bag over night, and I did that with no results in eating.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by bpsnake

The pet store owner gave me 1 heat pad, 2 hides, water dish, and stick on temp/humidity gauge all for a 10 gallon tank. I asked if I needed light or heat lamp and or temperature regulator for heat pad, he said no..
.

---

I was going to ask you if you trusted the pet shop. But you answered me anyway.

You need to get the environment right first. First you need a thermostat to control the temps. Also proper thermometer that can tell the hot side temperatures, your stick on will only tell you the cool side and that's affected by the room temp.. A gun is best but a probe thermometer will do.
Also a hydrometer so you can manage the humidity. you can get a cheep one for a few $ or £s

That would be a good start. Others here will advise too. Just don't want to overwhelm you with too much info yet.

Edit: Also don't worry, there are more experienced keepers here than me that will make sure you and your snake are ok

Serving a Ball a room temp rodent is not going to work usually.

I would thaw in water and then change the water using the hot water from the tap.

Then serve in the dark using long tweezers or tongs.

Take the feeder by a leg and make it dance for the snake.

If the snake grabs it still hold the feeder and give it some little pulls as if it is alive and the snake needs to kill it. This will get the snake more committed and in the mindset of eating.

Then leave it in the dark for a good while before coming back to check.

If it didn't eat I would give it a break for a few days as trying often will only add stress to you and the snake.

I agree with the comment try not to get overwhelmed with too much info all you really need right now is a thermostat for your heat mat and time and patience to switch your BP to f/t



Sent from my Pixel 4a using Tapatalk

Hello! Welcome to the BP community! I recently had a very similar problem with my young BP, she refused to eat for about 3 months. I checked, and was doing everything right, but she still wouldn't eat. I ended up buying a live, and after that night with the one live, she ate frozen consistently, so you could always try this! Some snakes are very particular about what temperature their rodent is too, I've noticed this a lot in my KSB. Good luck!