Concerns....

I picked up my first BP almost 4 weeks ago and i'm starting to get a tad worried about it. It's housed in a 30qt. 7x17x23 rubbermaid container, with UTH's on each side each controlled by a dimmer. The temps are staying at a constant 92ish and 82ish with only a small amount of fluctuation. I am starting to get a little worried, because in the time ive had it, it has refused to eat. It had a complete shed on the 20th and overall looks quite healthy, with no mites or signs of infection. The dealer i purchased it from said that his snakes were eating CO2 gassed fuzzies on a regular basis. Is the snake refusing food because im trying to feed him f/t mice? Is there a trick to changing them over to different types of food? hope to get him eating before he gets any leaner.... thanks

i've been told on another forum that i've been on, that try dropping the heat on the warm side, to low to mid 80's and then the cool side to mid - high 70's that it will often keep them more stimulated for food, the hot temps just causes problems sometimes....but you can read it on redtailboa.net under my own post of BP refresher.

Do not worry about your temps. It has been my experience that the temps reccommended to you by Shad are detrimental to your snakes health potentially. Can you tell us how you are thawing out your mice? It may be that they are not warm enough, wet, etc.

Congrats on the new bp and I wouldn't suggest dropping temps either.

It's sometimes best to stick with success when you are getting a new BP in, then change it over to your preferred prey type and method of offering prey once you have it eating consistently for you. Is there any way you can get rat fuzzies for it from the person you purchased it from (if they are local) or from another supplier?

Welcome to BPNet! :welcome:

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Originally Posted by shadraak

i've been told on another forum that i've been on, that try dropping the heat on the warm side, to low to mid 80's and then the cool side to mid - high 70's that it will often keep them more stimulated for food, the hot temps just causes problems sometimes....but you can read it on redtailboa.net under my own post of BP refresher.

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Hmm, hopefully Adam will step in, but I believe he's told me that a warm ball python is a hungry ball python and that bumping their temps UP a few degrees may help stimulate the feeding response. I don't recall a recommendation of dropping them before.

Hopefully Adam will correct me if I've "mis-remembered" ;)

Something else to consider besides temps right now (because yours seem fine to me) might be stress. Do you handle the snake often? Is its cage in a high traffic or noisy area? Here is a trick you could try:


Make sure the cage is in a quiet room. Take some newspapers and crumple them up (not tight little wadded balls, but just crumpled) and fill the cage with the paper....right over the top of the hides and such. Wait a week, and then try feeding him/her with the newspapers still in there. If it eats, then you can start gradually reducing the amount of paper each week until there is none in there. Meanwhile, don't mess with or handle your little friend at all...just provide fresh water and make sure the cage isn't soiled...nothing more than that, until they are eating regularly for you.

What are you using to measure your temps? Are you using a digital thermometer or are you using one of those analog dial thingies? Try what everyone has suggested except lowering the temps scenario!

Make sure you have everything setup correctly as far as temps/humidity/hides go. Leave the animal alone for a week except spot cleaning and providing fresh drinking water. Fill the enclosure with crumpled up newspaper as Judy suggested and try feeding again in a week!

If you have been feeding FT, try switching over to a live mouse if you are not opposed to that type of feeding. Also, leave the mouse in the room for about 30minutes before feeding the snake. This "scenting," will get the bp into feeding mode. If you are going to try live feeding, make sure the mouse has been well fed! Attempt feeding during the time of day when ur bp is most active! Good luck.

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Originally Posted by shadraak

i've been told on another forum that i've been on, that try dropping the heat on the warm side, to low to mid 80's and then the cool side to mid - high 70's that it will often keep them more stimulated for food, the hot temps just causes problems sometimes....but you can read it on redtailboa.net under my own post of BP refresher.

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Just a heads up to anyone new to this reading that post- this dude is completely wrong. Deliberately dropping temps on a ball python will NEVER stimulate their appetite. What he's saying is that the warm-up will magically make their appetite come back. This is complete bullcrap. These temperature fluctuations will just make the problem worse.

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Originally Posted by AustimusMaximus

The dealer i purchased it from said that his snakes were eating CO2 gassed fuzzies on a regular basis. Is the snake refusing food because im trying to feed him f/t mice? Is there a trick to changing them over to different types of food? hope to get him eating before he gets any leaner.... thanks

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My first instinct is to say that the "dealer" had no clue when your snake last ate. Unfortunately there's people out there that will lie just to make a sale.

In any event, the best you can do for him is keep the temps you have 92 hot 82 cool and try to not to disturb him as much as you can. After a couple weeks of seclusion and good temps, his appetite should come right back. If he continues to refuse f/t or p/k, there's no harm in offering live food. Your focus now is to get him eating. You can always switch him back down the road once you get him feeding consistently.

OK thanks for all the suggestions. Someone asked what type of thermometer i am using; its one of the Accurite kind from walmart. Also, whats the best way to reheat a F/t mouse? currently i am heating a bowl of water in the microwave, putting the mouse in a plastic bag, then thawing it in that, but that gets the mouse kind of.... juicy. Should i leave the mouse in the cage for a while or dangle it around in front of him? Should i leave the snake in his hide and put the mouse out front of it or take the hide off of him? I am kind of inclined to believe the dealer about the eating thing, he is really "plump".

I would call whomever you bought the snake from and ask them what thier feeding methods were. Might help you figure out how to feed your snake in a way it is use to.

The way you are thawing the mouse is fine, but if it is getting wet, that may be your whole problem, maybe double bag it or something so it wont get wet. Otherwise, you could always do what I do, leave it sit under another reptiles basking light, thats also a warm spot, or even a heat emitter. You could also, use your hair blow dryer to heat it up more, make sure if is totally thawed by feelings its belly region, if it is warm, you are good to go. You have to remember, bp's work off of heat signatures by nature, it may be that your snake is use to eating something that puts off a warmer heat signature.

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Originally Posted by AustimusMaximus

Should i leave the snake in his hide and put the mouse out front of it or take the hide off of him? I am kind of inclined to believe the dealer about the eating thing, he is really "plump".

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Leave the hide. They are more secure when they hunt from within.

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Originally Posted by AustimusMaximus

I am kind of inclined to believe the dealer about the eating thing, he is really "plump".

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Would you be able to post a pic? What some people call "plump" can mean anywhere from morbidly obese to completely emaciated- we've got pretty good eyes on here and pics and weights and other stats help us help you more!

I just wanted to say that I had teh same problem with my bp when I bought it Jan 15th. Took me till around March 4th to get it to eat. I tried a live mouse 4 days after I bought cuz thats what the guy that sold it to me told me to do and it just killed the mouse and left it. Well then every week after I tried f/t and the snake just ran from it. March 4th I tried a live mouse again and it ate with in minutes. Last week it ate a live sm rat with in a min of it being in the cage. Right before it ate the snake had a perfect shed and left me a surprose in it's sterilight container. I leave the hide in also otherwise it dont eat and I feed after dark.

They love to take prey from their hide. wiggle f/t or p/k in front of it lightly and makes sure it is warm. do it at night and to stimulate the snake more, you can scent the cage before offering the mouse by rubbing the warm mouse on the inside of the cage. a great way to thaw rodents is to put them in a zip-loc bag and put it under hot water.for me it seems as if 15 minutes under hot water is good for a fuzzy/hopper. for an adult mouse it is 30-40 minutes. do what works for you and remember that they love to attack prey when it passes by their hide, or at least my 3 do. i hope i have helped.

in addition to the above, don't be afraid to go to a smaller tub like a 15 or 6qt size tub. those are big enough for a baby ball. keep the temps right, leave him alone, peace and quiet, keep trying once a week to feed. also you can try the crumpled up balls of newspaper in the tub too. adam(8ball) gave me that hint, and he got it from kevin (nerd)
here's a pic of a 400 gram bp in a 6qt tub. he's 500 grams now and was moved into a 32qt penthouse:sweeet:

https://ball-pythons.net/gallery/fil...9/DSCN0494.JPG


vaughn

A smaller cage? The 32qt. hes in now seems fairly cozy... what would be a good size container? Snakes maybe a few inches shy of a foot and a quarter fully extended. This isnt a rack system either, hes livin under my bed in my dorm at the moment

Did you change his enclosure or move recently? Sometimes a simple change of scenery is enough to freak them out a little. Remember, lack of appetite in reptiles isn't a disease, its a SYMPTOM of something else. Just keep on top of it how you should an he'll come around for you.