My snake Won't Eat

Hi Everyone,
I just got a ball python from a pet store in Houston,TX 2 months ago and I can't get it to eat. We've bought 2 mice already and the snake is totally not interested at all. So we have to let the mice go. I don't know how I can get him to eat. Anyone have suggestions..please email me at TXCB2004@hotmail.com
Christy

Read the caresheet. If you everything you have at home matches what the caresheet says, we'll go into more depth.

Can you describe your setup? Temps?

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Originally Posted by TXCB2004

So we have to let the mice go.

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Please don't release captive animals into the wild...I'm sure your pet shop would be more than willing to take them back.

Otherwise humanely euthanize them and put them in the freezer to try and feed your BP when he gets settled in and the conditions are ideal for him.

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Originally Posted by JBallPython

Please don't release captive animals into the wild...I'm sure your pet shop would be more than willing to take them back.

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Well i have to agree that letting them go is not the answer im not sure many pet shopes will take back mice. If you read my post about snakes getting sick from mice that is one of the only ways it would be able to happen. If a mouse stepped into some sick reptiles feces and was then fed to another snake, that snake would get any "illness" that the other snake may have had.

I have asked many pet shopes in my area about taking them back and they all say definitly not. I just bought one of the 5 dollar plastic rodent carriers and keep them fed and whatnot untill my snake is ready to eat. Its never more then 2 so you don't have to worry about that nast stink of mice pee heh

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Originally Posted by DrEwTiMe

Well i have to agree that letting them go is not the answer im not sure many pet shopes will take back mice. If you read my post about snakes getting sick from mice that is one of the only ways it would be able to happen. If a mouse stepped into some sick reptiles feces and was then fed to another snake, that snake would get any "illness" that the other snake may have had.

I have asked many pet shopes in my area about taking them back and they all say definitly not. I just bought one of the 5 dollar plastic rodent carriers and keep them fed and whatnot untill my snake is ready to eat. Its never more then 2 so you don't have to worry about that nast stink of mice pee heh

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Ugh. Mouse urine is N-A-S-T-Y! Nothing that I've owened has EVER out smelled the smell of mouse urine.

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Originally Posted by DrEwTiMe

I have asked many pet shopes in my area about taking them back and they all say definitly not. I just bought one of the 5 dollar plastic rodent carriers and keep them fed and whatnot untill my snake is ready to eat. Its never more then 2 so you don't have to worry about that nast stink of mice pee heh

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I think it must vary a lot between shops...especially the "mom-and-pop" shops that may not have to conform to corporate rules. I took two mice back to a store in Virginia where I shopped and they didn't hesitate to take them back after the snake didn't eat them. And the local shop where I buy my feeders here in Tucson told me they'd be glad to take them back if the snakes don't eat.

I would say "It never hurts to ask" and see what your own store's policy is on such returns.

ya your right, cause none in my area will take em back. The one that i go to is a "mom and pop" shop and part hobby store hehe. A couple times i would ahve been a lot happier if they did take them back. But after the scare i just had it makes me feel a lot safer about what i feed to my snake.

id personally rather go to the shops that don't take the mice back. Although rare that makes it a lot more likly that your snake will get sick even if you didn't do anythng wrong. After the scare i just had with that, i would rather not take my chances.

hi i found some methods in one of my ball python books. ( i have read about three in the last week as i am new to ball pythons)

brown bag method
basically all you do is get a brown grocery bag. punch a fewsmall holes in it. put you snake in it with a still blind mouse. fold the top shut. put it in your tank over night and do not desturb until morning. make sure the air temp is between 85-90 deg. if it dosent work the first time do not get discourged try once a week for three weeks.


the next is what in my opinion is the most natural for your ball python.

rodent in a hole method.

all you do is take all the hides out of your cage put a bucket in it with a small blind rodent in it. drill a hole in it high enaugh for you snake to reach the hole . but just out of reach for the rodent. put some substrate in the bottom put the lid on then leave it alone till morning. do not peek or touch even if you hear a noise that sounded like you snake just fed. ( he might of just been about to feed then you disrupted the hole shebang.) make sure the air temp is agani 85-90deg. if no success try again once a week for three more weeks. if no success try a small adult mouse for three weeks if that dosent work try a pree killed adult mouse for ....... you guessed it 3 more weeks.
before you resort to force feeding.

ale this info came from the vets and doctors of the herpetocultural libary in the book

the ball python manual

hope this helps

fish

there were a few more in my book that were a little wierd so tyr these first if they dont work i will get you some more procedures.

hope this helps

fish

Have you contacted the store you purchased this snake from to find out what they were feeding it (mice or rats and size) and what method that prey was being offered (live, frozen/thawd or pre-killed). Did they confirm that this BP was a successful feeder before you bought it (though unfortunately a lot of pet stores will outright lie about this). I would start there and try to match the feeding method that worked for this snake prior to your purchasing it. Also a fecal sample to your vet to make sure the snake is actually healthy. Next I'd suggest checking your enclosure against our caresheet and the husbandry threads to make sure everything is right that way. If you are handling this snake regularily I'd stop that and just concentrate on getting an established eating pattern going....there are years of happy handling ahead of you so no rush that way.

Perhaps if you told us how your snake's enclosure is set up and a bit more information about this snake we might be able to suggest some things to help you more.

hey i had the same problem. Mine didnt eat for three months didnt shed or anything. I did everything in the book. I even took him back to the pet store where my girlfriend got it. She did all the research and everything on them. So she called around. She found a local place that claimed that he didnt have anything wild caught pythons and that they were capitve born. So after going up there every week for three months I finally got mad because he lost a ton of weight and i mean alot. So i took it to a well known breeder here in town. She look at it and in 1 minute she that it had ticks on it. Not one but 4 on her. Now keep in mind i took it up to the same place for the last three months and the guy claimed he never seen it on the snake even after he probed it to tell me what sex it was. So all that time he was dying. I'm not saying yours is but take him somewhere else to have him looked at. Good luck.

I am also having a problem getting my snake to eat. I bought/saved him from a VERY bad pet store a week ago, I couldn't leave him there after seeing him(moe on that in my other thread introducing myself). Anyway, they told me that they were feeding him once every three months, he skipped his last feeding, so it's been Jan 12th since he last ate a pre-killed rat. Now for my questions: how do I get him to start eating again? I have a couple issues that go along with this: rats are hard to come by around here, and not something that can be found all the time, so I would much rather feed him mice, and actually would prefer to feed him live as well. So basiacally I want to change what he eats, how he eats, but yet get him to start eating. I know he's been thru alot, and I know changing feeding doesn't help either, but it's really the best way to go. So yesterday I bought a mouse and put in in with him, and he didn't seem interested in it at all. Today I tried to put it in there again, again with no success. Can someone give me some idea's?

Sorry for hijacking someone else's thread, but it seemed to kind of fit in here.

One of the best jewels of advice I got from a long time member of BPNet (who is a breeder as well) is that refusing to eat isn't the issue...it's a symptom. The trick is to find out of what is going on with the snake.

For us, it always starts with husbandry. Temps, humidity, hides, cage size (too big is often an issue as BP's don't do well with large open areas). Is the enclosure in a busy part of your house? Look at it not from a human viewpoint but from a snake's view.....would you feel safe to hunt and eat if you were a snake in that environment? Snakes must feel very vulnerable when they are swallowing prey....is your setup minimizing that stress in captivity?

Health is next for me. Has a fecal been done to make sure this snake is actually healthy and not carrying a parasite load? Is the snake acting normally other than the refusal to eat?

Prey item - are you offering appropriate prey that this snake has a previous history of eating? Is it the right size? Lots of snakes are offered prey far too large for them. This won't help and can encourage fasting from overfeeding. Are you offering it in a manner that the snake recognizes. You can stand on your head, spit quarters and whistle dixie but in my opinion nothing is going to work well if you aren't offering a BP what is wants to eat in the manner it is used to eating. Later on you can work on changing this, but up front it needs to be what it needs to be.

Do you know if this snake is in fact a wild caught that may or may not have any history of eating in captivity? A lot of pet store snakes are misrepresented as captive born, good eaters when in fact they are neither.

Some BP's fast, some are just beginning to eat again now that spring is here. If your snake is healthy and not losing weight, could it just be the end of it's fasting time? Don't assume this without making sure you are working with a healthy animal in the first place. I can't stress enough what a fecal can do for you and it's usually very reasonably priced. Your herp vet or an experienced breeder will become your new best friend.

Work with what you have....a shy, nocturnal predator unlike most any pet you've ever owned. We have some BP's that would eat in the middle of a group of irish dancers LOL...but we also have one that won't eat unless she is offered live prey, the room is full dark and there isn't a sound or movement within the room. Change this by even a tiny amount and she'll refuse outright to have a thing to do with her prey.

Have you searched the Husbandry forum? There are tons of threads on feeding methods, little tricks, etc. Basically just work the steps and don't panic. As has been said a lot on these boards, BP's don't eat each week in the wild so as long as you are dealing with a basically healthy snake you have time to do your research and try a few ideas till you find what clicks with your snake. Once you find what works...stick with it. These snakes seem to do best with routine and habits they can learn to recognize in a basic way.

If your temps are right, 82-84 cool and 92-94 hot and humd is around 50-55
Your not keeping light on them 24/7 , they have hides on cool and hot side.
Fecal has been check along w/ bp at a vet.
Your leaving them alone w/ peace and quiet, not handling etc.
I would try a small F/t mouse give it the old mousey dance and then if no response leave the mouse at the entrance to the hide he is in and go away for a while and see if he takes it. You can also try a small live mouse, give the bp about 30 mins and it not interested try again in about two weeks.

If your temps are right and the bp is healthy it will eat when it's hungry, which could be a while. Mine hasn't eaten since 12/15/05 but he tends to do this every year.

I found when mine was young and wouldn't eat with a f/t and doing the mouse dance I would just leave it in front of his hide and turn out the lights in the room and shut the door and leave him and the f/t mouse alone for a while and he would take it.

Hope this helps.

He ate this morning!! I tried feeding him again last night, didn't seem interested but I left the mouse in with him and this morning when I woke up the mouse is gone! I feel ALOT better now.
Thanks for the replies. I have been working on getting all of his conditions right, I've just been really concerned about him eating, but I guess as you have pointed out other factors go along with that. He's in a 29 gallon tank now, but I'm working on building him a more suitable home. Temps are good, but only enough room for one hide big enough for him to get into. He's still very active, and very freindly, pretty amazing considering the conditions I took him out of. No, I haven't handled him since he ate.
Thanks again for your replies!

i dont know if this has been said already but theres 2 things ive heard that works very well with snakes that are not interested in feeding. try offering a small gerbil or a prekilled mouse/rat dipped in chicken broth... im not sure if either of these options work but i read them in 2 different care sheets on the web when i was doing a little research before i was gonna buy my bp....