MY BP is a vegetarian

Well, we have had him a week but he hasn't eaten since 3/12. He is a baby from a pet store, so I would think he would need to eat. We tried to give him time to get used to things but he is still not eating. This time we moved him to a separate enclosure but he has the mouse close by him and he is ignoring it. We are going to put him in his tank to see if he will eat it in there.

The only other thing I keep thinking is maybe it is too hot? How long do you guys heat your mouse? I put a couple cups in the microwave for 2 minutes then put the small mouse (still in the baggie) in the cup for about 3-4 minutes. I felt it and it felt warm and gushy.

Does he still just need more time?!?!? How long can he go without food?!?!? :confused:

Any help is appreciated. :(

you might need to do the mousey dance or try live not all balls will f/t with ease

We did move it around but that kind of freaked him out more. How long should I give it before I try live?

when you move it around how did you do it with forceps or what

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Originally Posted by gncz73

when you move it around how did you do it with forceps or what

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Yeah with really long tongs.

has it ever eaten f/t

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Originally Posted by gncz73

has it ever eaten f/t

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Not with me but the pet store girl :rolleyes: said they feed on Mon/Tues f/t small mice.

A BP not eating can be related to husbandry so try to narrow it down a little it would be great if you could answer some questions


How big is you BP and how big is your enclosure?
What are your temps?
Humidity?
Do you measure them with a digital thermometer/hydrometer
How tight are your hides, do all the sides touch his body.
Has he ever take a meal for you before?

Some BP will take F/T some will not so keep that in mind also.

When it comes to F/T this is what I do I thaw the prey at room temps it allow to prescent the room enticing my BP to eat then I warm up the prey with a hair dryer for about 30 seconds

most pet shops will tell you anything to sell you a snake. not saying they where doing that but i know most do. as long as your temps for his tank are good and he's healthy he should eat you might want to try live and see what he dois

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Originally Posted by VesuviusVicki

Not with me but the pet store girl :rolleyes: said they feed on Mon/Tues f/t small mice.

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Originally Posted by GA_Ball_Pythons

A BP not eating can be related to husbandry so try to narrow it down a little it would be great if you could answer some questions


How big is you BP and how big is your enclosure?
What are your temps?
Humidity?
Do you measure them with a digital thermometer/hydrometer
How tight are your hides, do all the sides touch his body.
Has he ever take a meal for you before?

Some BP will take F/T some will not so keep that in mind also.

When it comes to F/T this is what I do I thaw the prey at room temps it allow to prescent the room enticing my BP to eat then I warm up the prey with a hair dryer for about 30 seconds

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It is a 40 gallon which I realize now is pretty big. He seems to do well in it. He moves around mostly at night or early morning to go to the cool side. I have an under the tank heater and his bed feels really warm. It has been very humid here the last week so that is good about 50. The problem is that I am not sure how to measure the heat. I have both thermometer & hydrometer but both are on the glass. Am I supposed to measure the glass bottom or the air? :oops: The air temp ( on the glass) is about 80 on one side 70 on the other. The small hide does not touch his sides. There is another large one that he tends to lay on instead of under. I am going to try to get some matching ones this weekend. I didn't know they should touch his sides though.

Sorry that is so long. I am just really picky about my pets and need some help!

Added to say I can probably add some pics if that would help.

go to a local walmart and pick up an accright digital temp gauge with humidty for around 10 buck that will help

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Originally Posted by VesuviusVicki

It is a 40 gallon which I realize now is pretty big. He seems to do well in it. He moves around mostly at night or early morning to go to the cool side. I have an under the tank heater and his bed feels really warm. It has been very humid here the last week so that is good about 50. The problem is that I am not sure how to measure the heat. I have both thermometer & hydrometer but both are on the glass. Am I supposed to measure the glass bottom or the air? :oops: The air temp ( on the glass) is about 80 on one side 70 on the other. The small hide does not touch his sides. There is another large one that he tends to lay on instead of under. I am going to try to get some matching ones this weekend. I didn't know they should touch his sides though.

Sorry that is so long. I am just really picky about my pets and need some help!

Added to say I can probably add some pics if that would help.

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It is a 40 gallon which I realize now is pretty big. He seems to do well in it.

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Well 40 gallons is big and obviously he does not do good since he is not eating. I would recommend to downsize so you can provide him with more security.

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have both thermometer & hydrometer but both are on the glass.

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I would assume you have a dial or stick thermometer, the thing is they are not accurate and I would recommend you to get a digital thermometer/hydrometer like this one http://i127.photobucket.com/albums/p...hermometer.jpg you can get it from Walmart for about 12$/13$. The temps need to be measured at the bottom of the enclosure right above the substrate. Temps should be 90-94 on the warm side and 80-84 on the cool side.

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The small hide does not touch his sides. There is another large one that he tends to lay on instead of under. I am going to try to get some matching ones this weekend.

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For a BP to feel secure both hides must be tight (all the side touching his body) and identical (so he does not chose security over thermo-regulation)
Avoid log hides they don't provide enough security, you can purchase hides like this http://i127.photobucket.com/albums/p.../CUBBYHOLE.jpg or make some out of plastic bowls.

Once you make all the changes wait a week to ten days and try feeding again.

Hope this help.

Thanks. Do you think he will be able to make it another week with no food? Is there a good way to close up half the tank now so that you can reopen it later when he gets bigger? Here are some pictures but your info has been helpful and I think I know what is wrong.

http://img252.imageshack.us/img252/2676/1001563qv7.jpg

http://img251.imageshack.us/img251/2669/1001576jj8.jpg

http://img251.imageshack.us/img251/3304/1001577bq5.jpg

He should be ok, as far as covering half of the tank, you could as easily get a plastic tub for about 6$/8$ until he grows out of it, once full grown you can put him back in his tank.

Here are some sizes if you want to go that way

Baby – 15 Quarts (17"L x 11 1/8"W x 6 3/8"H)
Sub Adult – 32 Quarts (23 1/2"L x 16 1/4"W x 6 3/8"H)

Also make sure to provide proper hides and temps because obviously your BP not eating is not only related to one problem but it is a combination.

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Originally Posted by GA_Ball_Pythons

He should be ok, as far as covering half of the tank, you could as easily get a plastic tub for about 6$/8$ until he grows out of it, once full grown you can put him back in his tank.

Here are some sizes if you want to go that way

Baby – 15 Quarts (17"L x 11 1/8"W x 6 3/8"H)
Sub Adult – 32 Quarts (23 1/2"L x 16 1/4"W x 6 3/8"H)

Also make sure to provide proper hides and temps because obviously your BP not eating is not only related to one problem but it is a combination.

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Thank you! I just never thought about a plastic tub. Of course I wanted it to be pretty. I am going to work on it this weekend. Keep you guys posted if I have problems. :P

I know when I bought my b/p they told me to get the frozen then when I went back a few weeks later they decided to share with me that they had only fed them live so he wouldnt eat frozen anyway. Id say try live, its worth a shot. Also he might be close to going through a shed. So just give it time, try every night and maybe switching to live will get ya better results. (I think its more entertaing :D )

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Originally Posted by VesuviusVicki

Thank you! I just never thought about a plastic tub. Of course I wanted it to be pretty. I am going to work on it this weekend. Keep you guys posted if I have problems. :P

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You're welcome BP need to feel secure and once you provide security and proper husbandry he should start eating again ;)

When i first got my BP, he was also a baby. I moved him into a seperate box to feed him, and for the first 2 weeks the mouse would be near him, he wouldn't do anything, just ignore it, kind of move all around the box and what not, exploring, doing his own thing.

About 2 to 2 and a half weeks in he grabbed his first mouse, however i feed mine a live mouse. Ever since then he's been a great eater, even when i was having trouble with the housing situation ( humidity, temps, etc )

He hasn't eaten since 3/12? to be honest that's really not that long of a time without eating, AT ALL. Just be patient and give him time, he'll grab it when he wants to, or feels comfortable.

I also now feed my BP in his tank, i don't think there is much difference, i use to think so, but some of the good people here on the site told me it's probably more stressful to move them back and fourth, when it was the petstore guy that told me it's better to move them from place to place.

I'd personally try feeding it a live mouse...

I'm not a pro like most of the people on this site, but that was just my experiance.

OH, and one more thing, a 40 gallon tank for a baby BP? That's rather big, i thought my 20 gallon was big for him. I can't even imagine how he feels :confused:

something else you can add to the equation here: the newspaper trick.

ball up a bunch of newspaper and fill his enclosure/tank with them - making sure to not get any in his water dish. this creates a feeling of safety for your snake. once your snake is eating again... every week take out one piece of newspaper until eventually you don't have any newspaper in the enclosure anymore.

of course, your 40 g tank is much too big so i would definitely put your snake into a smaller tub first. but the newspaper trick is a good one if simply changing the hides and enclosure don't solve your problem.

There is no such thing as a cage that is "too big" for an animal. Bigger is always better. I would just add a few more hides to get him to feel comfortable

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Originally Posted by moespeaking

There is no such thing as a cage that is "too big" for an animal. Bigger is always better. I would just add a few more hides to get him to feel comfortable

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not with ball pythons, and especially baby balls. balls do well in small simple setups. alot of non-feeding or hard to feed balls will start eating regularly again with the proper environment and security needs met!


vaughn

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Originally Posted by moespeaking

There is no such thing as a cage that is "too big" for an animal. Bigger is always better. I would just add a few more hides to get him to feel comfortable

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Bigger is not better for a shy animal that chooses rodent burrows and termite mounds to spend most of its time. Bigger can overwhelm and stress out a ball python. Smaller is better.

I agree with you guys mostly, but by adding more hides the snake should feel right at home. If you have a 500 gallon tank with hides, the snake will almost always be hiding, and in a 10 gallon with hides theyl be hiding almost all the time as well. Obvisouly the snake doesnt have to hunt nearly as much in a 10 gallon compared to a 40 but isnt that half the fun for them?

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Originally Posted by moespeaking

I agree with you guys mostly, but by adding more hides the snake should feel right at home. If you have a 500 gallon tank with hides, the snake will almost always be hiding, and in a 10 gallon with hides theyl be hiding almost all the time as well. Obvisouly the snake doesnt have to hunt nearly as much in a 10 gallon compared to a 40 but isnt that half the fun for them?

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I don't believe hunting is 'fun' for them, but a instinct. Do you house your ball pythons in huge enclosures with success? I can tell you from my experience that bigger is definitely not better in this particular case. ;) And that's completely ignoring the nightmare of heating such an enclosure.

True I didnt think of the heat part, that would be a giant pain. A 40 gallon isnt that big of a tank. I house my 3 footer in a 33 long which is same footprint as a 55 but only a foot tall. Bout to move her into a breeder tank though for the width increase. Ive had her in the 33 since she was a hatchling and never had any problems, I have two half logs one on each side, and a water dish and humid hide towards the center. I mean this tank is pretty big but with all the hides and water dish its not very open.


Im not trying to start a fight with any of you guys, this is just my own opinion, and I respect all of yours just may not totally agree with them.

nothing wrong with 30-40 gal tank for a 3 ft plus bp.


the op was describing a 40 gal. setup with a baby in it. i think alot of opinions were based on this...


vaughn