yet another feeding post

my little ball python (6 months) will not eat, he missed almost 3 weeks of feeding, and for that time he looked like he was about to shed (blue eyes) then seemed to have changed his mind. I tried soaking him repeatedly but he looks as shiny as ever, except on of his eyes has cracks. He's crawling around like a maniac, what should I do? should I try the hot water heating, or is he not eating because of the shed, or should I just leave him alone. He's losing weight and I'm losing my mind, help please!

This may seem harsh put after reading your other post i think you should take your snake back to where you got it. Go buy a book on ball pyhtons go on line and read evrything you can.

And in six months try again.

wow, that's not harsh at all :P
and I actually got him from a shelter which was going to put him down because he had mites, so I don't think giving him back is a great idea.

just out of curiosity, why such an answer, nobody's allowed to ask questions? not everybody has 10 snakes worth of an experience.

oh I just saw the part about the other post, I didn't think I was doing that bad of a job, what's wrong with curiosity about having more than one snake?

whats ur warm/cool temps? humid? enough hides? a stressed ball wont eat and thats a fact, check to see if there is anything stressing him/her. and please keep asking questions becuz if we didnt we would have alot more animals suffering....:colbert:

hi! the temp is 27C I put in a new heating lamp a couple of weeks ago, it raised it from 26, humidity's around 60% , but I keep misting because I think he's shedding. He's had the same shed for a while, and after crawling around the vines and branches for a while he curls up in it for several hours, but then starts exploring and sniffing again, before that was my cue that he's hungry, but now he ignores all of my attempts. I tried twice today, second time heating the head like somebody posted, but he couldn't care less, he started crawling over the tongs until he was fully curled on them and the mouse of which he took no notice. I'll try giving him smaller mice tomorrow, although he's eaten these bigger ones before.

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Originally Posted by Antonella_M

my little ball python (6 months) will not eat, he missed almost 3 weeks of feeding, and for that time he looked like he was about to shed (blue eyes) then seemed to have changed his mind.

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Can they actually "change their mind"???

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Originally Posted by Antonella_M

or is he not eating because of the shed, or should I just leave him alone. He's losing weight and I'm losing my mind, help please!

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Ours will not eat during a shed! Others have suggested to wait a week after a refusal but I don't recall anybody mentioning that they were showing weight loss with refusal.

If you need to take your bp to the vet, there are methods you can use during transport to keep him/her warm enough. When I took mine to the vet, I used a heating pad on the outside of the tub, plugged into an inverter. It took some time to adjust the temps but since I started out in the morning, by time the evening appointment came around, it was good to go. I also took my accurite along to ensure that the heating pad wasn't getting too hot. She curled up in the towel and ejoyed the ride.

Good Luck!

Did you take care of the mite problem? Typically a stressed snake will curle and hide forever somewhere in the cage, but if you are saying that it was about to sched and then it didn't sched that seems a lot like humidity issue.But than you are saying that you always keep the humidity at 60 %.And that doesn't make any sense because 60% and 27C temperature is the right humidity to get a perfect sched. So I would say take care of the mite problem if haven't done so yet vbecause that may be why it is moving all tha time and let him stay for a week no handling and than try a thawed mouse rinsed with hot water .

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Originally Posted by TanyaL

Can they actually "change their mind"???



Ours will not eat during a shed! Others have suggested to wait a week after a refusal but I don't recall anybody mentioning that they were showing weight loss with refusal.

If you need to take your bp to the vet, there are methods you can use during transport to keep him/her warm enough. When I took mine to the vet, I used a heating pad on the outside of the tub, plugged into an inverter. It took some time to adjust the temps but since I started out in the morning, by time the evening appointment came around, it was good to go. I also took my accurite along to ensure that the heating pad wasn't getting too hot. She curled up in the towel and ejoyed the ride.

Good Luck!

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How far away is your vet? You live in BFE or something?

I live in Toronto, and most of the local vets don't do reptiles, the one that does is about a 45 minute drive...

and of course when I said "changed his mind" I didn't mean it literally, what I mean is that he had all the right steps before, blue eyes, etc. but that was 3 weeks ago, his skin is silky again, only one of his eyes is crusted

still no luck, today tried heating the mice, leaving it in the dark with him, heating it while keeping it dry... no luck.

Could he be sick? His color is fine and he seems very shiny (except his eye), just skinnier than normal, very active too.

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Originally Posted by Skoalbasher

How far away is your vet? You live in BFE or something?

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Was there something wrong with what I said? Does it hurt to be prepared? Or, should I have just thrown her in a pillow case and hoped for the best? I never thougth I would be bashed for being careful. And, for those who can't take their bp's to the vet because of their cold winter temps (as I've heard mentioned), it's a possible solution to a problem.

As it turned out, It was a good thing that I took the extra steps because I had to drop the boys off at church on my way home and since I had about 2 hours to kill, I was glad that I had everything that I did. Because I was prepared, instead of driving 60 miles, I only had to drive 20 miles.

It may sound as if it was a big deal or a lot of trouble, but it wasn't. The inverter is in my truck anyhow, for my laptop. The acurite runs on batteries so all I had to do was pull it out of the tank that she is usually kept in. I plugged the heating pad in that morning, because I had no idea how hot the heating pad gets and I've never used a tub before so I didn't know how quick/slow it would heat. It's better to be safe, than sorry, isn't it??

Plus, the vet's office is usually on the cold side. I had an appointment but there was no telling how long I would be sitting in the waiting room...waiting.

Now, you tell me, was I wrong with what I did?

I will do it again the next time I need to make a trip to the vet.

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Originally Posted by Antonella_M

and of course when I said "changed his mind" I didn't mean it literally, what I mean is that he had all the right steps before, blue eyes, etc. but that was 3 weeks ago, his skin is silky again, only one of his eyes is crusted

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I'm sorry if you took my comment in a rude way. It wasn't meant like that in any way, shape or form. I'm still learning too so I was asking if it's possible, even though I don't think it is, for them to 'change their mind' in the middle of a shed cycle because of one problem or another...say like stress, humidity, temps or whatever. It was probably a stupid question that could have been worded better.

Many other members have mentioned that they will go off feed during the winter so maybe that has something to do with it. To be on the safe side, I'm sure a trip to the vet wouldn't hurt.

Either way, good luck and I hope all is well with the little bp

Hello and welcome to the site!!

It was already mentioned, but make sure that your husbandry is correct. Also make sure that the hides are good and snug, I switched hides once and the new ones were a little too big and one of my girls went off feed for a couple of weeks, until I got her some new hides that were more fitting to her. I am not sure if you are using a tank or a tub, if it is a tank are 3 of the sides covered? My BP that is in a tank right now was much more happy when 3 of the sides were covered. Also, I wouldn't try repeatedly to get your snake to eat. If your snake refuses than wait a week, try to limit handling, and then try again. I normally feed my snakes later on at night, when the house is nice and quiet and darker. If you are feeding f/t, you can also try leaving the prey item in it's enclosure overnight (don't do this with live prey though!). One last thing, where is your BP enclosure located? In a high traffic area? If so, try moving it into a room that is alot less busy. Good luck!!

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Originally Posted by BallNation

This may seem harsh put after reading your other post i think you should take your snake back to where you got it. Go buy a book on ball pyhtons go on line and read evrything you can.

And in six months try again.

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New members come to this site to learn, to educate themselves and to be able to offer their snakes a better chance at a healthy, content captive life. This sort of immediate response without the corresponding offer to help them is not the sort of thing I'm personally comfortable with nor like to see happen at BPNet. :mad:

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Originally Posted by Antonella_M

my little ball python (6 months) will not eat, he missed almost 3 weeks of feeding, and for that time he looked like he was about to shed (blue eyes) then seemed to have changed his mind. I tried soaking him repeatedly but he looks as shiny as ever, except on of his eyes has cracks. He's crawling around like a maniac, what should I do? should I try the hot water heating, or is he not eating because of the shed, or should I just leave him alone. He's losing weight and I'm losing my mind, help please!

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Antonella, let's get back to basics here and see where things can be adjusted in order to help you help your snake.

Please describe or post pictures of the snake's enclosure including information like size, location in your home, hides provided, substrate, temps & humidity and how you measure and monitor that. Next things about this snake as far as it's weight if you know that, where you got it from, it's general health issues and it's feeding history both with you and with it's previous owner/breeder. Information like that, clearly laid out will help us to provide better, more precise ideas for you.

Most issues with shedding and feeding are traceable to the way a snake is kept. It's not unusual to see a new keeper such as yourself struggle at first with the care that a ball python needs and if you got it from a pet store they likely gave you very poor or no care instructions in the first place. Don't get frustrated or overwhelmed. This is all fixable stuff and with the proper information and support from this community you will be able to manage it as others have before you. Supporting new keepers is a MAJOR goal of this site and I'm sorry if you received anything less than that. :(

So let's just get that information laid out clearly and work from that point forward to get you comfortable with caring for your snake and get this snake set up properly so it can shed and eat properly. It will take a few weeks most likely but that's to be expected. Everything with BP's moves slowly and carefully towards the goals we set. :) However, once they are set up correctly and you are more confident in your ability to maintain your snake, I can tell you they are one of the nicest snakes to have around and normally very easy to care for.

Is it possible that the snake did in fact shed and you just have not found the shed skin yet? They have a habit of wadding it up and you find it in the most unexpected places.
If his eyes look 'cracked' that could be retained eyecaps. There are a few threads on what to do with that.

other than that I have nothing to add to the great advice already here :)