3 weeks not eating

i got my first bp about 3 weeks ago the store said he had been eating f/t adult mice and had eaten the saturday before i bought him, since then he has not eaten it's been three weeks i tried feeding the mon after (he would have been feed that prior saturday but i figured with the stress of a new home i'd give him a few days) i then tried the following week and again today and nothing he seems to hide his face or move to the other side of the tank away from the mouse and to me looks like hes getting skinny any suggestions on what i should do?
the first week i just thawed it b/c thats what the store was doin the next week i thawed the mouse then put it in the sink with fairly warm water

can you get a pic of your setup or describe it accuratly

http://www.ball-pythons.net/forums/s...ad.php?t=69575 about 3/4 down the page is the most recent but now i have foil around it

nevermind,i looked in your gallery.few suggestions.cover up all the sides except the front with a background or a towel.thats a pretty big tank for a youngster so you might want to crumble up some newspaper and cover alot of that ground space up.and try feeding the snake at night time.some will eat at any time and some like to eat like they would in the wild wich is at night were they can stalk the prey.do you know wat the temps are on the top of the bedding under the hides?i see you have analog thermometers and they are pretty high up in the tank wich does not give you a accurate temp of where the snake will be most of the time.do you feed in the tank or a feeding tub?

here's a pic of him looking at the mouse and then just moved away into a hide

https://ball-pythons.net/gallery/fil...8/pict0014.jpg

i have been looking for a digital thermometer as suggestions on here was accurite from walmart and i couldn't find it, so i'm not sure what the bedidng temps are also looking for a point and shoot with instant reading to no avail

i also notice the tank is on the carpet.being on the carpet is bad cause its colder near the ground and hard to keep the temps right.get that tank up on a table,you will need a uth $40,a lamp dimmer for the uth $12 at lowes hardware stores or a thermostat wich are higher priced(lowes also have accurite thermometers wich you will need,the one with a probe)$12.and wat are you doing for heat at night?snakes need a light and dark cycle so if you have a blacklite that would be good for the night time.are you using that light 24 hours a day?that could be another reason your snake will not eat

i have a CHE and no extra lighting at first i had i bulb in the lamp and was told to get rid of it and put that in should i have just gotten a red bulb for day and blue for night and a UTH and ditch the CHE most pictures i have seen on here just have a single lamp that doesn't appear to emit light and never noticed anything for night and day light so i was relying on the sunlight that came into the room

i think thats wat you should still do.i use blacklites and inferred lights 24 hours a day.neither put off enough light to disrupt the day night cycle.the red lights are better imo cuz you can see more at night when they are active.i only use black lights if the red goes out.che's also drain your tank of humidity

it's good to get all the advice on setting up newbie tanks. the people in this forum are great. but i just wanted to let you know its just normal for it not to eat. especially since it probably hasn't adapted yet to it's new enviroment. i have a male pastel BP who hasn't eaten in 7 weeks and a female pastel who hasn't eaten in five. my cousin (who is a professional breeder) had one go for a year. it just now started eating. its good though to cover all the bases but in the end it might just not eat. good luck:)

oh,and the sunlight that comes in the room is fine for the day cycle.just dont put the tank where the sun shines directly on the tank.

You can find the accurite thermometers near the outdoor section in walmart. They have a probe with them and are normally about 12 bucks. THey also measure humidity.

I dont think he feels secure. Your set up is VERY large for a baby and balls like small tight places.

Once you get a digital thermometer, double check all your temps and humidity. those dial ones are crap and dont read the temps you need them to be reading.

I would suggest presenting the room. If hes eating F/T, then defrost the mouse near his enclosure, maybe even on top of it near the heat lamp/CHE. Do this for 30 mins or until defrosted. (i submerge mine in water, and my girl gets fussy if they arent actually wet).

If hes eating live, then let the mouse run around in its own enclosure on top of his. (So he can smell it). do this for 1 hour for live.

After the time is up, offer the prey item in the opposite corner of the cage from where the snake is. dont just shove it in his face. If F/T, leave the item on a plate or piece of cardboard (so he dosent injest the substrate). and leave him be.

If live, hold the mouse by the tail with tongs or hemostats and wait for him to come to you, dont leave your snake unsupervised with a live prey item.

It sort of looks like, from the picture, that he is having a hard time getting through his shedding. Is this right? If so, that might be why he isn't interested in eating and, if I'm seeing the photo correctly, is a really good indication that you need to really get the humidity up.

It is imperative that you get a thermometer and hygrometer to measure the temps and humidity. Have you tried Lowes for the Acurite or have you tried ordering it off of the Lowes site or the walmart site? Do you have the temps being regulated by a thermostat or rheostat?

i had the f/t mouse on top of the enclosure both this time and last,
as for shedding i never noticed his eyes change color or a pink belly, am i missing something is this why his body looks wrinkled?

Quote:

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Originally Posted by steve42683

i had the f/t mouse on top of the enclosure both this time and last,
as for shedding i never noticed his eyes change color or a pink belly, am i missing something is this why his body looks wrinkled?

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Yes - his body is wrinkled, because it's stuck shed that never came off. :(

http://www.ball-pythons.net/forums/s...ad.php?t=43403

imo your snake is wrinkled because of not eating.if you look down on on him does his body look round or triangular and saggy?

i noticed in the link you posted first the snake had mites.are they gone for sure?did you ever change the bedding?eco earth is a thriving enviornment for all kinds of stuff.try using aspen or news paper and clean the tank if you didnt since you got rid of the mites.i still strongly suggest covering the ground with bvalled up newspaper.it will do wonders for the snakes feeling of security

I need to respectfully disagree with you Butters about the wrinkled skin. If you look closely at the picture, you can see where some of the skin is off going about half way up the side, and then the old skin is there.

I agree though that if the OP is having a mite problem also, a plain paper substrate would be best. Also, to the OP, you can always make a humid hide by putting sphagnum moss inside both of the hides.

Also, the link that Robin provided ought to give you great information on how to help your snake. There are times when you'll miss the pink belly stage and miss the opaque stage. This is why monitoring humidity is so vital :gj: Humidity kept between 50-60% ought to give complete sheds :)

yes his body looks triangulated and saggy, as for the mites 19 days since the last treaatment and still not a sign of them, i had him in a rubbermaid and put him in the enclosure after no more mites. i had care frsh when he had the mites returned it and get the eco earth with no problems. Trying to get my hands on some PAM but it's illegal in NY.
AS for the shed, i have watched videos of snaked shedding and seen them open their mouths real wide, he did that yesterday morning is that only a sign of shed my g/f saw it and said it looked like he was yawning?

i'm not seeing any old skin new skin on him posssibly just lighting with the picture?

here's a different picture
https://ball-pythons.net/gallery/fil...8/pict0013.jpg

It could just be the picture for sure, which is why I asked if I was seeing it correctly.
IF the snake is saggy due to lack of food, I am hoping that Becky will jump in with her recommendations.... They go something like this: small snake = small tub. 16qt is my guess. Paper substrate. One tiny hide for the snake and one water bowl. Flex watt and a thermostat to regulate the flex watt. Place tub in a very quiet and non-traffic area of the house. Leave alone for a week. Go on stealth mode and in the dark pre-scent with a live mouse for 30 minutes to an hour. Tippy toe into the enclosure area with a teenie flashlight. Place mouse in tub. Tippy toe out of room. The snake should eat.

Really, I have a problem child who is getting back on track by following SantanicIntentions (Becky's) advice. You could always pm her for further information and clarification :gj:

i posted another piic on the page 2 of the thread that u may have missed with different lighting and angle

from the pic you i can clearly see its very under weight.i think you should try a LIVE hopper mouse or a fuzzy at night time.and again i stress covering up some of the ground space with newspaper

i planed on getting a live tomorrow and i could try feeding tomorrow night in the meantime i'm gonna get it off the floor and as for the newspaper i'm worried about changing his enclosure again before he eats b/c of stress he's already moved from a rubbermaid to this enclosure which was changed last week b/c i needed another hide and to ditch the lighting, as for the newspaper i don't have any (don't get the paper) but if i get some do i just ball some up and cover just part of the enclosure or cover the whole thing still kind of skeptical on changing it right now though.

just put enough in there to cover up a lil bit of that open space.as for the change it will reduce the stress not add to it

Quote:

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Originally Posted by steve42683

i planed on getting a live tomorrow and i could try feeding tomorrow night in the meantime i'm gonna get it off the floor and as for the newspaper i'm worried about changing his enclosure again before he eats b/c of stress he's already moved from a rubbermaid to this enclosure which was changed last week b/c i needed another hide and to ditch the lighting, as for the newspaper i don't have any (don't get the paper) but if i get some do i just ball some up and cover just part of the enclosure or cover the whole thing still kind of skeptical on changing it right now though.

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If he's stressed, he is not going to eat. it is absolutely in the best interest of the animal for you to change the husbandry first and THEN feed, not the other way around.

Put him back in the rubbermaid (assuming its small, 16 quarts or so) with a single hide, water dish and leave him alone. Make sure you have him on heat tape or UTH with a thermostat and let him settle. Its probably a combination of things mostly due to stress that he isnt eating.

And as for the PAM, like I said before, there are multiple websites to get it from. I live in NY state and ran into the same problem. No, it may not be the right thing to do but I had to do what was best for my snake.