Baby Ball Not Eating

So I believe we tried everything. I have a baby mojave female that will not eat. She is in a 10 gallon tank with a zilla hide water and its roughly 90 on hot end and 85 on cool end. It’s a small tank so the temps will not be that big in difference. I have had the most patients with this one and for some reason she is testing it lol. I played the waiting game, wait a week and trying to feed nothing. Wait a week and a half and try to feed, nothing. We even cut her off from society by not letting anyone hold her, see her or even know of her. Her tank was wrapped with paper towels so no one could look in and she couldn’t look out. We are trying to get her use to her surroundings. We are now going to wait a 2 weeks and try to feed her again. We know not to keep attempting because of stress. I feel as if we are getting more stressed out than she is.

any suggetions would be greatly appreciated.

How long have you had her? How many times have you tried to feed?

What do you measure the temps with? Analog or digital?

What size is she, and what are you trying to feed her? Live or FT?

Have you cluttered up her tank with newspaper balls?

Have you prescented an hour before feeding?

I personally think the warm side could drop a little bit. I prefer the ambient to be right around 82, especially in a tank that size, there is very little real gradient. But that's up for debate...

We have had her since the last hamberg expo. I would say she is bout 2 months old. I believe the weight was 57g yesterday when we weighted her. She is very young. Yesterday we tried a mouse pinky. I left the pinky on top of her cage in a bag for at least an hour before we tried to feed her, I even left the pinky in over night and when I left for work this morning she was still in there. My buddy will be checking again when he wakes up in about an hour. We are looking into buying a digital therm and a temp gun. We will need them we just built a rack and are other ball pythons are in there. i will tell him to put the crumbled paper in the tank and have him change the bulb to lower the temp we also tried soaking her before a feeding. Like I said we tried a lot of things.

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Originally Posted by Headsy

We have had her since the last hamberg expo. I would say she is bout 2 months old. I believe the weight was 57g yesterday when we weighted her. She is very young. Yesterday we tried a mouse pinky. I left the pinky on top of her cage in a bag for at least an hour before we tried to feed her, I even left the pinky in over night and when I left for work this morning she was still in there. My buddy will be checking again when he wakes up in about an hour. We are looking into buying a digital therm and a temp gun. We will need them we just built a rack and are other ball pythons are in there. i will tell him to put the crumbled paper in the tank and have him change the bulb to lower the temp we also tried soaking her before a feeding. Like I said we tried a lot of things.

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She is incredibly small, and most likely sold to you without taking her first meal? This isn't great for her or you, it will be harder to eat I suspect.

Fill up her tank with the newspaper balls as soon as possible. Keep her in a very secluded place, dont bother her.

A mouse pinky is very small, and provides no nutrition or stimulation. I would try a mouse crawler or rat pup equivilent in size.

Prescenting with a pinky isn't prescenting, there isn't any scent there to give off. Go to a pet store, ask for a cup of soiled mouse or rat bedding. Before you feed, around 9 at night, put the cup in her tank, or right on top.

Around 10 at night put the mouse or rat in there, and leave. Check in the morning. (prey that small cannot bite, they have no teeth)

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Originally Posted by littleindiangirl

She is incredibly small, and most likely sold to you without taking her first meal? This isn't great for her or you, it will be harder to eat I suspect.

Fill up her tank with the newspaper balls as soon as possible. Keep her in a very secluded place, dont bother her.

A mouse pinky is very small, and provides no nutrition or stimulation. I would try a mouse crawler or rat pup equivilent in size.

Prescenting with a pinky isn't prescenting, there isn't any scent there to give off. Go to a pet store, ask for a cup of soiled mouse or rat bedding. Before you feed, around 9 at night, put the cup in her tank, or right on top.

Around 10 at night put the mouse or rat in there, and leave. Check in the morning. (prey that small cannot bite, they have no teeth)

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Excellent advice. Also I would up the prey size to a small hopper if you can find one.

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Originally Posted by JasonG

Excellent advice. Also I would up the prey size to a small hopper if you can find one.

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I'm not all up on mouse sizes, but for her first meal and her size, I think a hopper would be too big in this case... she is only 50 grams. Most hatclings are bigger aren't they?

Headsy...where are you located? You may want to find a local breeder to assist you in this case. 2 months and 50g is starting to push the limits. Have you tried assist feeding? I have an 08 hatchling in the same boat. I have to force feed it. This would be something you would probally need help doing. It is VERY stressful on the snake and the owner.

2 months is the oldest i would say if not younger. we are from philly pa. the changes are now going into affect. my buddy is up and adding the crumpled newspaper and changing the bulb. now would it be good to try and feed her tonight? the petstore is right around the corner so either way its not like we have to travel far. and i kinda figured we would have to force feed soon i didnt want to wait to long. thats y i posted we looked all over this website for ideas and ran out. thanks everyone for helping.

You will need to wait and let him get used to the changes before attempting to feed again. In a lot of cases the crumpled newspaper works. It eliminates stress. Try and assist feed before you attempt to force feed, there is a big difference. If you have to get to that point make sure you get advice from here before doing it. I would suggest you get on the phone with a breeder and talk in person before assisting. Most breeders websites will have a phone # for contacting them.

I agree... Try assist feeding, its very easy, place thumb and forefinger one each side of the snakes head and apply light pressure to the jaws, then you place a DEAD mouse head into its mouth, a lot of times they will then coil around the mouse and start feeding...

To get your fingers behind its head I find it easier to grab the snake further down the body and work your hands up to the head, they seem a lot less skitish this way than just trying to go staright for the head... Also your snake is going to struggle a bit....

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Originally Posted by littleindiangirl

I'm not all up on mouse sizes, but for her first meal and her size, I think a hopper would be too big in this case... she is only 50 grams. Most hatclings are bigger aren't they?

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I had a 57 gram hatchling take a small hopper last week. I'd give it a shot...

Id up the prey size. Something with fur. A small mouse hopper is fine.

I just fed one of my hatchlings ( one of the only ones who has eaten so far for me) an African Soft fur hopper, and he took it like a champ. They are FINE eating stuff with fur. Pinkies are never very appetizing it seems.

ok thanks! i do appreciate it. and im open to any other input all help is good help and i will keep everyone posted on her progress.

Try live VRS F/T. Just the live movement might cause a reaction.
Hopper/fuzzy size ..
Temps should be good and feed at night time. 9pm... or dark.
Good luck

ok! so after talking it over with all of you and my buddy i deceided to make an appointment with the vet. i dont want to wait and have a bad outcome so she is goin today. plus she needs her first visit i have been a little late with getting her overthere.

When you do return from the vet, your resetting the clock on settling/acclimation period. Give her the tight fitting enclosure and leave her completely alone for a week before attempting to feed.

yes i kno. im hopeing everything goes great and i do not run into this problem with her again. im crossing my fingers now.

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Originally Posted by Headsy

yes i kno. im hopeing everything goes great and i do not run into this problem with her again. im crossing my fingers now.

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I'm not quite sure what you mean "hopeing everything goes great and i do not run into this problem with her again".

When she goes to the vet, she is a non feeding animal. If the vet gets her to eat one meal via assist feeding, she is still a non feeding animal, your chances of getting her eating on her own are better, but if he has to force feed her, she is going to be put under tremendous amounts of stress.

I imagine the vet will look over her, give her a check up, probably run a fecal and decided whether or not he should try assist feeding or force feed her based on her condition. That doesn't cure her, but only a small step in the right direction.

Taking her to a vet doesn't suddenly make her eat, YOU will be doing most of that work. It's a process involving minimizing stress, making her feel secure and safe and encouraging her to eat by herself with proper stimulation and patience.

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Originally Posted by littleindiangirl

I'm not quite sure what you mean "hopeing everything goes great and i do not run into this problem with her again".

When she goes to the vet, she is a non feeding animal. If the vet gets her to eat one meal via assist feeding, she is still a non feeding animal, your chances of getting her eating on her own are better, but if he has to force feed her, she is going to be put under tremendous amounts of stress.

I imagine the vet will look over her, give her a check up, probably run a fecal and decided whether or not he should try assist feeding or force feed her based on her condition. That doesn't cure her, but only a small step in the right direction.

Taking her to a vet doesn't suddenly make her eat, YOU will be doing most of that work. It's a process involving minimizing stress, making her feel secure and safe and encouraging her to eat by herself with proper stimulation and patience.

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WELL SAID!

i understand that. sorry i ment that to come out different "i hope the vet visit goes great and that none of my others have that problem later. and i am crossing my fingers" i know its going to be a long and tedious process with her and i hope that she will feed on her own in time. i only have a little time to type at work.

I personally wouldnt go to the vet yet. Id make the changes we all suggested and wait a week. If she doesnt eat at that time then go to the vet.

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Originally Posted by littleindiangirl

I imagine the vet will look over her, give her a check up, probably run a fecal and decided whether or not he should try assist feeding or force feed her based on her condition. That doesn't cure her, but only a small step in the right direction.

Taking her to a vet doesn't suddenly make her eat, YOU will be doing most of that work. It's a process involving minimizing stress, making her feel secure and safe and encouraging her to eat by herself with proper stimulation and patience.

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Actually it could be a large step in the right direction. Young Balls can't go too long without food, at least not like an older Ball with some weight. It's quite possible that they can die without ever taking a bite, so assist or force feeding is definitely necessary in certain situations.

I had to assist feed two baby Balls this year after they refused for several weeks. I'm sure it was very stressful for them, but they received the nutrients that they needed and both of them took meals on their own after that without any problems. I think sometimes baby Balls just have to learn how to eat even if that means being assisted for that first meal.

Don't know if this is any help at all, but i was given a 9 month old male BP to look after. I didn't know that much about snakes at the time, and was tolD by the owner to give a mouse fuzzy once a week.

Once i did more research I realized he was under weight due to being under fed. I moved him up to F/T mouse crawler/hopper size but he just wasnt eating or showing much interest. With the advice of my local reptile shop, I switched to F/T rat fluffs (abt 10-25g)...big difference in eating habits, he climbs/roams the enclosure when i pre scent now, which he never did with mice, and he's not refused so far (touch wood) and is bulking up on body weight now

I was getting a little(well a lot) stressed with him not eating and being underweight so know how you feel. May be your BP is not into mice that much like mine wasnt..worth a try with a rat size that will be right for your BP???

Well we took everyones advise and made the changes in her tank. the vet said that she looks healthy and to wait a week before attempting to feed her again. we are monitering her weight now just to be sure that she isnt losing any. we are goin to attempt to feed her a rat fuzzy or hopper which ever the pet store has in at the time. next week sometime. we are waitin on the assist feed until after this feeding i dont want to stress her out anymore that what she already is. and thanks everyone for all the help.

I don't think rats have a size called "hopper" because I don't think they hop around at that age the way mice do. Anyway, I think the equivalent age of a mouse hopper in a rat would be too big for your little one. A mouse fuzzy or mouse hopper would probably be appropriate. If you want to try rats instead, it would probably need to be a pinkie. However, from everything I've read, the movement of a mouse hopper is one of the best ways to stimulate a stubborn BP to eat.

I forgot the (,) i kno the difference.

feed her rat, fuzzy or hopper

Has anyone suggested moving him/her to an even smaller encloser maybe a plastic shoe box. I had two little ones that would not eat. I moved them to the plastic shoe boxes and offered them live. And they both ate on the very next attempt.

SHE ATE! thank you everyone for your help and support. she finally ate last night for the first time. she did it on her own.

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Originally Posted by Headsy

SHE ATE! thank you everyone for your help and support. she finally ate last night for the first time. she did it on her own.

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Great news! Now keep on that. :D