Problem feeding 4 month old I just got?

I own 6 other pythons and this is my first headache, I got a 4 month old about 2 weeks ago, and it was hissy at first, but now it lets me hold him, but he wont eat, I offered adult mice and today I offered a live pinky, and it hisses at me trying to strike me not even caring about the pinky. Seems like I have no choice but to just let it get comfortable and wait, any advice?

Normal check, but how are your temps and humidity? Does it have at least one hide? I would stop handling it until it settles in and eats regularly. Also, your food sizes are too small and too large. Try a small fuzzy crawler/hopper next.

Belly heat 85, cool side 75, 1 perfect small hide, I tried about 4 mice within the last 2 weeks the smallest mice are about 4 weeks old at the moment wighing about 20 grams, had no luck so i tried a small pinky, just to make sure he wasnt scared of the mice, everytime he strikes at the mice on the tong but just a quick warning strike thats it, I put the mice in a separate box and in his tub, but he gets scared of the mice when they touch him and he just curls up, and doesnt even attempt to strike :(

I'm not sure if this is what it could be (and don't hold me to it), but is it possible that he might've been bitten by a mouse before? I'm not trying to say that where ever he was previous to your home was a careless environment but it's a common thing and it almost sounds like he's afraid. Just a thought.

Don't hold it until it is eating well. I would also bump your temps up a few degrees.

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Originally Posted by escomaya

Belly heat 85, cool side 75, 1 perfect small hide, I tried about 4 mice within the last 2 weeks the smallest mice are about 4 weeks old at the moment wighing about 20 grams, had no luck so i tried a small pinky, just to make sure he wasnt scared of the mice, everytime he strikes at the mice on the tong but just a quick warning strike thats it, I put the mice in a separate box and in his tub, but he gets scared of the mice when they touch him and he just curls up, and doesnt even attempt to strike :(

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Warm side should be between 90 and 94F and the cool side should be around 82-86F.

Humidity?

What size is the enclosure?

How large is the snake? How much does it weigh?

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Originally Posted by escomaya

Belly heat 85, cool side 75, 1 perfect small hide, I tried about 4 mice within the last 2 weeks the smallest mice are about 4 weeks old at the moment wighing about 20 grams, had no luck so i tried a small pinky, just to make sure he wasnt scared of the mice, everytime he strikes at the mice on the tong but just a quick warning strike thats it, I put the mice in a separate box and in his tub, but he gets scared of the mice when they touch him and he just curls up, and doesnt even attempt to strike :(

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He sounds stressed to me. I would wait a week before offering food. If he doesn't eat, just wait until the next feeding day to offer him food (the next week). Also, his cage temperatures should be about 92 degrees on the warm side and 82 degrees on the cool side. The mice should be about the same width as the widest girth on the snake. What size cage is he in? Tub or tank?

Hopefully the little guy will start to eat for you soon!

right now he is in a 6 qt,was going to go get a 12qt, 6 seems too small he weighs about 180 grams, humidity is 50%, by the way it seems I think he is just too stressed out of me, he seems to focus on me instead of the mouse, he strikes the mouse but doesnt take it, i offered frozen/thawed, he was a regular eater every week of fuzzy rats before from 8Ball python, Adam, so i know he took great care of him

I have been where you are now with a hypo female. It's a drag.

I bumped the temps to 94 on the warm side and 82 on the cool end (higher temps help to stimulate appetite.) I squished 2 hides into a 16qt divided tub. I then left the snake alone for a week (except for water changing and cleaning) and then try an appropriate sized prey that the snake is accustomed to eating. If the snake refuses, wait another week and continue to not handle.

Since this snake is such a lightweight, I'd leave him in the small space.

See how that works :)

PS> I'd also contact 8Ball and ask for further advice.

Also you can try scenting area for 30 minutes or so b4 trying to feed him

Bump the temps

No more handling

Stop offering so often (once a week and no more than that), if you offer to often you will only stress him leading to more refusal

Offer the appropriate size prey (fuzzy are in no way appropriated for a BP)

Offer the prey your BP is used to, if he was a live rat eater prior to you getting him feed him live rats.

Pre-scent the room.

so leave him in the 6 qt tub. it seems sooo small. just so worried, hes a piebald, looking kind of pinker on the belly than 2 weeks ago, I must be making him nervous, I keep checking and offering him food too much, my own mistake

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Originally Posted by escomaya

so leave him in the 6 qt tub. it seems sooo small. just so worried, hes a piebald, looking kind of pinker on the belly than 2 weeks ago, I must be making him nervous, I keep checking and offering him food too much, my own mistake

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The snake is preparing to shed.
-Steven

pink means he is about to shed, leave him alone you said your handling him stop, find out what subtrate he was on, what food he ate and size, dont change his enclosure again until he eats, all temp suggestions are great advice. Best advice leave him alone, he will be fine

You've been given great advice! Don't forget to use Adam as a resource as well!

thanx everyone, its calming knowin the pinking is because of the shed, I just put a rock so he can rub on, now just got to wait til next week for feeding

3rd attempt to feed failed, horribly, again, everythings good- boost temps 95, humidity, prescenting for an hour, went thru shed, found a big turd in the tub a day before, so attempted to feed a live small adult which weighed 22 grams, my piebald gave him about 6 love taps within holding him for 15 mins, tried letting the mouse walk around in the tub,felt bad for the mouse's torture of all the strikes with no kill, so I gave the mouse to another snake which killed it, then i returned the dead mouse to the Piebald, got a few more strikes and toss arounds!!!

Its as if the snake is just scared of mice or he doesnt know how to wrap a mouse or either he got no teeth to pull the mouse in with, IDK, after waiting for an hour, leaving the piebald and dead mouse alone, covered in the tub on the rack, I called it quits and fed the dead mouse to another

Have you called Adam yet? Also, you just got this snake. It's really poor practice, not to mention breaking of Quarantine (which you should do no matter who you get a new snake from) to pass prey between animals. That mouse went from a new animal in your collection, to an established animal, that you then took their meal away from and back to a new animal.

Since you purchased this animal from Adam, he's who I would talk to - he knows this animal better than any of us.

I agree with Robin that breaking QT procedure is pretty iffy. And I would also contact Adam regarding this snake.

In the meantime, don't handle the snake, keep the temps bumped up, wait seven days, and pre-scent and attempt to feed again.

Some snakes take longer to settle in than others and some are just problem eaters for a while. Again, my hypo was a challenge snake for many, many months. She is doing much better now, but she was really difficult. She weighs about 550g and is over a year old!! Some snakes....!!!

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Originally Posted by escomaya

3rd attempt to feed failed, horribly, again, everythings good- boost temps 95, humidity, prescenting for an hour, went thru shed, found a big turd in the tub a day before, so attempted to feed a live small adult which weighed 22 grams, my piebald gave him about 6 love taps within holding him for 15 mins, tried letting the mouse walk around in the tub,felt bad for the mouse's torture of all the strikes with no kill, so I gave the mouse to another snake which killed it, then i returned the dead mouse to the Piebald, got a few more strikes and toss arounds!!!

Its as if the snake is just scared of mice or he doesnt know how to wrap a mouse or either he got no teeth to pull the mouse in with, IDK, after waiting for an hour, leaving the piebald and dead mouse alone, covered in the tub on the rack, I called it quits and fed the dead mouse to another

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I agree with Robin and Starmom about the QT and contacting Adam.

Your Pied sounds like he's still stressed to me. When I purchased Het Albinos in the beginning of 2006, they did the same thing. They'd strike at the rodent, but would not constrict it. They were just stressed from the move and the constant attempts at feeding. What finally got them to eat was leaving them alone. When feeding day came around, once they struck once or twice without constricting, I knew that they weren't going to eat it and would leave them alone until the next week. This minimized stress, and they started eating again after a week or two of this.

I got my het. albino girl from Adam around the time you got your new kid. Just leave him be and let him acclimate. My new girl's in the middle of her first shed with me, so I've just left alone, and not thought to bother her. I'll know when she's done. She'll come out and let me know. I would stop worrying so much and let her calm down.

Do you have the feeding chart that Adam usually sends? If so I would check and see what the snake was eating previously. It sounds like it could be that it just doesn't like mice. I believe that Adam feeds most of his baby snakes live rat fuzzies, try getting one of them to try. Some balls just get set on a certain prey type and will not switch and it sounds like you've only tried mice.

Give the snake some more time to settle in without you messing around with the enclosure for at least another week and then try again with a live rat pup I bet that will do the trick.

thanks for all the advice, I didnt even realize I was breaking the QT cycle until now, my mistake. Im gonna give the fuzzy rats a try next week.

Went to petco for a fuzzy rat, nothing was small enough, ended up offering a black mouse i picked up last week which I was going to breed and WAALAA!! 2..3 strikes and then he wrapped him up, guess Im going to stick with the black mice as long as I can get them for a few weeks to get him on a regular eating schedule, either he got comfortable or he just wasnt into the white mice... who knows...