New snake won't eat...help

Hi, I'm new. I've been lurking around for a few days now and have learned so much from all of you! But I have one problem, my snake hasn't eaten yet. I've had her for 1 week on Monday and tried to feed her twice with no luck. I bought her from a pet store (bad, I know) and they said they had her for about a week and they couldn't get her to eat either. I assumed the reason she wouldn't eat for them is b/c they weren't taking very good care of her. Her tank was barely heated, she was so cold when I got her out, she also had no hide, and her eyes looked bad, almost like she didn't shed correctly but I realized it was lack of humidity after I got her home. Her eyes look great now! So I figured I would bring her home and set her up right and hopefully she would eat for me, but that hasn't happened yet. I've only tried frozen but considering a live feed shortly. I'm worried about getting stuck with a mouse. They tried to fed her a live the nite I bought her but she wouldn't.

I had a redtail boa before so I'm not a complete novice. She was a great eater too so this is new to me. I have soon to be 3 y/o twin girls and this snake was a request for one of their bday presents (plus I wanted another one too :)) My other twin loves mice, hence why I don't want to get stuck with a live feed b/c that would become a pet as well :)

She is in a 40 gal reptile tank with a CHE, UTH, the temp on her hot side is 92, the cool side is 83, and the air is 75. She has 2 hides on both sides but prefers the cool side. The humidity is around 50-60%. She doesn't run her cage which I know can be a sign of stress. She does come out at nite after everything is turned off. She is approx 3 ft long and seems to be at a good weight.

I know I probably shouldn't worry about her not eating since I know that they can go long periods without food but one concern of mine is the pet store where I got her is going to be calling me next week to ask if she has eaten. B/c if not, they want to force feed her which I DO NOT want them to do. But if I don't get her to eat in the future, I might have to resort to this and if I lied, well I can't really tell them about it.

I've tried feeding her in a bag and also in her cage, leaving the mouse with her for 30 mins. She just crawls over it like it isn't even there. I think I may be pushing her to eat too soon but I'm really worried about the place I got her wanting to force feed her! I told the lady that I bought her from that I did not like that and she said "well it isn't as bad as you think"...Any ideas?

TIA!

Hi Tia!
Congratulations on your new addition! I wouldn't get worried enough about the feeding to consider force feeding just yet. Force feeding is extremely stressful to snakes and you may end up causing more problems if it is not even needed yet.
Do you know how old the snake is, or have a weight on her? Do you know when her actual last meal was? If you could even post a picture this would help to determine if she looks to be underweight as you say..
I also get the feeling that her enclosure may be a bit too big for her. A 40 gallon tank is fairly large for a ball python, especially one that is young and this may cause her to feel insecure and therefore not eat.
Have you considered using a rubbermaid as her enclosure? There are strong sided debates to rubbermaids vs. tanks, but you may get a better feeding response in a rubbermaid, where its smaller and the snake feels more secure. They are also MUCH easier to control temperature in humidity in.
If she doesn't take a meal, I'd wait a week or so and then offer again, instead of offering every few days as this may stress her out as well.
Finally, I would try a live meal. Some snakes are very difficult to get to eat f/t in the first place, and she may have no interest in a f/t meal if she hasn't had one before. She may be used to live and you may get a better response from this. Just make sure to monitor your live feedings.

Thank you for your post. I don't think she is underweight, she looks good to me but I will post some pics as to get your opinion.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v496/gdlover5/010.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v496/gdlover5/078.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v4...over5/0731.jpg

We got the 40 gal so we wouldn't would have to buy multiple tanks (the only size we have here is a 10 gallon that isn't being used) and we got a glass tank so our kids could see her. Are there any signs of her being insecure in a tank?

ETA: I don't know her age, her last meal, nothing. They said she was around a year old but I'm not sure if they know for sure. I've been thinking about taking her to the vet for a check up but I don't want to stress her out so soon.

The pics of her being held are the day we got her. We have left her alone while she has been here but we were setting her tank up that nite is to why she was out.

let her get used to her surrounding. she will eat she is more then big enough to skip a meal or 2. she could be a little bit stressed from the transition and i might be missing them but i dont see any hides just dome objects in the tank. also whats you warm and cool side temps and whats your humidity at? some as simple as being too hot or cool by only a few degrees can cause a hunger strike.

She looks to be a fairly decent size.
One thing I did notice in the photo..it seems that you are using one of those dial stick-on thermometers. Those are notorious for being incorrect in taking temperatures. I would get a digital thermometer and that way you know your husbandry is ok.
You seem like you have a lot of "stuff" in your setup, which is good, it would help to keep her secure as opposed to having a large open space.
Going to the vet for a checkup is a good idea in general to make sure nothing is wrong. If you can, try to save a stool sample when she next goes and bring that with you so the vet can check for any possible parasites.
In the meantime, I would say to leave her alone as much as possible, and when it comes time to feeding, I'd offer her a live meal. From my perception in the pictures, I think that a mouse would actually be too small a meal for her. She could take a rat if there are any in your area. But you could always start out with a smaller meal just to get her started. The only problem with that is that some ball pythons can get hooked on mice, meaning having to feed multiple mice when they become too small for a single feeding. This is not the case for all, but it definitely happens so I'd try and go for a rat feeding if it's possible.
I hope this helps somewhat!

hello,

I had the same problem..mine didnt eat for a month after bringing him home. I also had too big of tank (40ga). After much good advise from this site he is eating now. I would recomend to clutter the tank as much as possible. Give it some time. only offer food once a week. Try live. It took mine weeks to get adjusted.

Try wadding up newspapers & cover the bottom of the cage..It will make him feel secure.

Good Luck!

dont let them forcefeed that snake.

Wait for the weather to warm up. The snake will be fine without food for quite awhile..

In the meantime. get yourself a scale. Staples or wal mart will have one ( Mail type scales are fine)

Weigh her, and just check her once every two weeks to monitor her weight. If she starts rapidly losing weight you need to see a VET. NOT the petstore.

Otherwise, that animal looks in very good health, and just needs to be left alone to settle in. Let things warm up.


If you INSIST on the animal feeding, try different prey items ONLY once a week. Otherwise, Leave the animal alone, in a low traffic area of the home. Stress can cause them not to eat. But also, its winter, and breeding season. Many many ball pythons go off feed around this time. Its not much to worry about so long as the animal isnt losing weight rapidly.

Thanks so much for all your advice! She is in our living room right now which might be too noisy for her so we will move her to our bedroom where it is more quiet.

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Originally Posted by paulinacbr

She looks to be a fairly decent size.
One thing I did notice in the photo..it seems that you are using one of those dial stick-on thermometers. Those are notorious for being incorrect in taking temperatures. I would get a digital thermometer and that way you know your husbandry is ok.

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I do have a temp strip but I don't follow what it says. The thing in the back is for the humidity. I actually use a thermometer for baking (that has the long metal probe on the end) to check the substrate temps. I did buy a digital but the darn battery is dead (I didn't check it before I bought it) and I haven't had time to get one yet. The baking thermometer says the sustrate temp is 92 on the hot side, 83 on the cool side and 75 for the air. From everything I have read, that is okay?

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she could be a little bit stressed from the transition and i might be missing them but i dont see any hides just dome objects in the tank

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There are 2 hides in her tank. Her body is hiding one of them in the one pic and I didn't post any of the other hide. Here is a pic with both of them...they are the same, just one is a little taller then the other.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v496/gdlover5/004.jpg

I can think of one good reason why she isn't eating.

You said she spends most of her time on the cool side. Are you controlling the UTH with a thermostat or Dimmer? She is not going to eat if she doesn't have a place to properly digest her food at the right temperature.

You should get some proper thermometers and hydrometers pronto! They sell Acu-rite indoor outdoor thermometers at wall mart, home depot, and lowes. They are about $12 and they work wonderfully. Make sure when you get one, you get the one with the probe thermometer!

:3 Hope this helps.

Edit: also, the petstore has no right to force feed her. Don't let them. It is not their snake anymore.

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Originally Posted by Kaorte

I can think of one good reason why she isn't eating.

You said she spends most of her time on the cool side. Are you controlling the UTH with a thermostat or Dimmer? She is not going to eat if she doesn't have a place to properly digest her food at the right temperature.

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I have seen a lot of people talk about this on the site yet I don't really understand what it means. Are you talking about a timer and only let it come on certain times of the day for so long or something that doesn't allow it to fully heat up? Can someone explain this and what I need to do?

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Originally Posted by angie7

I have seen a lot of people talk about this on the site yet I don't really understand what it means. Are you talking about a timer and only let it come on certain times of the day for so long or something that doesn't allow it to fully heat up? Can someone explain this and what I need to do?

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A thermostat, turns the heat on or off, or controls the amount of power going to a heating element at any given time, to maintain proper levels of heat output.

A thermostat is a MUST for any Under tank heater ( UTH )/Heating Pad, as they can and will burn your snake if not properly regulated.

I personally use a Herpstat for my large rack enclosures, and i use Zoo Med 500R's for two other racks. I find the 500R's to be decent t-stats for the price and both have worked for me for 2-3 years without issue. ( some people are dead set against them, and i am not at all. ) They are cheap enough for a single enclosure, but capable of controlling larger rack systems under 500 watts.

Just to add to the Acu-Rite suggestion, get some velcro tape at the same time as the unit has to be mounted inside of the tank on either the cool or warm side, then the probe is to be run to the opposite. I have read that you should mount the probe near the substrate and the unit five or so inches above the substrate.

Thanks so much for all the suggestions. We went to a local pet store (different from where I bought my snake and a much better locally owned store) and bought a thermostat, a Zoo-Med 500R and we are getting ready to get the Acu-Rite digital thermometer/hydrometer tonite. We haven't moved her tank to a quieter place yet but we will first thing in the morning. It is quiet after my kids go to bed, which is now, so she should be fine for the rest of the nite. I also checked out their small feeder rats while I was there and whoever mentioned that she may be able to eat rats was right, I think she can too. So next weekend, we are going to offer her a small rat. This will give her one week in a quieter spot in the house and hopefully we can work out any flaws we have inside her tank with these new readers and thermostats. Do you think we should try live or frozen? I really would prefer frozen but I will feed live if I must. I'm a mouse/rat lover so having a snake is not easy for me to have :( but I understand the circle of life.

And this might be a stupid question but I'm going to ask it anyway as I can't find my answer anywhere. Like I said in OP, we have a 40 gal reptile tank, screened in lid. We have a towel covering half of the tank to keep the humidity up. I have taken the temp of the substrate on the cool side with my baking thermometer (I will again with the Acu-Rite when it gets here) and it's about 73-75. The air is 76-78 with the baking thermo as well. We have an UTH and a CHE on the same side. Should we switch the CHE to the cool side and leave the UTH for the warm side? Would this cause too much heat for the snake or would this work out best?

well, it will be difficult to keep the humidity up with the CHE, But it will have to do for now. And, if the heat pad cant cut it alone... youll need the CHE as Heat is a pain to keep up in glass enclosures too... so you'll just have to be diligent at keeping the humidity up :) Just get a spray bottle and mist once/twice daily and you should be good. The most important time for humidity is when your snake goes into shed. ( They turn a funky opaque/white, and their eyes get cloudy) So long as you keep the humidity in the 65%-70% range ( there about ) during that time, youll be fine, since you want them to shed in one whole piece. ( Soaking during this time helps as well)

I would feed live for now, until you know the snake WILL eat for you, then you can start trying frozen thawed prey. if the snake wont take it, youll have to get it used to taking it, which can take some time with some animals. I would just feed the snake a prey item about the size of the widest part of the snakes body. It should leave a visible lump, and then you just leave the animal alone for three or so days to digest.

Also, as a note when feeding live. WATCH the ENTIRE process, and be ready to remove the rat, or prevent the teeth from injuring your animal. Bites, while they do happen from time to time, from prey, can injure the snake, and its best to just be safe, rather than sorry. Dont leave the prey in there overnight, hungry prey might chew your snake.

I use tongs, once the snake is constricting, to keep the head of the rat away from the snakes body, if the rat were to struggle and manage to get a nip. I just prefer to be safe about it, since i do feed all of my animals entirely live ( for the most part)

I just went through this. Changed the environment and husbandry for my snake and she is much happier.

What I learned:

1- 40 gallons might be too big, these snakes like smaller spaces, 20 gallons is about as big as you need to go and is big enough for an adult.

2- A towel on top of the tank will not cut it. I tried this for awhile and the humidity would plummet to like 38% in a matter of an hour. Neatly tape and tinfoil the top of the tank leaving a cutout for your lamp if you need it. I also learned that CHEs suck and I get a LOT better results from an infared heat lamp on a dimmer to control it.

3- Clutter is good, put a lot of fake fauna in the tank, it'll make the snake feel more secure.

4- Hides are REALLY important. Closed, smallish and dark. You want the snake to take up almost ALL of the space in its hide and feel safe in it. I was using half logs but they do not fit that bill at all. I ordered two medium sized hides from reptile basics and they are perfect.

5- Moss helps humidity a ton as well as a big water dish. My dish might be TOO big but I'll address that later, for now it isn't hurting anything. With a big dish, the top screen covered with foil and a few patches of terrarium moss you should be able to keep your humidity level holding steady where you need it to be.

Here is a pic of how I just got my setup and everyone on here who saw it said it was a good setup for my ball. This is a 20L tank.

http://i46.photobucket.com/albums/f1...w/100_0686.jpg

http://i46.photobucket.com/albums/f1...w/100_0687.jpg

I don't mean to thread-jack from Angie, but I figure this is probably a better place than starting another "My snake isn't eating!" thread.

The short version is, my 2.5-3 year old female has decided to go on a hunger strike as of late October or so. Up until then, she'd been eating F/T pretty regularly. Not every time it was offered, which was disconcerting, but most of the time, and often enough that I just accepted it. But now it's been almost four months, and, frankly, I'm a little freaked out. I know they can go a damn long time without feeding, but I can't help getting worried.

I understand BPs will often go off feed seasonally, during the winter months. During about what time frame is this seasonal fasting normal, then? That is, at what point do I get more justifiably worried?

She looks healthy, as far as I can ascertain, and no weird behavior--just hides until evening, pokes her head out until it's all dark, then explores the cage at night.

I don't have pictures at the moment, but she's in an RBI enclosure, with two radiant heat panels, each on its own herpstat-- one set at 84, the other at 92. She's got identical hides on either side (also from RBI, and they seem a good size to me)-- she prefers the cooler hide almost exclusively. Humidity is right at 50%.

I'll try to get some pics up tomorrow, if they'd be helpful.

Thanks,

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Will

I'd wait it out, a male het Pied I bought in Nov of last year finally ate last night. When they are hungry enough and have the right set-up to feel secure they will always eat.

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Originally Posted by spiffturk

I don't mean to thread-jack from Angie, but I figure this is probably a better place than starting another "My snake isn't eating!" thread.

The short version is, my 2.5-3 year old female has decided to go on a hunger strike as of late October or so. Up until then, she'd been eating F/T pretty regularly. Not every time it was offered, which was disconcerting, but most of the time, and often enough that I just accepted it. But now it's been almost four months, and, frankly, I'm a little freaked out. I know they can go a damn long time without feeding, but I can't help getting worried.

I understand BPs will often go off feed seasonally, during the winter months. During about what time frame is this seasonal fasting normal, then? That is, at what point do I get more justifiably worried?

She looks healthy, as far as I can ascertain, and no weird behavior--just hides until evening, pokes her head out until it's all dark, then explores the cage at night.

I don't have pictures at the moment, but she's in an RBI enclosure, with two radiant heat panels, each on its own herpstat-- one set at 84, the other at 92. She's got identical hides on either side (also from RBI, and they seem a good size to me)-- she prefers the cooler hide almost exclusively. Humidity is right at 50%.

I'll try to get some pics up tomorrow, if they'd be helpful.

Thanks,

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Will

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She is at the appropriate age where her body is telling her that it's time to breed, and this can cause her to go off of food. I'd wait a while on it, so long as she still looks healthy there is no cause for concern. One thing that has worked for me with my F/T eaters is to actually offer a live rat, in order to spur them back onto food. Sometimes with just a single meal in their stomach it snaps them out of non-feeding behavior, then go immediately back to F/T.

You can try that, but otherwise just wait it out.

JonV

sometimes it take a while my new blond pastel has eatten for me yet and it been 3 weeks???? i think it just takes time

now on the other had i bought a normal from the petstore buy my house and she eat right away. but my pastel is from Virginia and im in houston so there could be lots to do with it in my case climate density of air pressure etc.

No problem Will ;). We still haven't tried to feed Eve yet but we are going to this Sunday. We finally got her tank settled in thanks to the great advice we have received here. We also added to our collection, we have a spider and a pastel as well now that will also be eating on Sunday. I'll let you know if she eats!

Took a few quick pictures of Dr. Jones and her setup. If you have any comments, feel free. Just a note-- the temps and humidity shown were both low because I'd had the cage open for cleaning and water change and such. They're normally at the levels I mentioned above.

Dr. Jones, with a yard stick for reference (she weighed in at 1,402g today):
https://ball-pythons.net/gallery/fil...5804_thumb.jpg

Her crib:
https://ball-pythons.net/gallery/fil...5820_thumb.jpg

And her in her cage, for size comparison:
https://ball-pythons.net/gallery/fil...5825_thumb.jpg

Just a note-- The light in the cage is generally off. I turned it on hoping to help with the pictures, though I'm not sure it was that effective. Whatever.

And yes, that is a UPS for battery backup. My girl gets nice equipment :)

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Will

It looks pretty good... maybe change the substrate to aspen and put some faux plants in there? These animals do like clutter and security... If your temps are how you say they are though, she might have just gone off feed.

We had her tank at perfect levels thanks to all the advice here. We didn't handle her too much and didn't for 2 days before a meal. We got her a f/t rat, fed in her enclosure and still didn't eat :( Next week it is a live rat I guess. I sure hope she eats this b/c I do not want a pet rat! It's been a known 3 weeks without a meal. We just aquired our spider and pastel a week ago. Our spider ate, the pastel was interested but wouldn't take it. I was looking on her feed chart from the breeder and he just started her on f/t the past 2 feedings so maybe we need to do a live again then go back to f/t. Anyways, just wanted to let you all know what was going on and thanks again for all your suggestions! We'll keep trying to get our normal to take a meal!

Ah ha! Went to get her out tonite and her eyes are blue and she is getting dull...time for a shed.

yeah mine still hasn't eating she spends time in both hot spot and cool spot and is a little active at night