Problem Feeder

I have a female BP that I purchased from a pet store, she was a trade in, the owners did not want her anymore. She is about 21/2-3 yrs old and I have owned her for a little over a month.

Talking with the pet store, they had not had her long enough to feed her, only a few days before I bought her. And they were not sure if she ate live of f/t.

I have tried both f/t and live and she is not interested at all. I have tried feeding her in the dark, presenting, I even put the live rat in her feeding container for about 30 minutes prior to putting her in, then put the rat on top of the container for about another 10 minutes. Put the rat in the container, and the snake runs from it.

I always feed outside of their house, since these are pets to me and I dont want them thinking that my hand is food. I am willing to try feeding her in her enclouser, but I woudl do it under silent protest! :)

Should I be worried? she does seem to be a little thinner that when I got her, but not a huge amount.

Any help is appreciated.
Chuck

u bought a 21 year old snake? thats not a good buy in my eyes. but i would say live is the best way to go. but let her settle in for a week or 2 and then get her on feeding. and then u can switch to what ever method you like after she takes live a few times.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by ckeezer

I have a female BP that I purchased from a pet store, she was a trade in, the owners did not want her anymore. She is about 21/2-3 yrs old and I have owned her for a little over a month.

Talking with the pet store, they had not had her long enough to feed her, only a few days before I bought her. And they were not sure if she ate live of f/t.

I have tried both f/t and live and she is not interested at all. I have tried feeding her in the dark, presenting, I even put the live rat in her feeding container for about 30 minutes prior to putting her in, then put the rat on top of the container for about another 10 minutes. Put the rat in the container, and the snake runs from it.

I always feed outside of their house, since these are pets to me and I dont want them thinking that my hand is food. I am willing to try feeding her in her enclouser, but I woudl do it under silent protest! :)

Should I be worried? she does seem to be a little thinner that when I got her, but not a huge amount.

Any help is appreciated.
Chuck

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Not knowing the history of the snake, no one here can tell you to worry or not. Whether she's simply fasting, stressed or has internal parasites is anyone's guess.

However:

(1) A month is nothing for a ball to go off feed. Monitoring her weight on a regular basis will let you know whether or not she's losing an unhealthy amount of weight. Generally speaking, a month is nothing I'd lose sleep over.

(2) When possible, I would recommend getting a fecal sample in to your vet.

(3) Has she been drinking and/or passing urates?

(4) How far into owning her did you try to feed her? At what intervals since then have you attempted additional feedings?

(5) It's stressful for even an acclimated snake to be moved into a separate feeding container, let alone a newcomer. Feeding her in her enclosure isn't going to make her think you're food.

i think the op ment 2 1/2 to 3 years old.

Before we can answer your questions, we need a total breakdown of your setup.

what are you keeping it in?
what are the temps?
how are you measuring the temps?
what substrate?
what humidity?
describe the hides in detail.

Your best bet is to simply post a pic of your setup and answer all the questions from above.

I would try feeding her in her own enclosure next time. I know you don't like this idea but trust me, she will not think you are food unless you bathe in filthy mouse bedding.

I also second more info about husbandry, the error could be there and could be an easy fix. :)

Another suggestion that I have found works for me VERY well, is feeding at night. During a time in the middle of their night cycle. 11pm to midnight seems to be about a golden time for my three lovely friends.

Sorry for the confusion on the age, she is 2 and a half to 3 years old.
She is currently in a 30 gal long terrarium glass enclosure. I have kept several balls like this and never had an issue, but I also raised them all from babies. Also I am going to build a new enclosure for her and my male, because the wife wants these to be "on display" so to speake.

I have an ambient temp of 82-84 on the cool end, and a hot spot of 88-90 on the hot end. She has a half log hide, and a huge water dish. Humidity is 33-35%, she drinks all the time. I am using a under the tank heating pad at the cool end to keep it between 82-84 and a ceramic bulb at the other for the 88-90 temp, not ideal, but it is a glass enclosure. When they get into their new homes they will be living the high life with some flexwatt tape!! :)

I am not scared of her, I used to have a really agressive bp that a friend gave me, and he mistook my hand many times. Kind of funny really, he would bite, and then be as placid as every once you got him up.

Anyways, I will post a pic tonight when I get home from work.

Thanks,
Chuck

Quote:

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Originally Posted by ckeezer

Sorry for the confusion on the age, she is 2 and a half to 3 years old.
She is currently in a 30 gal long terrarium glass enclosure. I have kept several balls like this and never had an issue, but I also raised them all from babies. Also I am going to build a new enclosure for her and my male, because the wife wants these to be "on display" so to speake.

I have an ambient temp of 82-84 on the cool end, and a hot spot of 88-90 on the hot end. She has a half log hide, and a huge water dish. Humidity is 33-35%, she drinks all the time. I am using a under the tank heating pad at the cool end to keep it between 82-84 and a ceramic bulb at the other for the 88-90 temp, not ideal, but it is a glass enclosure. When they get into their new homes they will be living the high life with some flexwatt tape!! :)

I am not scared of her, I used to have a really agressive bp that a friend gave me, and he mistook my hand many times. Kind of funny really, he would bite, and then be as placid as every once you got him up.

Anyways, I will post a pic tonight when I get home from work.

Thanks,
Chuck

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first thing you should do is move the UTH to the hot side. she has no place to thermoregulate if you have heat on both ends. also you should try to keep you humidity above 50% try to keep it around 60% at all times unless she is in blue, then id raise it to 70% or more for that time.

also try feeding her a mouse, and try it in the enclosure. she wont think you are food.

btw cover 3/4 of the screen lid with aluminum foil and ceran wrap (sp?) to help heep humidity. obviously leave the open portion on the hot side for the heat lamp.

Ditch that half log hide. Those are useless. Find some of the "rock cave" type hides or find some opaque plastic containers and cut a small opening.

What are you controlling your heat source with and how are you measuring temps? With what kind of thermometer?

Also, when you say you are building a enclosure for her and your male, you are housing them separately right? just checking :)

I read that all over the place, but I have two others that I keep in the same range of humidity and they are fine... I will give it a shot and see what happens though. I have not had any problems with any of my other BP's being in that range either. I let them soak when they are shedding to aide them.

For the UTH, she can thermo regulate, the UTH is kept between 82-84, the hto end is kept between 88-90, there is a heat gradient. Again, I will try this just to rule it out, maybe she is just picky?!

Also, what end of the tank do you recommend that her hide be at? I have it under the ceramic bulb right now, which I hate using by the way, but the UTH is not enough with all the glass. Also, should I try a hide that she can get all the way into, like a box or something, rather than an open ended log?

Thanks

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Kaorte

Ditch that half log hide. Those are useless. Find some of the "rock cave" type hides or find some opaque plastic containers and cut a small opening.

What are you controlling your heat source with and how are you measuring temps? With what kind of thermometer?

Also, when you say you are building a enclosure for her and your male, you are housing them separately right? just checking :)

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I have to look to see what kind of thermostat I have, cant remember, and yes they will be in different enclousers. Do not want either of them wanting to eat the other!

I will get the new hide for her this week. I am thinking it is stress related, but you never know.

Sounds like it. I would get two hides though, one for the warm side and one for the cool side. I would also have the UTH regulate the hot side and the CHE regulate the cool side or ambient temps. The CHE will kill your humidity, so you might has well have it on a lower setting so it doesn't eat it as much. A UTH is generally preferred for the hot side.

There is not enough room for a hide at both ends, she really likes to site in her water dish, so I had to up its size. And that was with me misting her tank every day when we first got her home. I was keeping the humidity at around 50-55%, slowly dropped it over the remaining weeks, and she still sits in the thing. She is just crazy!

I will also see about switching the two for right now. I am thinking that I will build her new enclosure this weekend, we will see how it all goes though.

Thanks for all the input.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by ckeezer

I have to look to see what kind of thermostat I have, cant remember, and yes they will be in different enclousers. Do not want either of them wanting to eat the other!

I will get the new hide for her this week. I am thinking it is stress related, but you never know.

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I understand that they WILL be in separate enclosures.

Are they separate now?

Regarding sitting in her water dish - have you checked her out for mites?

Quote:

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Originally Posted by ckeezer

There is not enough room for a hide at both ends, she really likes to site in her water dish, so I had to up its size. And that was with me misting her tank every day when we first got her home. I was keeping the humidity at around 50-55%, slowly dropped it over the remaining weeks, and she still sits in the thing. She is just crazy!

I will also see about switching the two for right now. I am thinking that I will build her new enclosure this weekend, we will see how it all goes though.

Thanks for all the input.

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Ball pythons don't normally soak. Have you checked her and her enclosure for mites?

If you can't fit two hides in a 30g long then your hides are either too big, or its not really a 30g long. You should be able to fit two in there. There really is no need to have a gigantic swimming pool in the tank.

Yes I have checked her for mites. I did not see any on her. I check both of my snakes everytime I get the out of the cage.

Both snakes are in their own tanks now, and will be, unless they are breeding.

I am going to fix the whole situation with a new enclosure. I am building one this weekend that will be 3'X2' and will be using flexwatt to heat it. Should be a all around better environment for both snakes to be in. I am going to leave the small male in his 10gal until he gets a little bigger. No need to stress him out in a 3x2 enclosure.

It will take about a week to finish up the new cage, having to wait for everything to cure and all is a pain in the neck, but dont want to kill them.

I will let you all know what happens after that is done.

As an update:
I have moved her hide over to the side that has the UTH and am now trying to regulate the lamp to keep the AAT (ambient air temp) were it needs to be. I will remove the bigger water dish, and put back in my little one for her, this will also give her some more room to move around in.

I feel like such an amiture(sp?), I have owned snakes my whole life, and cant get this one right.

Thanks,
Chuck

No need to feel bad. If you raised the others from babies, they probably just adapted to your way of housing them. Her on the other hand, if she is used to something different that's why she is stressed. Of course balls can survive in lower humidity, and half hides. The information here is just what's best for them. So that we can try and get everyone uniformed. I took tupperware bowls and cut a hole in the side for my baby. It took me a week to get her to use them instead of her half hide. Now, that's all she uses. At least you have most of the basics down. :) Two heads are better than one :)

She may have been going into her water bowl because that is where she felt secure (if there are no signs of mites) because her hides didnt give her the security she needs. Can you take a picture of the enclosure with the hides? I think people may be able to offer you better advice then.

Sorry for the delay on the pictures. I took some time last night and re-did her enclosure. I added the tin-foil to the top 3/4 of the lid, Humidity is getting there at a steady 44-46%. I also hooked my thermometer up to the uth... that was dangerous, it was ready 102 when I first did it! no wonder she was not doing well!

So right now I have my thermostat hooked up to the uth with my thermometer as well. Reading 92-94 after some adjusting. Cool end is ready 80-85 with the heat lamp for right now. All this will change once I build her new enclosure this weekend.

I also took out the old half log thing and made a temp hide out of a tissue box.. put it in the tank and if she could have ran, that is what she did. Made a bee line right for it, and seems to love it now.

I would post a couple of pictures... but is does not give me this option. Says it is disabled or off for adding attachments.

load your pics thru photobucket.com, then use image code for pics, very easy :)

Here goes nothing....

http://i655.photobucket.com/albums/u...r/100_0840.jpg
http://i655.photobucket.com/albums/u...r/100_0842.jpg
http://i655.photobucket.com/albums/u...r/100_0843.jpg

situations like your temp being over 100 is why thermostats are so important, glad you made the change :)

Some things to improve on:
- Cover 3 sides of the tank with dark paper on the outside, this will help with the security
-add another hide
-. Accurite makes an awesome thermometer/hydrometer combo thats about 14 bucks at target/lowes/home depot etc.

after a big change like this, give her another week to settle in with no handling or feeding. After a week is up try offering food.

I second a second hide (lol). You can for sure fit another in.

There is a pretty good DIY for homemade hides here. Maybe you could try that out!