Baby short tailed python not eating

My baby borneo stopped eating all of a sudden in November. He is about 7 months old now, weighing 128g. He was in the high 130s about a month ago.

He used to be a garbage disposal, eating any frozen i tossed to him. I can leave with him in a small container, I can leave it in the enclosure all night, I can blast it with a hair dryer and he will not take anything. For a fat bodied snake, he's thinned out now. He went to the vet on Wednesday and they could tell me nothing. We did a fecal, they xrayed him to check for a blockage (think maybe constipated), and I was sent home with the instructions to soak him more. Nothing came of the tests they did, everything is normal.

I've been playing with his heat, dropping it a few degrees and raising it at my vet's suggestion, but I prefer to keep it at 85f. Humidity is harder to do, and idk if my digital thing is accurate, but today it's at 70%. He has a huge water dish that he can fit his whole body in and the enclosure is a 15qt tub. Nothing has changed since I got him, he's a real tiny guy so an enclosure upgrade is not needed.

I did get him to eat live twice during all this, however, there is a damn mouse shortage in my area. I've called the 3 pet shops that carry feeders in my area 2 weeks in a row now and we haven't had any brought in. Monday i will call once more but im out of hope.

If you need live bite the bullet an pay pet prices. Go on face book an look for rodent groups an reptile groups. One your buying a pet the other your looking for keepers that are backyard prey breeders.

List your general location here an somebody might help you out.

Good luck!

Pics of the setup? Give him a substrate he can burrow in if he's not already. I assume you've double checked your temps, ambient and hot spot with a temp gun? You said temp is 85, is that the hot spot or all over? I keep mine around 77-81 ambient and then with a little warmer on the hot spot. He hasn't been off feed long, but I'm wondering how long you have had him and what the feeding schedule was before, if he was eating well for months I'd expect him to be quite a bit heavier.

I know that BPs will fast from weeks to months sometimes. but I don't know about the short tailed python, especially the babies. all I can say is I hope he or she starts eating again! :gj:

His setup is quite simple, honestly. I have coconut husk deep enough for him to burrow. He's always underground so the rest of the bin is a little plain, I admit, with one plastic hide and a water dish that takes up one 4th of the enclosure. I'll see if I can figure out how to attach a picture

I have a heat gun. But I'm 99% sure it's faulty. (Thats what I get for going cheap I guess.) Right now the thermostat for the heating pad reads 82 degrees and my room temp is around 70, so I imagine ambient isn't much better.

In the beginning I fed him rat pinks every 7 days, he was about 80g. Just before this fast I increased the food size to fuzzies/ small pups, about every 10 days or so cause he was real thick.

Sounds to me like he is too chilly then, can you do something to raise the ambient temps? What the thermostat is set at and what the temp is in the enclosure are often two different numbers entirely. I would bet if you get your heat to proper levels, he'll eat and until then it might be better he's skipping out or he wouldn't digest well anyways. I'd back off feeding to every 10 days and wouldn't offer anything smaller than a rat pup, moving up to weans quickly. You can get a decent temp gun for about $20-25, I always have a couple on hand to test off each other.

how do I raise a plastic tubs temp? I can't do a lamp or anything like that.

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Originally Posted by Dinoanc

how do I raise a plastic tubs temp? I can't do a lamp or anything like that.

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heat mat, but make sure you get a thermostat that can hook up with it or else the heat mat could cook your animal!

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Originally Posted by BoopsTheBallPython

heat mat, but make sure you get a thermostat that can hook up with it or else the heat mat could cook your animal!

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Heat mats do nothing for ambient temps


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Originally Posted by jmcrook

Heat mats do nothing for ambient temps


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Well, not much, anyway. For further explanation: Heat rises, but usually there's too much air to warm, and in order to raise the ambient temperature enough with a UTH (heat mat), you'd end up with an unsafe "floor" temperature for those snakes needing higher overall (ambient) temperatures in the enclosure. I use UTH for all my snakes, but I have colubrids that mostly don't need so much heat- they do fine using a hide placed over the UTH (the hide helps to hold in some of the heat) and with some supplemental overhead heating as needed.

Also, your ambient house temperature makes a big difference too- the colder the room is, the more heat loss you'll have in any kind of enclosures. One way to help keep the heat "in" is by insulating your enclosures, but tubs don't really lend themselves to that the way either glass tanks or rectangular plastic enclosures do. When using plastic tubs, you need to be careful so you don't melt the tub with supplemental heating devices: thermostats & vigilance are essential for safety no matter what kind of heat (or lights) you're using.

How big is the heat mat relative to the "floor"? You never (!) want to heat the whole floor, but as long as it's regulated, you might want to use a larger one (or use 2) during cold seasons. Just a thought, if it's true that the the temps. are too low & if that's what is causing the snake to refuse food. I'm not one that uses plastic tubs of any kind though, so I'm sure that those who do may have more suggestions. I also have no experience specifically with this species, so by all means listen most to the members here that do- see what their set-ups are like. One thing: if you put the water bowl over the UTH, that can help to raise the humidity a little.

One other thing to think about when using UTH: the amount & type (density) of substrate that you use makes a big difference for how much the UTH can raise the ambient temperatures. When you're keeping a snake that burrows, or one that needs more humidity, your substrate is deeper, & that is basically acting as insulation that PREVENTS some of the heat from rising into the tub, unfortunately. That's why your UTH may not be enough. There are many variables- it's challenging to get set up to meet the exact needs of the occupant. It usually takes some adjustments for your specific situation.