My bp still won't eat

[kyle1]

What am I doing wrong? My boa and corn snake eat their food within seconds of it being in front of them. My ball python hasn't eaten for about 2 months now and it's starting to lose weight. I've already got a thread on this but no one seems to be looking in it.

[appygirl84]

From what I've read and been told what you do depends on the individual snake. Is your ball at a good weight? Can you see his back bone?

If your snake is at a good weight most people say just give him time. I've read that you can put him in a box or paper bag with a dead rat or mouse and wait for him to eat it.

We force fed our BP 4 pinkies. I would never have done this with out my boyfriends help. He's been working at a serpentarium for three years, and I when they have a really stubborn unhealthy snake they force feed. Now we force fed multiple tiny prey items to avoid injury.

Last night though we tried assist feeding. Guess what it worked. We assist fed one hopper, and then our bp took three more all by himself! There is a sticky on this forum that goes over assist feeding.

Check it out: http://www.ball-pythons.net/forums/s...ad.php?t=94810

[xdeus]

Unfortunately Balls can stop eating for a lengthy period of time and for a variety of reasons. There are a number of tricks to get them to start eating, but nothing is guaranteed. Quite often the only thing you can do is wait it out and keep offering food.

First off, what has your snake been eating? F/T or live mice or rats? It's a good idea to offer food just after dusk when they are usually in feeding mode. Pre-scent around the cage by placing the prey item near the cage for 20 minutes, then offer it to the snake. If it shows interest, try to get it to strike by wiggling it but don't do it so much that it scares your snake.

If you're feeding live, you can pre-scent the area by placing it in a paper bag and putting it by the snakes cage. I would recommend getting a large rat pup and keeping it in the cage overnight. I wouldn't suggest going larger than a weaned rat or small mouse as they might start chewing on your snake.

Many people have also had great success by offering ASF rats (African Soft Furred). They are the Ball Pythons natural food, and many picky eaters will strike those without hesitation. The only problem with that is that your snake may get imprinted on ASF rats so you will need to continue feeding them.

Make sure that the snakes environment is perfect as far as temps, humidity, adequate hides, etc. This will reduce stress and encourage your snake to eat. Also, try not to handle your snake at all until he begins to eat as handling will only increase its stress.

Good luck!

[kyle1]

Thank you for the quick replies. It's eaten a f/t adult mouse and 3 f/t hoppers for me since I had it but it just stopped eating, I've tried feeding it every way apart from force feeding. I've tried assist, he just moves away from it and won't let me put it near his mouth. The guy I got him off said he is a fussy feeder. And I think he's so used to having his food on top of his hide that he doesn't strike at anything. I left a live mouse in there all day with him and he kept moving away from it. The nearest exotic vet is about 60 miles away and I haven't had a chance to take him up there. As far as I can tell, the temps are pretty much perfect and humidity is about 60%. He does prefer hiding under a piece of bark on the cool side though, I rarely see him in his hide on the hot side.

[Peeved kitten]

I am basing this on the assumption you feed in a separate enclosure, it should work for his normal cage too though.

I would try the following:

Clean his cage, water, and etc. lightly.

Leave him completely alone for 2-3 days before following the rest of the steps.

Thaw your snakes prey in warm water.

Don't try and "heat" the prey with the water, just thaw it.

*WASH YOUR HANDS IF YOU HANDLE THE PREY BEFORE PROCEEDING*

Place you're snake in his feeding enclosure.

In the room you intend to feed your snake in, use a blow dryer near the feeding tank, this will spread the scent and warm the creature.

At this point he should be moving about smelling the mouse/rat.

Using tongs/pliers drag the mouse back and forth against the far wall, like it's trying to escape. You can also explore the other sides and generally get closer to the snake.

If all goes well he should hit it and have dinner.


Do this all slowly, don't rush it at all. You're snake may sit for 20 minutes and have 0 interest, but hopefully the above will entice him into munching.

[Peeved kitten]

Thank you for the quick replies. It's eaten a f/t adult mouse and 3 f/t hoppers for me since I had it but it just stopped eating, I've tried feeding it every way apart from force feeding. I've tried assist, he just moves away from it and won't let me put it near his mouth. The guy I got him off said he is a fussy feeder. And I think he's so used to having his food on top of his hide that he doesn't strike at anything. I left a live mouse in there all day with him and he kept moving away from it. The nearest exotic vet is about 60 miles away and I haven't had a chance to take him up there. As far as I can tell, the temps are pretty much perfect and humidity is about 60%. He does prefer hiding under a piece of bark on the cool side though, I rarely see him in his hide on the hot side.

Sorry for double-posting, but yikes!

You should never leave live prey in with your snake. If the snake doesn't eat live prey fairly quickly I would immediately remove it. Live prey can injure or even kill you're snake. If he has been eating f/t before there isn't really a valid reason I can think of to switch to live fed.

[kyle1]

He finally ate today, I decided that I would change the way I defrost the food so I put a rat in a sandwich bag and put hot water in from the tap and left it until the rat was warm and floppy, my boa took it straight away and it was clean, no blood or feces so I decided to try it with the ball. I tried him in the tank but he wouldn't take it so I pulled him out and put him on some news paper on the bed and waved the mouse in front of him and he watched it and smelled it for a good few minutes and then he did a nice big poop. This is the first time I've seen any of his droppings since he stopped eating. Anyway, I put him back in the tank, turned off all the lights and left the mouse on top of his hide. I went back in the room half an hour later to get something and the mouse was gone. I'm guessing he was either constipated or maybe he just didn't like wet food. I will be trying him again on Sunday to see if he wants some more. Thank you all for your patience and advice.