Rescued BP - not eating

[Errabal]

I work at a vet clinic (unfortunately our vet doesn't do anything besides dogs and cats). Five weeks ago I received a call from someone that had gotten up that morning and found a ball python in a cage on their porch, no other ideas about it. I told the person that if they brought the bp down I'd take it, figuring I'd either keep it or find a home. What they brought me was a roughly 4ft long bp in a 30g tall aquarium. He's gorgeous, bright and shiny, incredibly active and very very receptive to handling. Since I've had him he has shed, complete one piece shed. And defecated a few times. I have not been able to get him to eat though. I had an empty 40gal breeder tank so have set that up as his enclosure. The tank he came in had a dead mouse in it so I'm assuming he was fed in cage f/t mice (way too small for him). I feed my other snakes (red-tail and a king snake) once a week; so for the past 5 weeks Ive offered him food as well. I've placed him in a separate feeding tank, offering a f/t medium rat (3 times), a pre-killed small rat, and a f/t adult mouse. I have also left the food items overnight in his cage as he is noticeably more active then. I'm about out of ideas as to what to try to get him to eat something. Other than the not eating he seems great and healthy.
With All Due Respect,
Errabal

[ExotixTowing]

Could be a bunch of factors

1. Stress
2. Season
3. Could it be a She and Could she be gravid ??

If you look around here you will find that balls are strange and some will go long time with out eating, get him her on a scale and weigh it and monitor that

[Slim]

Welcome to BP.net!

Provided your husbandry is correct, the first thing I will suggest is that you stop trying to feed him in a separate tub. It just causes them more stress, and that's the last thing you need when trying to get a BP to eat.

Second, I suggest you get a scale so you can track his weight. BPs can go for quite some time between meals with no real ill effect, as long as they aren't losing a significant amount of weight.

The third thing I would suggest is that you try feeding him live. A live feeding doesn't mean you won't be able to go back to F/T later. Sometimes they just need a live feeding as a jump start. Especially since you really have no way of knowing what this snake may have been through prior to coming under your care.

[Errabal]

Exotic -
It is possible he's a she, I just use he by default. I'm inclined to say that she's not gravid because after the first defecation he had he is noticeably slimmer (nothing drastic, he just had to have a large bowel movement). The season I'm sure could be involved from what the person that found him said he was outside on their porch on a ~30-40°F night with not heat source. I will have to dig out my scale and see what it says and keep track of his weight.

Slim -
I'll try this week by not moving him and keeping him in cage and offering him some food. Exotic suggested the same thing about monitoring his weight so I will start that as well. Looking at him closely I can see what I believe to be a couple of scars from bite wounds so it is quiet possible he was live fed....I hate live feeding for just those reasons. I'm saving that for a last resort attempt.

Thanks for the quick responses. Couple more questions:
1. For monitoring his weight, daily? Weekly? Every three days?
2. Since he is much more active at night would that be the better time to try feeding him?

With All Due Respect,

Errabal

[ExotixTowing]

You could try fresh kill then resort to live as a last ditch effort.

I agree with Slim, leave "it" be for a week to ten days

[Jazi]

1. For monitoring his weight, daily? Weekly? Every three days?
2. Since he is much more active at night would that be the better time to try feeding him?

I weigh Quetzal weekly, two days after his food day. I'll also weigh him right after he poops to compare "empty" weight. If there's significant drops in his weight, I know about it right away.

I've got a classmate who's BP will ONLY eat live female albino mice at night in complete darkness and silence... otherwise she just ignores her food and lets it wander. Try everything: at night, in silence, in cage, fresh prekill, live, f/t zombie mouse dance, males, females, colors, etc. Rats and mice don't work? Start trying ASFs, gerbils, and hamsters.

[Slim]

Feeding at night is a good idea since they tend to be much more active at that time. I like to weigh mine monthly...it helps even out the empty vs. full factor over time.

[ExotixTowing]

I never thought about the food's colour !!! My Lesser is racist and will not eat completely white Rats haha