Switching from live to f/t.

[speedycat222]

1. How long have you had your ball python? 2 months.



2. How old (or how big) is your snake? maybe 15ish inches, around 600-700 grams, no recent weight as I've been trying to disturb her as little as possible.



3. Does it eat on a regular schedule? It was eating live on a regular schedule, but has only accepted f/t once.



4. How long since its last meal? August 5th, just over 2 weeks ago.



5. What type/size prey is being offered? Weaned rats.



6. How often do you offer food? 5-7 days, for her 7 because she hasn't been eating.



7. What type and size of enclosure does it live in? 28qt sterilite tub in a PVC rack.



8. What are you using as substrate? If it has depth, how deep is it? Paper towels.



9. What type of heating do you use? Heat tape.



10. Do you use a thermostat to control temperatures? Yes, a ve-100.



11. What do you use to measure/monitor temperatures? Apart from the thermostat, each tub has a probed thermometer over the hot side, and a digital thermometer/hygrometer unit, the thermometer on the combined unit doesn't work so well so I only use it for humidity.



12. What are the surface and ambient temperatures in the enclosure? The thermostat is set to 94, it's around 88-93 on the hotside(it's a non-proportional thermostat so it can vary)



13. What is the average humidity level? The humidity in the room is about 50%, the lowest I've seen it go after waking up is 47, and it's usually around 55-65.



14. How many and what type of hides does the snake have? One black box hide over the hot side.



15. Is water readily available at all times? Yes



16. Does the snake live alone or does it share the enclosure with anything else? It lives alone.



17. How often and for how long is the snake typically handled? I've only been handling her for husbandry because she is not eating regularly.



18. Does the snake have any medical history (old injuries or illnesses)? No.



19. Do you have any other reptiles? Have you brought in any new reptiles recently? I have two other ball pythons, one that I purchased with her, and one adult female, her and the boy are the two newest ones. I recently re-introduced my turtle to the room after I moved, but she's on the other side of the room.



20. Is there anything specific or unique about your situation that we should be aware of? No, but I'll further explain the situation below.


So the backstory is, around 2 months ago I got this girl and boy off of a local breeder, they're both in fantastic shape, the male eats like a horse and is very outgoing and curious, but this girl is quite shy, and wouldn't eat until I put a live rat pup under the hide with her. From then on she would take a live weaned rat in front of me, but I'd rather her eat F/T, so on August 5th(just over 2 weeks ago at the time of this post) I offered her a F/T wean rat, after about 15 minutes of playing with her I got her to eat it, but since then she's denied frozen twice. I guess my question is, at what point do I give in and give her a live wean rat, I'm not worried about her health, but I would like get her eating.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated, thank you.

[grcforce327]

21. Is this snake just a pet?
22. Do you plan on breeding her?

[C2tcardin]

You may want to find out what substrate the original owner was using as that my be effecting her, also a cool side hide box may be a good idea too. She may be choosing the security of the hot box over proper thermoregulation. As for feeding she could probably go quite a while before you need to take serious action. I know you said she was fed in her hide last time but was she fed in her tub before or was she previously moved to a feeding tub by the previous owner?
Just a few thoughts, I'm sure some of the veterans will chime in soon with some great ideas too.

[speedycat222]

I do plan on breeding her in due time, she's still quite small, so probably 2 years at least.

[speedycat222]

She was defenitly fed in the tub by the breeder I got her off of. I've been looking for a hidebox for her that's the same size and model as the one that she's already got, but the ones but I can't find one, and all my others are different sizes, I'll put one in anyways though.