Not eating post shed

[Dexterune]

Hello everyone. I am new at owning and caring for a snake. I got a young male albino ball python 2 weeks ago. He has eaten successfully for me twice, the first time it was f/t hopper mouse 4 days after bringing him home and feeding #2 was 7 days ago a f/t rat pup. The reptile store that I got him from said that they were feeding him live rat pups every 7 day and he was eating good. They could not tell me his exact age but I weighed him at 184 gms when I got him home. I weighed him a week later and he was up to 199gm. This past Wednesday he went through a complete shed. His belly turned slightly pink and his skin was dullish looking. His eyes since the are red only get cloudy not bluish. So the next night which was Thursday I thawed him out a frozen rat pup ( in a bag in warm water, blow dried and checked temp with IF gun to 100 degrees). He had zero interest so I refroze it and decided to try later. Side note-his first meal was in a separate feeding tub (before I read all the threads not to do this) and the second feeding was in his enclosure, he took about 30 minutes to eat it after leaving the room and turning off all the lights except for the IFR light on his cage. So last night I thought he probably was hungry so I warmed the rat pup on top of his cage then blow dried it in the room getting the rat smell in the air. I used tongs to do the zombie dance and zombie walk. Nothing, no interest. If fact he seemed a bit freaked out and moved to the back of the cage. I decided to leave it by his warm hide and left the room dark and quite. I kept on peeping in every 30 minutes to check. At one point he was in semi strike pose nose extended to the rat and tongue flicking at it. He was still positioned to the back of the cage. I finally went to bed and decided to leave it overnight. This morning when I checked he was in his warm hide and the rat was untouched. I removed the rat and threw it outside for some other hungry critter to eat. I hate wasting food! Should I try again in a few days or just wait until next week? His current weight was 211gm post shed but he hasn't pooped yet either. In fact I have only seen 1 urate pee that he did while shedding and have never "witnessed" him drinking or in his water bowl.

He lives in a Exoterra 24x18x18 which I have put foil and duct tape on 3 out of the mesh areas. I use 100% cypress mulch with some moss in hides and around the branch/log thing in the back.Temps have been 72-78 on the cold side, moved my IFR light on a dimmer over to keep it more even at 75. Hot side is at 88-91 with UTH on tstat on that side. Measured glass temp at 103 yesterday and turned down my tstat now its around 90-92 (reptitherm 500r-I do not like since its hard to maintain temp). Humidity has been challenging and have had to mist cage 2-3 times a day and also run humidifier in the room. Inside the cage it is anywhere from 30-50% and I managed to get it to 70% with heavy misting 3-5 times a day and running humidifier all day long. I live in California and it has been dry!!!

Have been trying not to handle, but my 7 year old daughter has been getting him out most days(except when he was shedding) and only holding him for around 5 minutes if that.

Any ideas or suggestions?? When should I attempt to feed again?

[theoremofgoats]

This might sound kind of redundant, but since so many people have trouble understanding, I'll ask anyhow: are you sure he actually went through a full shed? As in, you found the old skin discarded in a corner or a hide? I've seen lots of people get confused about whether the snake has shed or not-it's cleared up/darkened a bit, but if there isn't any old skin in the enclosure, it hasn't shed yet. It's a little confusing the first time.

Second, your temps sound all right-except for the 103. Watch out for that-yikes! Keep working on the humidity…but I'm guessing the enclosure you have is the fabricky kind for like geckos and such? That's not going to help much with ball pythons. What works REALLY well are plastic storage tubs (sterilite, rubbermaid,iris, etc), if you want to save money-they retain heat and humidity with minimal effort.

[Dexterune]

This might sound kind of redundant, but since so many people have trouble understanding, I'll ask anyhow: are you sure he actually went through a full shed? As in, you found the old skin discarded in a corner or a hide? I've seen lots of people get confused about whether the snake has shed or not-it's cleared up/darkened a bit, but if there isn't any old skin in the enclosure, it hasn't shed yet. It's a little confusing the first time.

Second, your temps sound all right-except for the 103. Watch out for that-yikes! Keep working on the humidity…but I'm guessing the enclosure you have is the fabricky kind for like geckos and such? That's not going to help much with ball pythons. What works REALLY well are plastic storage tubs (sterilite, rubbermaid,iris, etc), if you want to save money-they retain heat and humidity with minimal effort.

Yes it was a full shed. I found it in the corner of his enclosure. it was all rolled up and i had to untwist it. It looked like he had been playing snake twister trying to get it off!
This is his cage http://www.amazon.com/Exo-Terra-Glas...rra+medium+low
The humidity has gotten better since I have used some foil around cardboard and duct taped it to the screen mesh. Thanks for your input on the plastic tubs. But we are only going to have 1 snake and my daughter wanted something that she could see and display him in.

[Dexterune]

Hmmm...guess I will just try feeding next week.

[theoremofgoats]

Awesome, just wanted to make sure on the shed! And the foil trick works good too. I guess I would just try to leave the snake alone 100% until next week. Keep monitoring temps and such. Make sure your daughter does not handle him at all-I get that it's really exciting to have a new pet and such, but even a small amount of handling on a brand-new, overwhelmed snake that just got relocated into a new area full of odd smells and surroundings can cause lots of stress and cause them not to eat. Balls are shy little things, remember.

As far as the enclosure…I mean, to be honest, the mesh ones are NOT meant for snakes. I'm sure you're aware that yours won't last very long at all anyhow (with it being small), so when it's time to upgrade, I highly recommend a PVC cage like Boaphiles or Animal Plastics, which are great both aesthetically and care-wise, or even a regular glass tank as long as you're willing to keep misting the enclosure and keeping it covered as well.

EDIT: Just got your link to open. It should be good for awhile, I was picturing something more like this when you said mesh: http://www.amazon.com/Zilla-Fresh-Sc...mesh+terrarium My mistake!