Little one not eating?

[kodyboye]

Hi,

My name's Kody (a new ball owner but the owner of a corn snake as well.) I have a very young ball python, maybe thirteen/fourteen inches long, who is stubborn and refusing to eat. A friend who has a ball tells me not to worry, but naturally, I am (haha.)

I've tried puncturing the frozen food and wiggling it with tongs, but she seems to be scared of the latter.

Anyone have any advice RE: feeding her? I don't want to starve her out. It's been about ten - fourteen days since her last meal and I'm slightly worried.

[Stewart_Reptiles]

Hi,

My name's Kody (a new ball owner but the owner of a corn snake as well.) I have a very young ball python, maybe thirteen/fourteen inches long, who is stubborn and refusing to eat. A friend who has a ball tells me not to worry, but naturally, I am (haha.)

I've tried puncturing the frozen food and wiggling it with tongs, but she seems to be scared of the latter.

Anyone have any advice RE: feeding her? I don't want to starve her out. It's been about ten - fourteen days since her last meal and I'm slightly worried.

Not to worry is a blanket statement and does not apply to all BP it depends on the age with a young BP the #1 cause of refusal is husbandry, and the wrong prey being offered.

Since you provide very little info such as weight of the animal and husbandry I will just refer you to this. https://ball-pythons.net/forums/show...-hatchling-101

Do this to a T, if the animal is young getting it to eat ASAP is very important, young BP should be voracious if not there is something not working out.

[kodyboye]

Thanks Deborah! I will look this over.

[kodyboye]

Okay. I think part of my problem is that I have her in too big a tank. Would it be safe to put her in a small tub INSIDE the tank? Should I close it up? Tupperware style would work all right for this?

As to live food, I'm not sure where I'd acquire it. The pet store people said she was eating frozen thawed mice, so I imagine she WILL eat them, but I'm not sure.

Thank you so much for your help. It's much appreciated.

[Godzilla78]

They need hides, ESPECIALLY as babies. you want them in a small cave-like structure, where they can feel safe and ambush their food from inside.
Here is a giant female adult swallowing her food from inside her hide.

Here is a baby, grabbing his food from under cover of his paper substrate and then pulling it back under to eat in privacy.



Another adult grabbing dinner from her tub.


This one is very tame and not shy at all, so she will even eat out on the open, in the middle of the living room! This is highly unusual though, they like to ambush and eat from inside a little burrow. (we call them "hides" in the hobby.)

[kodyboye]

Thanks for the advice Godzilla! She's got two hides, so I'm not too worried about that.

I talked to an associate of mine at the pet store I work at and she recommended I force her (since that's what they have to do to several of the balls due to the trauma of shipping.) So, tonight, I did it, and once I got it in her mouth, she did most of the work!

So, yay! Littlest noodle has been fed!

[Zincubus]

Kinda worrying that pet stores force feed stubborn snakes as a norm - to be honest ... it never crossed my mind that those things went on .

I seem to think that force feeding isn't exactly recommended , I've seen some reports of "assist feeding " as a last resort but you have to know what you're doing , I'd suggest .


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