First feeding of new ball python fail.

[Dylan_]

Went to feed my female ball got her last friday.she weighs 2130 grams. She apparently ate a large rat last week that was alive. So the person stats. The only things that changed was i removed substrate out of her tub and put paper towels seeing as she has a cut and i didnt want substrate to keep getting inside it. Shes in the same bin she came in. I figured she would refuse the food seeing as when i got my baby ball it took her weeks to eat but she also went into a whole new setup and when she syarted eating i then i transfered her again for better husbandry reasons and she ate within a week. Im not sure if just because the other ball has moved locations if that wpuld throw her off feed or not. Left food in all night nothing. F/t btw. Im hoping she wont refuse the next feed but she might im prepared for that. Just curoius tho even if she was in the same husbandry will she go off feed from going to new ownership and substrate being removed etc?. Baby ball is doing much better in tub too the feeding response i got last night was crazy. Not even 10 seconds of the rat being in there and she took it like she was starving or something lol.

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[Stewart_Reptiles]

First an adult BP does not need a large rat every week, medium is more than enough.

Second it's pretty common for adult to take time to adjust to their new environment sometimes as long as 6 month to a year which means that long before eating for their new owners.

[Dylan_]

First an adult BP does not need a large rat every week, medium is more than enough.

Second it's pretty common for adult to take time to adjust to their new environment sometimes as long as 6 month to a year which means that long before eating for their new owners.

Yeah i know they dont need a large rat. Previous owner feed it large. I bought her f/t medium rats. And oh wow thats along time for them to adjust. She was esitmated at 2 years old and she weighs 2130 thats what i weighed her at yesterday. That would be considered adult right?.

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[Dylan_]

Shpuld i wait 2 weeks instead of a week to try to feed her again?. What would ypu recommend?. It took my other one about 2 to 3 weeks but shes just a baby never owned an adult these are my first 2 balls lol.

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[Zincubus]

Shpuld i wait 2 weeks instead of a week to try to feed her again?. What would ypu recommend?. It took my other one about 2 to 3 weeks but shes just a baby never owned an adult these are my first 2 balls lol.

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Leaving a couple of weeks sounds like a good idea to be honest.. can't do any harm anyways


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[Dylan_]

Leaving a couple of weeks sounds like a good idea to be honest.. can't do any harm anyways


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Alright so instead of waiting a week i should wait 2 to try to feed her again?.

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[Bogertophis]

Alright so instead of waiting a week i should wait 2 to try to feed her again?.

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First off, you aren't handling her are you? Because you shouldn't handle a new snake (no more than absolutely necessary to clean cage) until it has fed preferably 3
times easily for you and at normal intervals. She just refused food but she probably wasn't hungry yet either, after eating a large rat only last week. That
AND being in a new place, I'd have been surprised if she did eat this time.

If that was my snake, I'd wait 2 weeks & see IF she seems hungry (by cruising cage at night or by staying in her hide & just peeking out at night...remember these are
ambush predators); ONLY IF she seems hungry then would I offer, & then only a small or medium rat. If she doesn't behave as if she's hungry, wait another week & see
if she seems hungry yet...by then she might even be in a shed cycle (& if she is, don't offer, just wait until after she sheds). OK?

By the way, when you offer f/t prey it should be immediately warmed up just before you offer it...did you do that? I'm not surprised that when you left it
in the cage over-night that it wasn't eaten...it would have cooled off & with no motion either, it would not likely appeal to a snake that is used to eating
live (though you never know- snakes have various "opinions"). Don't be surprised if you have to work at it some to get her eating f/t...but it's really important that you do, for her health & safety.

[RXLReptiles]

Maybe I'm just lucky in this scenario, but I've never had a new ball, adult or otherwise, take more than a week or two to take a meal.

My newest female is a 1750 gram pastave bee that aggressively took a f/t rat 3 days after I brought her home, and she was fed live at her last home.

That being said, I second everything mentioned above, Deborah and Bogertophis definitely know their stuff, and have probably dealt with more problem snakes than I have.

Apparently all mine are spoiling me into a false sense of security.

[Dianne]

It can take adult bp’s longer to settle in, plus the switch to f/t. I bought Artemis, my 3 year old dragonfly girl, on 9/2/18. She still hasn’t eaten for me, but I’m being pretty persistent about the switch to f/t and am waiting her out. She doesn’t get handled and has taken quite some time to settle in. I’m reasonably sure she was kept in a tub originally and is now in a pvc cage with plexi door. This is the first week since I got her that she hasn’t made a run for her hide when she spotted me watching her. So even though your bp is in the same tub, the landscape has changed and may take some getting used to.

[Dylan_]

Well i decided i had a small f/t rat that i needed to get rid of anyway so why not try to feed her that this week. Seeing as my other ball isnt even on weaned rats yet. So i dethawed both the rat pup and the small rat. Since my baby always eats i fed her first. Just left it in cage checked on her in like 5 mins it was gone. Went heated up the small rat and the big girl was already popping out of her hide so i lifted the lid and just as i dropped the rat she took it out of mid air and is now constricting it. Glad to see shes eating now.

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