Ball Python husbandry and she won’t eat PLZ HELP

[Pied17]

Hi, my ball python is 4 months old and I got it 10 days ago. She hasn’t eaten after I got her and I’ve tried feeding her 3 times. I’ve watched many vids on how to feed frozen and I’ve followed them throughly. I think it’s something to do with my enclosure. Let me give you some information on my temperatures. So inside the warm hide the temperature is 81 on the substrate( With an infrared gun) and throughout the cage the temperature is in the 70s. The humidity is between 50% to 60%. I’m using forest floor and coco fiber mixture as my substrate and I have like 1 inch of it in my tank. My thermostat connected to my heat pad is at 92. My snake doesn’t have mites, scale rot nor respitory issues. I’m not sure why she isn’t eating. The breeder I got it from had success in frozen mice. Do you think I should try live or is there something I need to fix? Please let me know cause I’m getting worried.

[Craiga 01453]

First thing: you're offering food too often and stressing the snake. Stress = refusals.
Let the snake settle in for a week before offering again.

NO HANDLING until the animal has eaten three consecutive meals without refusal (not sure if you are or not, but it's a common mistake). Again, stress = refusals.

You'll have to be more specific regarding temps "in the 70s". That's a 10 degree variance and makes a HUGE difference. 75 should be the ABSOLUTE low

[Stewart_Reptiles]

Hi, my ball python is 4 months old and I got it 10 days ago. She hasn’t eaten after I got her and I’ve tried feeding her 3 times. I’ve watched many vids on how to feed frozen and I’ve followed them throughly. I think it’s something to do with my enclosure. Let me give you some information on my temperatures. So inside the warm hide the temperature is 81 on the substrate( With an infrared gun) and throughout the cage the temperature is in the 70s. The humidity is between 50% to 60%. I’m using forest floor and coco fiber mixture as my substrate and I have like 1 inch of it in my tank. My thermostat connected to my heat pad is at 92. My snake doesn’t have mites, scale rot nor respitory issues. I’m not sure why she isn’t eating. The breeder I got it from had success in frozen mice. Do you think I should try live or is there something I need to fix? Please let me know cause I’m getting worried.

Let's see

• You offered 3 times in 10 days when you should have offered for the first time 3 days ago and no handling prior.
• Your temperature on the hot side are not where they should be.

So basically those are only two of the things that lead to your issue if I had to be there are likely more, your enclosure could be too big, hides not adequate etc, you need to get back to square one and learn how to setup a ball python and what proper temps should be.

[mandymg86]

First thing: you're offering food too often and stressing the snake. Stress = refusals.
Let the snake settle in for a week before offering again.

NO HANDLING until the animal has eaten three consecutive meals without refusal (not sure if you are or not, but it's a common mistake). Again, stress = refusals.

You'll have to be more specific regarding temps "in the 70s". That's a 10 degree variance and makes a HUGE difference. 75 should be the ABSOLUTE low

I think Craig is right. Temps that low can definitely cause feeding issues and possible RI situations. We learned our lesson the HARD way (go to the RIP Freya & Ghost thread if you need inspiration to get your husbandry perfect).

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