PLEASE HELP Young Ball Python suddenly fasting!!!!!!!!!!

[balls&corns1988]

Hi all

In desperate need of some advice and help. i have a young female butter pastel when i bought her (beginning of February) was told she hatched in December, shes on small thawed mice and has shed once since i got her.

Everything's been going great with her until all of a sudden bang shes fasting, when i got her she weighed 126g i weighed her yesterday and still shes sitting at 126g.

Nothing has changed temperature and humidity is still the same which is bang on the mark, i haven't changed feed suppliers or anything. I have tried every trick in the book to try to entice her to feed but shes just not having any of it, Should i be concerned? is there anything you can maybe suggest? below is a list of methods i have tried.

Dry thawing
Wet thawing
wet thawing then using a hairdryer to dry mouse off a little
Braining
leaving the mouse in her vivarium for a 24 hour period with the vivarium darkened
have put the mouse in the vivarium and lightly misted the vivarium
also with the mouse brained.

Any help would be great thanks

[Bogertophis]

You got her at the start of February, so she cannot have been "fasting" for long...when was her last meal? when was her last shed?
How many times did she actually feed for you? -and how often? -specifically what was she fed? (mouse or rat, size, any live?)

How often have you been trying to feed her? The thing is, the harder (& more often) you try, the more you stress a snake (especially a BP) into refusing!
When a BP refuses a meal, DO NOT offer food again for at least a week. They won't starve...

Have you been handling her? How often? Even your handling to weigh her can be stressing her out.

What kind of caging is she in? what are the temperatures & how are you measuring them? what is the humidity & how are you measuring?
Is her cage in a quiet area of your residence, or near where people walk by a lot or use tv/stereo/etc?

Suggestion: offer food in evening, dim lighting, preferably when she's in her hide & peeking out (that often means they want to ambush some prey going past),
as opposed to when she is cruising in her cage...many feel too vulnerable at that time to take food, & merely run from it. Also, keep your motion to a minimum-
are you using tongs? (you should be)

Do you feed her IN the cage she lives in? -or in a separate cage?

[balls&corns1988]

Thanks for reply :-)

She was problematic for feeding for the shop they wouldn't let me buy her until she fed once for them took them 2 weeks to get her to take a feed! the shop manager finally got her to feed by braining and leaving her in a small box in the dark!

when i finally got her home i left her for a complete week didn't handle her or nothing first 2 feeds no problems on the third feed she refused but that's when i noticed she was going in to shed so i left her to it!

She shed about a week ago i have only tried to feed her once since then, and weighed once since then, shes in a 21 liter RUB her temp is 33.3''c and humidity is 61% i am using digital readers for both.

and her RUB is in the spare room which is really quiet i have been keeping the handling down to a minimum beings as shes only a baby and i know they can easily stress. i have been feeding both inside her RUB and also in a separate container and definitely using tongs lol

If i have missed anything out sorry i will include anything i have missed in my next post

Thanks again for your reply :-)

[balls&corns1988]

She was fed a small thawed mouse :-)

[Craiga 01453]

Just a few weeks is nothing to worry about.

Hold off on offering again for at least a week. Offering too often will stress the snake and lead to more refusals

[Bogertophis]

Agree, it's much too soon to panic. - all those "!!!!" -? The snake wasn't a strong feeder when you got her, & being in a new home with you is even more
unsettling to her...just be patient...she's literally a baby, & she's still learning how to be a snake. Her instincts don't cover how to live with humans though.

For future reference, you should make a point of buying a snake with a longer feeding record. It's better for "everyone" (especially the snake).

Please tell me she has a cooler side to her home, that it's not all 33.3*c.?

[balls&corns1988]

Thanks guys :-)

and cooler end is 26'c :-)

[Stewart_Reptiles]

If it is young and fasting either the husbandry is off (temps or security) or there is something wrong in the way you are feeding the animal.

Hatchling under 500 grams are voracious, to to get it back on track you need to change things around and you want to do it sooner than later, not eating with young snakes quickly becomes a viscious circle.

[balls&corns1988]

change to a smaller RUB? The one thing i dont understand is shes been taking feeds just fine until her shed and nothing at all has changed apart from removing her damp hide that it!

[Bogertophis]

change to a smaller RUB?

Changing enclosure would only add stress...if current set-up is too open & leaves snake feeling insecure, cluttering it up is a better option right now. Add some fake
plants or deeper substrate, etc. And make sure the hides feel snug- crumple up paper towel & stuff inside if they're too big. Snakes like "back pressure" so
they feel like predators cannot sneak up on them...they like caves they can wedge into, so try to recreate that.

And NEVER feed your snake in another container...the handling often puts a shy feeder off eating, & there's plenty more reasons it's a terrible idea....