Advice needed

[Albert420]

HI Guys an Girls

I am in the need of advice on how to proceed with my newer ball python i got a few weeks ago , the guy is a pastel enchi het ultramel around 880-890 grams messures at 3.9 foot and about 2.3 inches wide (thickest part) male. a bit thin I would say?

i can just just see the spine on some places when he moves and according to breeder he is a yearling but he had him mating with 3 males , about a month before i acquired him , he ate 2 meals in this month and then the breeder brought him to me (2 hour drive).

He was about to go into shed and he shed perfectly in one piece exactly a week after obtaining him he stayed in his hides the whole time the first night after he was done shedding he came out to explore so i thought its a bit early and tried feeding the 2nd night after shedding only seeing as it was feeding night for my spider anyway, spider ate a x-large mouse one go , weaned rats still a bit to big for my spider, according to what i have gathered a yearling weighing at 900 grams should be able to feed on weaned rats easily or do I have it wrong ?

The point is he is not eating (with me at least) ( i have not tried feeding live as its illegal with our cape nature laws) i plan on getting my own pet mice and breed with those if he happens to be a live eater. I have tried hoppers to large mouse and rat pups , he just looks like he is not able to take down a weaned as the weaned rats the pet store sell are pretty big and if he does not eat rat pups whats the chances he will take the weaned rats? I thaw the prey overnight in my fridge and then warm up to 37 degrees Celsius with hair dryer and they are still nice and firm , not squashed mice or anything , then left it in there and nothing two nights later i tried again with a rat pup doing the can can in front of his hide he came out as quick as lightning but made one big u turn around it and went back into his hide.

So where to go from here? the thing is i have his cage closed up totally for 5 days now so its nice and dark , he has two hides almost too small tight fit hot side is around 88-90 with a controlled temp controller and heat mat, and cold side 80-84 with temp controller and blue night heat globe surrounded with a steel cage to prevent burning of any sort or contact with the heat bulb. I am worried he is still stressed and he came out of fasting and he is in a new home and and and my mind is running he is in a seperate room nice and quiet and not messed with at all i have also cluttered it up as much as possible , its only been three weeks but i cant help to worried about him, the other thing is in a weeks time its time for a proper clean where i would have to remove him to keep his home clean you can only spot clean so much ,,, and dont know should i handle him to clean or rather jus keep spot cleaning ?

helpppp please awesome peeps

[Moose84]

First off I would imagine the breeder had him with multiple FEMALES. Either way, the first thing I would tell you to do is call the breeder and ask him EXACTLY how he was keeping the animal and replicate that as best you can to get him back on food. 900 grams should be on small rats to answer that question. 900 grams for a male that age is pretty good size.. I have an adult male who is picky as all get out when it comes to eating and he sets around a thousand grams. He flops between mice and ironic enough weaned rats.. A small rat he wants nothing to do with for some reason.. Start by asking the breeder about the set up he was in and whether he was eating live and go from there.

[Albert420]

First off I would imagine the breeder had him with multiple FEMALES. Either way, the first thing I would tell you to do is call the breeder and ask him EXACTLY how he was keeping the animal and replicate that as best you can to get him back on food. 900 grams should be on small rats to answer that question. 900 grams for a male that age is pretty good size.. I have an adult male who is picky as all get out when it comes to eating and he sets around a thousand grams. He flops between mice and ironic enough weaned rats.. A small rat he wants nothing to do with for some reason.. Start by asking the breeder about the set up he was in and whether he was eating live and go from there.

Thanks for reply moose He kept him in a rack system so i thought it might be best to move him to tub setup with a hide and everything in there , the breeder said he ate like a champ on f/t large mice and sometimes rat hoppers if he ran out of large mice once in a blue moon and did not have a problem feeding on any.

So im wondering wait two days and try weaned rat ? or let him chill more and get used to his environment , i really dont want to mess with him if i can avoid picking him up if possible till he atleast had one meal really dont want to stress him out any more than what is needed , he lays with his head outside his hide sometimes in the air sometimes just on the ground but during the day he is curled up tight , havent seen him in hunting mode at all.

He just comes out completely to go from hide to hide or water break.

[ballpythonsrock2]

HI Guys an Girls

I am in the need of advice on how to proceed with my newer ball python i got a few weeks ago , the guy is a pastel enchi het ultramel around 880-890 grams messures at 3.9 foot and about 2.3 inches wide (thickest part) male. a bit thin I would say?

i can just just see the spine on some places when he moves and according to breeder he is a yearling but he had him mating with 3 males , about a month before i acquired him , he ate 2 meals in this month and then the breeder brought him to me (2 hour drive).

He was about to go into shed and he shed perfectly in one piece exactly a week after obtaining him he stayed in his hides the whole time the first night after he was done shedding he came out to explore so i thought its a bit early and tried feeding the 2nd night after shedding only seeing as it was feeding night for my spider anyway, spider ate a x-large mouse one go , weaned rats still a bit to big for my spider, according to what i have gathered a yearling weighing at 900 grams should be able to feed on weaned rats easily or do I have it wrong ? As Moose84 said he should be eating small rats or 2-3 mice and you need to wait a week or two to try again, definitely not 2 days later. That is too soon to re-offer, that causes more refusals most likely.

The point is he is not eating (with me at least) ( i have not tried feeding live as its illegal with our cape nature laws) i plan on getting my own pet mice and breed with those if he happens to be a live eater. I have tried hoppers to large mouse and rat pups , he just looks like he is not able to take down a weaned as the weaned rats the pet store sell are pretty big and if he does not eat rat pups whats the chances he will take the weaned rats? I thaw the prey overnight in my fridge and then warm up to 37 degrees Celsius with hair dryer and they are still nice and firm , not squashed mice or anything , then left it in there and nothing two nights later i tried again with a rat pup doing the can can in front of his hide he came out as quick as lightning but made one big u turn around it and went back into his hide. 37 C is a good temp to heat. But might have to heat it up more than once. Here lately I have had to heat my feeder 2 or 3 times, one try after another till finally I get a hit. Don't just do it once and then give up and lay it in there. I wouldn't lay it in there till you have tried 3 or 4 times to re-heat it back up to 37 or more. Try holding by the back, and then by the tail. Just try not to let it get too cool for a few tries anyway.

So where to go from here? the thing is i have his cage closed up totally for 5 days now so its nice and dark , he has two hides almost too small tight fit hot side is around 88-90 with a controlled temp controller and heat mat, and cold side 80-84 with temp controller and blue night heat globe surrounded with a steel cage to prevent burning of any sort or contact with the heat bulb. I am worried he is still stressed and he came out of fasting and he is in a new home and and and my mind is running he is in a seperate room nice and quiet and not messed with at all i have also cluttered it up as much as possible , its only been three weeks but i cant help to worried about him, the other thing is in a weeks time its time for a proper clean where i would have to remove him to keep his home clean you can only spot clean so much ,,, and dont know should i handle him to clean or rather jus keep spot cleaning Temps sound good to me. I've heard sometimes it is harder to get an adult acclimated to a new home. I would go ahead and do a clean out. ( I clean mine once a month ) Sometimes a clean out can help. Also when you present the feeder, after getting it good and warmed maybe try grabbing the feeder by the mid back and kind of walk it past the hide or snake. And look for signs that the snake is hungry before thawing and feeding. I would watch and look for hunger signs a couple nights before trying. Not just the S-position inside the hide (that might be just a defensive stance) but him actually coming out of the hide part way and just kind of looking for food. One poster rubs the feeder inside the enclosure to see if the snake comes out and smells around. Hope you got rid of the see through pink type hides. A hide is a very important thing to get right. They are not happy if the hide isn't right. The best are with one off-set door and very thick dark material that doesn't let any light in. Mine also likes to push the substrate in front of the hide door even to make it darker. And I also agree with getting back to the breeder to find out about feeding and enclosure.

helpppp please awesome peeps

[ballpythonsrock2]

Thanks for reply moose He kept him in a rack system so i thought it might be best to move him to tub setup with a hide and everything in there , the breeder said he ate like a champ on f/t large mice and sometimes rat hoppers if he ran out of large mice once in a blue moon and did not have a problem feeding on any Sorry but I just seen your post here answering or showing you already have done some of what I recommended

So im wondering wait two days and try weaned rat ? I would wait a week or 2 or let him chill more and get used to his environment yes , i really dont want to mess with him if i can avoid picking him up if possible till he atleast had one meal really dont want to stress him out any more than what is needed , he lays with his head outside his hide sometimes I have found that can be a hunting mode stance in the air sometimes just on the ground but during the day he is curled up tight very normal and good behavior for a BP , haven't seen him in hunting mode at all. Keep looking. And this guy might be a mouser for the most part. If you breed mice it is legal to offer pre-killed there I believe. That works pretty good if they are indeed hungry.
He just comes out completely to go from hide to hide or water break.

[Albert420]

"Sorry but I just seen your post here answering or showing you already have done some of what I recommended

So im wondering wait two days and try weaned rat ? I would wait a week or 2 or let him chill more and get used to his environment yes , i really dont want to mess with him if i can avoid picking him up if possible till he atleast had one meal really dont want to stress him out any more than what is needed , he lays with his head outside his hide sometimes I have found that can be a hunting mode stance in the air sometimes just on the ground but during the day he is curled up tight very normal and good behavior for a BP , haven't seen him in hunting mode at all. Keep looking. And this guy might be a mouser for the most part. If you breed mice it is legal to offer pre-killed there I believe. That works pretty good if they are indeed hungry."

Thanks dude i really appreciate your advice im going to let him chill more with his enclosure dark covered with blanket and leave him alone for 7 days as my last try was 1 night ago.

During day tiny bit of natural light will creep through air ventilation vents on the sides of enclosure humidity is around 62% on avg now as well.
I will kepp looking out for hunting signs like you said , from what i have read they will not very likely starve themselves to death , eventually he will eat ?

Patience is key ?

[Moose84]

In all honesty I think my situation is more the exception than the rule. The male I'm talking about is unlike any I have ever owned or come across. I haven't figured out his pattern yet. In your situation, weaned vs small is pretty much a moot point if you are feeding FT.. The male I was referring to will only eat live. Don't stress out too much. He's 900 grams so he has some room to lose a few grams. I know you can't do the whole live thing legally which limits my advice unfortunately.. My go to is a live mouse for a hard faster. It has always done the trick for me.

[Albert420]

In all honesty I think my situation is more the exception than the rule. The male I'm talking about is unlike any I have ever owned or come across. I haven't figured out his pattern yet. In your situation, weaned vs small is pretty much a moot point if you are feeding FT.. The male I was referring to will only eat live. Don't stress out too much. He's 900 grams so he has some room to lose a few grams. I know you can't do the whole live thing legally which limits my advice unfortunately.. My go to is a live mouse for a hard faster. It has always done the trick for me.

yeah I totally get what you are saying hoping my new boy is not one of those but I will give it some time and try every week limit all activity except for cleaning fresh water and I said to myself after a month of no success it's time to buy a pet mice and just do the deed behind closed doors

[Moose84]

yeah I totally get what you are saying hoping my new boy is not one of those but I will give it some time and try every week limit all activity except for cleaning fresh water and I said to myself after a month of no success it's time to buy a pet mice and just do the deed behind closed doors

i won't say anything....

[303_enfield]

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