My new BP having trouble eating

[silver_siv]

-40 gal glass tank
-heat mat set to 92 with thermostat, about ⅓ size of tank.
-heat lamp on during the day from around 10 AM to 5 PM
-two hides on opposite sides for temp gradient
-decent sized water bowl
-some drift wood and fake plants
-cocofiber/sphagnum as substrate
-mist enclosure every few days

I got a baby ball python on July 24th, 2021, so almost a month ago. The breeder said he was fed twice the past two weeks, so he was an established eater for a baby. He seemed ok at first, and I figured he would need at least a week or two to settle in, so I didn’t try to feed him until then. He didn’t take a thawed pinkie, with me trying two separate times, so I emailed the guy I got him from and he suggested putting a background on his enclosure, so I did, and he finally took a pinkie the day after I put it on, which was a week ago. I figured since he took food, he would take food again, But I’ve wasted 2 more pinkies on him these past 2 weeks. I’ve noticed that he tried to strike at the first pinkie after waving it around, and he did 100% seem interested in it, but he missed. He just lunged at it instead of constricting it, but it didn’t seem like a defensive strike. I tried again tonight, and he seemed scared as he started to hiss at it.

Another note is that he seems restless at night, like he’s trying to escape, bumping the visible glass at the front of his enclosure. He also frequently falls off of his drift wood and sides of tank when he tries to stretch too long, which is concerning as I don't want him to injure himself.Sometimes he also just curls up in the front corner of his tank, where the heat lamp is primarily, and then sometimes he will curl up in his cool hide. I’ve only seen him in his warm hide a few times since having him, but it shouldn’t be too hot or small. Is this normal for BP’s sometimes? I really don’t know what would cause that since he will literally just sleep when exposed to the heat lamp. Maybe he’s just weird?

I’ve tried doing some research and I’ve come down to maybe his enclosure is too big, the pinkies aren’t warm enough, and maybe I should try to feed him fuzzies since they are a bit bigger? Anyone’s feedback is well appreciated, I just want to make sure he feels safe and is able to eat; I don’t want him to lose too much weight because he’s still super young.



(I know ball pythons are so picky!! I wish so much that I could get colubrids but I live in Georgia, so sadly most of them are illegal since they are native.)

[nikkubus]

BPs do not like bright light, so a heat lamp is usually not a good choice. Switching to a CHE (Ceramic Heat Emitter) might be a good idea, but you need to be really careful not to go too high in wattage because it can overheat, even on a thermostat. What is your house temperature like?

Even without light, BPs mostly sleep during the day, and are more active at night. Are you trying to feed him at night? I'd try about an hour or two after the lights go out (or the sun goes down if you remove the heat lamp) and see if he likes eating then better.

40g is huge for a hatchling. If you really clutter it up with decorations, there might be enough cover that he feels safe even though it's so big, but it's not a guarantee. It might be worth doing a DIY tub setup with a sterilite locking latch tub. 6qt is a good size for a small hatchling, but it will outgrow it pretty quickly. 15 qt is probably a good intermediate size. Since they are so cheap, if it were me I would go with 6 now, and move up to 15, then at 500 grams or so move to the 40g again. Hides should also be plenty small enough that he fits pretty tightly in them rather than a lot of open space.

I'm assuming you are going with frozen/thawed if you are concerned about temperature. The pinkies being too small shouldn't scare him away from eating so getting fuzzies probably won't help. Try zapping the head of the pinkie with a hair dryer for a few seconds right before feeding so that the head is hotter than the rest of the pinkie like real live pinkies are, that could help.