Not eating..imagine that

[herpguy311]

I know this is common, but this is my first ball. I have had my ball for three weeks and it hasnt eaten yet. just tried to force feed it but i would not take it that way either. Any thoughts?

[Nate]

Welcome to the forum

can you tell us how you have his habitat set up? Thanks

[herpguy311]

I have him in a 20 lang tank with halg the top covered and the gradient is 84, hot spot 92 and cool at 81-82 measured from the bottom. I have two hides, one on each end, carpet substrate, and I have the day light cycle at 12 and 12. I have a boa and have had nothing but good fortune with her, and decided to try my hand at these guys and it has been a nightmare! Please help.

[herpguy311]

I also have the water on the warm side and keep the humidity around 50-60%.

[AndrewGeibel]

Temps and stuff sound good. Try covering the sides of the tank with dark paper or something. They also don't need supplemental lighting so you could even put a dark sheet or something just over the top. If that doesn't work I would try loosely crumpling up some newspaper and filling the tank with that. If you have a scale get a weight on the BP. After that I would not mess with force feeding unless it is dropping significant amounts of weight.

[herpguy311]

Thanks. I covered the sides about two days agao to make him feel a bit more secure. I just have the 18' flour. light on there for viewing, but I see that is pretty much useless being as he doesnt come out until around 9:00PM anyway. I have the top half of the warm side covered, but I will try covering were the light is. I have a buddy that may have some scales, so I will try and get a weight. What is the crumpled up newspaper for?

[SatanicIntention]

If that's a 6qt shoebox he's in in your avatar, then he's TOO tiny for that 20 long. Stick him in a 6-15qt tub and be done with it. He'll eat when he settles in, which he can't do in that huge, bright tank.

[herpguy311]

How do I keep temps and such right in a tub? Im new to this, so I dont know. I have turned the bright light out so the only light that he will get will be just the light form the room.