On Average Half My Snakes Won't Eat....WTF?

[hotelvoodoo]

So, like so many other people posting to this thing, our snakes won't eat. We have a rack of 10 ball pythons and every week on average, half won't eat. I have no idea what's wrong. Let me tell you a little bit about the setup and a little bit about the snakes, and maybe someone can give me some advice.

We have a rack located in our bedroom, with 10 snakes. The juvs are in 15Q tubs and the larger ones, 400+ grams are in 32Q tubs. The temps are heat taped and thermostat controlled, ranging from 91-98 degrees on the hot spot and hovering around 82 for the cool. We've changed the probe location to try to get less high temps. The humidity hovers around 65-70% and we provide a warm and cool side hide. The snakes are handled once of twice a week for less than twenty minutes at a time. Health is very good and everyone is shedding well, except a new addition who we are treating for an RI. We offer food once a week, F/T white mice. We feed them in seperate boxes and introduce wiggling prey with tongs. Results have been well...mixed.

Now to the snakes and their weirdness.

The boys:
Kingston - very social, very active, not shy in the least. Weighing around 200 grams, he has only missed one meal for a shed. He hits the mice every time within seconds.

Jasper - aggressive and constantly tense. Won't hesitate to strike at us. Weighing around 200 grams, he has NEVER missed a meal. He may take a few strikes but always gets it.

Titus - the sweetest little boy ever without a mean bone in his body. He hovers around 170grams. He ate well for us for a couple of weeks, but the last two, he won't eat. He seems interested, strikes once and then never again. He loses interest and won't touch it.

Paris - a little shy and a constant hider, but this little 130gram boy bangs food, no problems.


The girls:

Havana - shy, but well mannered, she only refused food the first week after we got her. She hits every time within a few seconds. She's around 300grams.

Maya - a newbie. Not eating, but we'll give her some time.

Benga - a newbie. Not eating due to her RI. =(

Arachne - was fed live before she came to live with us, but we have had zero problems converting her. She accepts and eats every time and never misses a meal, even at 130grams.

Isabelle - was fed live before she came to live with us, and has been a real pain. She hides all day like a good Ball python, but is pretty shy around us. She's only 130grams or so, and has missed food the week before last and this week. She just has ZERO interest in the food. The only time we did get her to eat, we put a live hopper in with her which she ate in like 15 minutes. She then got confused and did take a F/T while attempting to get another live hopper. Cannot get her to take the mouse!

Corena - was supposedly eating a mix of live and dead food at her breeder's home. She is extremely active and social. She's 128grams, and afraid of her food. She's either not interested in the slightest or she shies away from it; the only time I've ever seen her be shy. It's been two weeks. Not sure what to do.


I knew going in that ball pythons were picky eaters and I thought it would be natural for maybe one a week to not eat, but not half of them! Can anyone give me any feedback or advice on this one.

[dr del]

Feed them in their tubs.

And remember to pre-scent by letting the mouse defrost near the rack and heat the head up really well with a hairdrier.


dr del

[loonunit]

Honestly, it's just the time of year. I have a lot of animals that aren't eating right now, and a couple juveniles that have been skidding by on one mouse every month. Juveniles are even worse than breeding adults, I swear. You said 400+grams? What's your largest snake? How long have you had them?

Their appetites should start picking up pretty dramatically in another month or two. By July they'll all be gobbling down multiple prey items, regardless of where or what you feed them. By August you cand start offering them lightbulbs and plushie toys, and they'll go for it. (Note: do not do this!)

[wolfy-hound]

98f is kind of high.

I'd try rats instead of mice, just to see if that entices more eating. Feed in the tubs, moving a snake stresses it at least some, so give it a try in the home tub.

Shy feeders sometimes need lots of time to approach the prey, in private. So you can put a FT in and leave them alone. A FT isn't going to hurt the snake, so no need to watch or to check often.

Don't prance a prey item right into a BPs face(unless that works for that particular snake). That can intimidate the snake. It's a delicate thing, doing a zombie rat dance exactly right for each snake.

Some might want smaller tubs, larger tubs, hides in the tubs, no hides, different substrate, different prey... they are individuals. Just takes time to figure out all the details.

[RestlessRobie]

I would agree feed in there tubs seond get a blow dryer and heat the rats focussing on the head in the room just before feeding works for me.

Oh I forgot you have ball pythons they arent eating just to drive you nuts Mine all talk about who isnt eating the night before I feed them I have heard them talking I know I have

[RestlessRobie]

(Coppied from an earlier post )

When I first got back into herps I decided to get into Ball Pythons. I raised Veiled Chameleons for a number of years so it was not that big of a transition. Under the advice of two seperate PET STORES I fed my guy in a seperate container. BIGGEST MISTAKE was listneing the the pet store. Our little normal was a very problematic eater at best. He went off feed for 3 weeks when we first got him then ate good for a couple of months then back off feed for three months lost a lot of weight and was not looking good at all. Under the great advice I received from this forum I offered a live hopper mouse (thanks Lgray in his enclosure and he ate with out a problem. He is now a great eater in his enclosure and packing on the grams he is up to weanling rats and eats every week with out fail. We took in a rescue who was again being fed in a seperate container and same thing difficult at best to feed the only thing I changed was feeding her in her enclosure and she has gained 250g+ in the 6 months she has lived with us. My pied has never been fed out of her enclosure and she is an absolute pig only one refusal from her but she was in shed. I have only been bitten once and well that was my fault. The big normal girl ate 3 weenling rats (all I had at the time) and she would drag them into her hide to eat. SO I wanted to make sure they were all gone and when I reached into her enclosure she was still hungry and mistook my hand (which I am sure smelled like a rat) for food and struck she let go right away and has never struck at anyone again. I ALWAY FEED in their enclosure have had absolutely no signs of cage agression and have actually tried to reproduce the one bite just to prove to myself she was just really hungry and well no one will strike at my hand even if I scent it with a rat before sticking in their face. So I guess what I am saying is if your are not a complete idiot like I was then there should be no issues with feeding in an enclosure and it seems to make the snake feel a lot more comfortable about eating

[Mike41793]

1. Feed them in their tubs
2. I would think about starting to try and convert them to f/t rats. When they get big feeding 4 f/t mice to 10 snakes could take awhile lol...

[sharkrocket]

So, if I understand this correctly, are you all saying that leaving the thawed frozen mouse in their enclosure, the snake will approach it and kill it, even after the mouse has become room temperature again?(even if it was heated higher with a hair dryer, that temp level won't last long)

Will the snakes eat the mouse if I leave it in there, not wiggling or anything? i.e. do they hunt by smell even if it's not a heated mouse?

[Zombie]

1. Feed them in their tubs
2. I would think about starting to try and convert them to f/t rats. When they get big feeding 4 f/t mice to 10 snakes could take awhile lol...

X2, and like someone else said try and get the hot side temps down to 90-92 or so. GL!

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[Daybreaker]

So, if I understand this correctly, are you all saying that leaving the thawed frozen mouse in their enclosure, the snake will approach it and kill it, even after the mouse has become room temperature again?(even if it was heated higher with a hair dryer, that temp level won't last long)

Will the snakes eat the mouse if I leave it in there, not wiggling or anything? i.e. do they hunt by smell even if it's not a heated mouse?

Yes, some snakes will eat the F/T feeder if it's left in there. I have one ball that will usually only take feeders that way: she's just shy. Then you have the ones who will not eat if it's not dangling by their face.

It might be worth a try.