friend in need

[rding]

i have a friend that needs some help. kyle has gotten an adult ball python from a friend. i guess you could say he was "rescued". he is appr 6 years old, he wasn't cared for, and his friend toook him in for the pas three years. i think he finally got old for him, so kyle took him/her. he was dehydrated and had not eaten in several months. kyle has him hydrated, but is has been 6-8 months since he has eaten. also, he has some bad scarring on his back. (neglect) any suggestions on feeding. i know he is probably stressed......he acts almost afraid on the rat.
in a lighter note, i got to hold my first adult ball python, he is probably 4feet and 3 1/2 inches in diameter. he is a sweetie pie!!!

[Wizill]

i have a 4 foot bp thats about 4 years old, same situation pretty much. i got him off a friend, he was uncared for, dehydrated and all that fun stuff... he hasn't eaten since december. if there's one thing i've been told 1000 times, it's not to worry. adult bp's can go ages without eating, and if the husbandry is correct and there are no parasites (internal OR external), then he'll eat when he's ready.

[rding]

thanks Will...i know how you feel. Sixx fasted for 4 months and he is not even a year old yet. i told kyle that i would post this for suggestions to help him out, though. i am just glad he cared enough to take him and raise him from here on out. i would, but while my boys are young, i am skeptical about having a new older snake that i am not sure of how he has been treated and may not like them, like Sixx does. they can grow up together!!! maybe someday when they are older, i can help with the "rescue" efforts.

[gozetec02]

Good luck i hope all goes well. Good its rehydrated just make sure you keep him that way. Give him a good secure hiding place good temps and good humidity. Try puting him in a box with the rat dead of course and close it up preferably a dark closed box like one of those opaque rubermaid crates close it up and check up on him after a while. It might and might not eat but that always works for me. My bp is about a year since i got him maybe he is about a year and 1/2. I have been feeding him small rats and everything goes good. I have had a rescued Bp die on me and its very sad. I wish better luck to you.

[Wizill]

well you see rding, i'm a total sucker for a bp. any age, size, condition, i do my best. when i laid eyes on a pic of this guy, i was immediately sold. he was shipped to me merely days after contact (all the way from CA to VA, in late november). i must admit, though, he has felt more like a patient than a pet. in any case, he's one of my herps... and i love him just as much as i do any of the others. he has eaten twice for me (both times a dead rat left in the enclosure overnight). my biggest snake and i've never even seen him eat. how sad.

[iceman25]

Plenty of fluids, very secure hiding, excellent environmental conditions and only dead prey! If he is not loosing any weight he might eventually start eating again on his own accord. If he is starting to loose weigh, a force feed is an option to get his feeding response going!

[JLC]

As everyone has stressed, make sure the husbandry is correct. The key to getting him to eat is making sure he is feeling completely secure and comfortable. With a snake that old, that has been so sorely neglected, I would get his enclosure set up just so (and in a very low-traffic place) and just leave him completely alone for 2-3 weeks, except for providing fresh water and making sure he's healthy. (No signs of mites or illness)

After he's had a nice long time to settle in, I would place a pre-killed rat in his enclosure and then leave him alone with it overnight. He may or may not eat it. Just remove it if he doesn't...wait another 10 days or so, and try again the same way. Eventually, he should relax enough to realize he is hungry and feel secure enough to risk eating.

I think it's when WE, as keepers, freak out about them not eating, and start trying all these different "tricks" every few days to "make" them eat, that we end up making the situation worse. Not that many of the tricks don't work...but I think a patient routine may be healthier and easier in the long run.

((DISCLAIMER: The mentioned method is currently being tried with a reluctant gopher snake, but has not been applied by me to a ball python. I am only speaking from logical thought, not personal experience.))

[rding]

thanks guys!!!!!!! i'll pass this on!!