help please!

[Nfoster0301]

My ball python just will not eat. Ive had him for 4 weeks today and I'm pretty sure he was fed the day before he was shipped to me. How much Longer do I have! He won't eat anything and my local petco has trouble getting me the right size of fuzzies. There always pretty big. I don't want to lose my little pastel. What can I do? He won't eat frozen pinkey, fuzzie, or live mouse. I tried leaving the f/t fuzzy in over night and still nothing. Someone press help! My husbandry is perfect. Temps and humid are all on point. He has a weird shape to him now, almost like he's sucking in. Like his skin is pitched on the sides of him, only on his tail though, he hasn't lost weight yet, and he isn't skinny either, he still has good thick midsection. Someone please point me in the right direction for my snakes survival.

[Atrox]

As long as the BP is thick, it'll be fine. They can go months without feed.

[PitOnTheProwl]

First off how are you heating your frozen?
Second what is the age and weight?
Third how often have you tried to feed?

[Foolish1]

Clean the cage so it doesn't smell like him. When you go to feed cover the tank and give him privacy. We have 3 shy eaters. Switch to live maybe if frozen isn't working. I know I refuse to eat frozen meat or veggies.

[Reed12321]

My ball python just will not eat. Ive had him for 4 weeks today and I'm pretty sure he was fed the day before he was shipped to me. How much Longer do I have! He won't eat anything and my local petco has trouble getting me the right size of fuzzies. There always pretty big. I don't want to lose my little pastel. What can I do? He won't eat frozen pinkey, fuzzie, or live mouse. I tried leaving the f/t fuzzy in over night and still nothing. Someone press help! My husbandry is perfect. Temps and humid are all on point. He has a weird shape to him now, almost like he's sucking in. Like his skin is pitched on the sides of him, only on his tail though, he hasn't lost weight yet, and he isn't skinny either, he still has good thick midsection. Someone please point me in the right direction for my snakes survival.

I wrote these out for another member who was questioning about their snake not eating. The snake had originally started out on live mice, and was converted to f/t. Basically the bottom line is, if your snake isn't eating one form of mouse/rat, try the other form (live or f/t).

1. Try cleaning everything in the tank prior to feeding. A snake won't eat if they can smell their own excrement or urine. My albino was really hesitant to eat, so I cleaned the tank, the hides, the fake plants, the water dish, and my moisture box. I replaced the paper towel in the bottom of the tank and I made sure it was warm before putting her back in.

2. Remove clutter from the tank when feeding. My snake wanted to stay in the hide with the live mouse running around her tank. Also, the mouse was burrowing in the fake plants that I have. I removed the hide and the fake plants so that she could keep an eye on the live mouse. At one point, the mouse was cuddling with my snake, but after I walked away, I heard the squeaks from the mouse being attacked.

3. Turn the lights out when you try to feed. The snakes like to eat in the darkness, so if your tank lights are on, turn those off too. Put the live mouse in there but keep an eye on it. If you're gonna try f/t, put the mouse on a piece of newspaper after you've warmed it up right outside of the hide the snake is in so that they're forced to smell it, and leave it overnight. Before putting the mouse in, use the hair dryer trick to waft the fumes from the mouse into the tank by blowing the mouse with the hair dryer. Put the hair dryer on full heat and heat the head up so that the snake will think it's alive and attack.

4. If you're using f/t and they're kept in a plastic bag, try rinsing the mouse with warm water. It'll get rid of "the freezer smell" and it might entice the snake to eat it. Dry it off because a lot of snakes won't eat a wet mouse/rat (I've had my snakes eat wet mice no problem, but not everyone's snakes will do that).

5. Cover the tank with a towel so you can't see anything that's going on inside. It'll help the snake be more secure. I did this and I kept peeking to make sure the live mouse wasn't attacking my snake, and as soon as I put the towel down and walked away did my snake attack. If you're using f/t, cover the tank and leave it for an hour or 2 and check later on to see if the mouse is gone.

Good luck, hopefully this list will help you out!

[Stewart_Reptiles]

Perfect husbandry to me means nothing not knowing who you have talk to to set up your husbandry, what is perfect for one snake is not always perfect for the other so in an effort to provide you with an OPTIMAL setup for your animal details will be needed.

Can you give us details on your snakes very specific ones?

One did you contact the breeder so it could help you troubleshoot the issue?

First the prey size is an issue pinky and fuzzy mice are way too small for any BP even an hatchling get started on something bigger.

Age and weight?

Enclosure type and size?

Hides? Are they tight?

Temperature?

Have you been handling the animal? How often?

What do you know of the history of the snake? Was he eating F/T or live, this makes a big difference as trying to switch an animal upon reception if often a guaranteed failure.