Baby feeding struggles!!

[keebs]

also not sure if it matters, but here is a picture of my gorgeous baby girl (this was before i had fed her today, i was in the process of cleaning out her pee pee paper towels and thought to get a nice snap

[distaff]

Beautiful girl!

[ballpythonluvr]

What this animal well started before you got it? Given the timeline I seriously doubt so. A well started animal is an animal that has ate 3 to 5 times consecutively, knowing that the first meal generally occur at 10 to 14 days after hatching.

This is a VERY young animal and yes you should worry, not worrying is fine when you have a bigger older animal but not one that young.

My guess is that it is food related and husbandry related so please do not assist this animal until everything else has failed assisting is not the solution at this point.

First if you have not done so

Get a 6 quarts tub, aspen bedding and a 6 inches plastic flower pot saucer to use as an hide. Use about 1 inch of aspen in the tub. Provide temps no higher than 88 on the warm side.

Once you do that leave the animal alone for a week (NO HANDLING) and offer a LIVE hopper mouse in the enclosure. Yes it may be hard to find , and you might not want to feed live but all that does not matter (check CL and specialty reptile shop for live feeders), this is a young hatchling and it needs stimulation and it nees to start eating for you.

Until the animal eat for you NO MORE handling, once the animal is well established (5 consecutive meals min) you can start handling and attempt to switch food.

This right here works very well. I had a young snake that refused food for over a month. I put her in a smaller tub with the apsen bedding. I left her alone for over a week and then I offered her a live rat pup. She has been eating f/t for me ever since I had to feed the live rat pup. I offered the f/t rat pup a week after she ate the live one.

[keebs]

Yeah but the main issue is that I simply do NOT have access to live rat pups. There aren't any places in driving distance from me that sell them

[distaff]

A minor issue you might have wanted to address before getting a BP?
(I am in the same boat - which is why I don't have one.)

Your location says Chicago. If you are anywhere near there, there HAS to be something available somewhere. You might look up private rat/mouse breeders on Craig's list. Long term, you might also want to start you own breeding colony.

The BP breeder I corresponded with said that new born rabbits can work. There are lots of backyard bunny breeders. (I actually raise rabbits, but I can't guarantee a weekly supply suitably sized for a young snake - esp. during the summer months when they breed less reliably.)

Keep working on it.
Where there is a will, there is a way.

By the way, I am no expert, but that snake doesn't look skinny to me. (Maybe someone else can chime in if they see something of concern.) To my eye, she is vibrant and glowing. Breeding tells. She seems to be thriving, so you apparently have most of it right.

[Solarsoldier001]

Yeah but the main issue is that I simply do NOT have access to live rat pups. There aren't any places in driving distance from me that sell them

I thought petsmart/petco I sold hopper mice? If you can get a small hopper that would be the same as a rat crawler.




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[keebs]

I thought petsmart/petco I sold hopper mice? If you can get a small hopper that would be the same as a rat crawler.




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I didn't find any hoppers when I last went, but I did buy a live adult mouse - a very small one - and still she wanted nothing to do with it. I will keep trying!

[keebs]

A minor issue you might have wanted to address before getting a BP?
(I am in the same boat - which is why I don't have one.)

Your location says Chicago. If you are anywhere near there, there HAS to be something available somewhere. You might look up private rat/mouse breeders on Craig's list. Long term, you might also want to start you own breeding colony.

The BP breeder I corresponded with said that new born rabbits can work. There are lots of backyard bunny breeders. (I actually raise rabbits, but I can't guarantee a weekly supply suitably sized for a young snake - esp. during the summer months when they breed less reliably.)

Keep working on it.
Where there is a will, there is a way.

By the way, I am no expert, but that snake doesn't look skinny to me. (Maybe someone else can chime in if they see something of concern.) To my eye, she is vibrant and glowing. Breeding tells. She seems to be thriving, so you apparently have most of it right.

Thank you for the suggestions!

Unfortunately before I got her I was under the assumption that she would have already been started on frozen/thaw... which of course, is a sort of 'duh' move on my part! I admit that. Right now I'm just trying to figure out what to do and not kick myself too hard for dumb decisions.

I checked on craigslist already for rodent breeders but I didn't find squat - Not sure if I am just not searching the right words? Also I'm not in chicago exactly, my zip is 60073, so I'm in the suburbs.

Either way I'm going to keep searching and trying new things and see what sticks! Thank you for your input.

[Galaxygirl]

Have you tried calling smaller petshop chains and even aquariums? A lot of times they breed mice/rats and sell them.

[keebs]

Have you tried calling smaller petshop chains and even aquariums? A lot of times they breed mice/rats and sell them.

There are none in my area that reliably carry what I need. There are a few in chicago though, which is great because I'll be moving there at the end of july! So fingers crossed!