Hello all, Well like so many, my first Ball came as "oh, she`s so cute!" we got her at a reptile show and brought her home, thought, oh, how easy, throw her a mouse, give her some water and wala! A pet! (especially when told by the vendor that that`s the way it`s done). So we got her a mouse which lived with her for days (oh what we didn`t know). Soon after it began to dawn on us that she may be getting hungry, after all don`t they eat every day?? Just like us?? We woke up one day to discover that her eye`s were opague, wow, a shed! Should we help her pull it off? Called the local pet store who said just to keep her dry. Woke up another day to discover brown spots on her, oh no, what`s this? Ticks!! Where in the world did they come from?

Well you get the gist, another doomed snake.

Except this time we searched the net, gathered all the info we could and put it to use. It was a job getting the imbedded ticks off of her, the easy part was her second shed, which was helped along with higher humidity and daily warm baths, she now has correct basking temps and cool spots, both regulated closely, hidey spots, and branches. The hard part was that her being wild caught and never having eaten in captivity, she wouldn`t. We tried all the ways possible and then tried them all again to no avail.

We have had her for 11 weeks now without her eating, and who knows how long before that. Thursday we force fed her. Yes, we`ve been to the vet, to have her wormed and checked, and then to feed her for us, which he wouldn`t do, doesn`t do. After reading as much as possible we did it, got the mouse down (yes, killed first) and she has actually been a bit more lively since. An experience that I hope to never go through again. Of course we would if needed, but she`s been "scouting" for the first time!

She has captured our hearts and deserves the best we can do for her, thankfully she`s one that escaped the newbie "isn`t she cute" symdrome.

A lot of our info came from this forum, and a heartfelt thanks to those of you who tirelessly give out info day after day to all of us newbies.