yet another 'my bp is not eating' thread

[jdax]

1. How long have you had your ball python? I got her on February 1, 2016. She weighed 95g. The breeder had her on mice fuzzies.



2. How old (or how big) is your snake? She was hatched July 15, 2016. She is currently 208g.



3. Does it eat on a regular schedule? She did when I got her. I switched her to rat pinkies and then rat fuzzies and she was taking them every 5 - 7 days. Before she stopped eating she had taken 2 rat pups for me.



4. How long since its last meal? Her last meal was a 20g rat on June 7th. She'd skipped a few meals before that one, too. She'd had a meal on May 20th of 30g rat. She'd weighed 250g on May 13th.



5. What type/size prey is being offered? Frozen/thawed rat pups (which weigh between 20 and 30g, I get them in bulk frozen from PerfectPrey)



6. How often do you offer food? When I first got her, she was very thin and the breeder was underfeeding her. I was offering every 5 days. After she'd had a few meals that were appropriate size I started doing every 7 days. I thaw the rodents overnight in the fridge. When I get home from work around 7pm, they come out of the fridge and sit on the counter for about 2 hours to get to room temp. Then I boil water, pour the water into a ceramic bowl, place a ceramic plate on top of the bowl, and put the rodents on the plate, rotating them every 15 minutes until all of the body is at 100F (which I measure w a temp gun). I then run the heads under hot running water (while in a plastic bag so it stays dry) until the head is around 110F. Then I use tongs to do a zombie dance.



7. What type and size of enclosure does it live in? She is currently in a divided Animal Plastics T8. So she has 2x2 feet. I was a total newb who thought proper research was done, and she was in a 20gL acquariam. I had the top mostly covered in saran wrap to keep in humidity, and I had 3 of the 4 walls covered in foam board to keep heat in and so she felt more enclosed. My T8 arrived in May and she was moved May 13th (weighed her that day). I waited a full week for her to settle in before trying to feed her, even though she'd skipped the previous meal.



8. What are you using as substrate? If it has depth, how deep is it? I use paper towels. About 3 or 4 layers. She likes tp burrow under it and makes tunnels.



9. What type of heating do you use? I used flexwatt under tank heater.



10. Do you use a thermostat to control temperatures? I am using a Jumpstart thermostat for right now. Herpstats are on sale so I bought one this morning, hopefully it will be coming in soon.



11. What do you use to measure/monitor temperatures? I use two Acurite thermometers/hygrometers. I have one that is indoor/outdoor and one that's just indoor. The indoor/outdoor one has a probe that I placed on the warm side ground, and the unit itself sits on the cool side (in the front). The other accurite sits in the back of the enclosure. I also have an IR temp gun.



12. What are the surface and ambient temperatures in the enclosure? Surface on warm side is current 89.2 cool side is 78, ambient is 77.



13. What is the average humidity level? Currently 70%



14. How many and what type of hides does the snake have? She has five total hides. She has two medium Exo Terra Caves, one on each side.These are super snug around her. She has two medium hides from Reptile Basics. These are not so tight on her, but I put crinkled paper in them and she likes to burrow around in it. She has one of these on each side. The fifth one I can't find a product page for, but it's a tree stump. It's enclosed on all sides and has one entrance and there is a top to it. This one is in the middle back of the enclosure. I've also got a lot of flukers leaves in there to give her some cover.



15. Is water readily available at all times? Yes. She has a medium crock dish I bought from reptile basics, it's large enough for her to soak in. It's in the middle middle of the enclosure, and she's got a smaller dish too that I have between her two warm side hides. She likes to poke her head out, drink from that one, and then go back in. Having the medium one on the warm side created too much humidity. Having the smaller one on the warm side and the medium on the middle gets the humidity just right.



16. Does the snake live alone or does it share the enclosure with anything else? She is in a divided T8. She has her side all to herself. the other side has a male BRB in it. He obviously has different heating / humidity needs, and I've got him on his own heating pad and I've got some of his vents blocked off to help with humidity. He's on paper towels too, but he has some sphagnum moss in the corner, and in addition to his warm and cool hides, he's got one in the middle filled with sphagnum moss. The eventual plan is to get him an Animal Plastics T12 and let my BP have the T8 all to herself after I clean out/sterilize his side and remove the divider. That will probably happen next summer.



17. How often and for how long is the snake typically handled? I have not handled her at all since May 13th, when I moved her to the T8 except to weigh her, and once to move her out of the way so I could clean. Her being weighed is no more than 5 minutes and happens every two weeks. I did a thorough cleaning last sunday. I removed all but the hide she was in, disinfected her cage decor with warm water and vinegar/bleach solution (soaked for about 1 hr, then rinsed thoroughly and left to dry). I removed and completely changed her paper towels (she was still in the hide in the enclosure), and wiped down the walls / floor with warm water. I then swapped her hides out so I could clean the one and lifted her up to put down new paper towels. Wasn't handled for more than 30 seconds. Prior to her hunger strike I was handling her about twice a week for 10 minutes, never on the day I fed her, or the two days after that.



18. Does the snake have any medical history (old injuries or illnesses)? None that I know of, I asked the breeder and he said she was fine.



19. Do you have any other reptiles? Have you brought in any new reptiles recently? I have a BRB. Prior to moving into his half of the T8 he was in a sterelite bin set up. I had a kitchen rack and the BP's aquarium was in the middle rack and his bin was on the top rack. Bottom rack was there supplies.



20. Is there anything specific or unique about your situation that we should be aware of? She was super docile before she went on her hunger strike. never struck at me, never got tense. Now she is angry and bity. I've been tagged twice by her now when I was in there refilling her water bowl (doesn't hurt, much rather be bit by her than one of my cats).

I've been offering her a f/t rat every seven days. She refused again last night. At first I was leaving the rats in over night, but she doesn't touch them and seems more stressed by them being in there. So the last two times if she hasn't struck after 20 minutes of me doing the zombie dance, it gets tossed. Last night she did two defensive strikes and then slithered quickly away as if super scared.

I am wondering if she can smell the BRB? But he is eating just fine and I don't have to do the zombie dance with him, he gets wiff of his rat and the next thing I know it's gone and he's got it halfway down his throat.

I have a weighted curtain type situation going on to keep the cats from being interested at night. In the morning I turn on their lights (I've got a wireless light set up inside with some Ikea LEDs) and remove the curtain. Once the sun sets I turn off their lights and put the curtain down. It's cat proof so far. It is in the living room, in a corner, but the living room isn't a very busy room, still considering moving it to my bedroom, which only gets used for sleeping since I moved my gaming set up to another room.

Any advice for getting her to eat? Right now I am planning to not try again for two weeks, but she has lost some weight since I moved her. I think some of that might be the massive poop she took shortly after getting to her new enclosure. But still, she's super small for her age.