Okay...my friend's younger brother recently was given a ball python by his father (I loathe his father; the man has a bunch of reptiles but keeps them on carpet which he rarely washes, multiple animals in together, etc.) and he has it in a 10gal with a water bowl, half log hide, carpet, a bunch of random sticks he got outside, and absolutely NO heat source.

They keep their house 65F.

But that's not the only problem; the snake in question is tiny; from my limited experience with baby-babies, it looks like it's only a few weeks out of the egg, and they have only gotten it to feed once; supposedly the person they got it from got it to feed once, but whether or not that's true is up for debate. The snake is visually underweight, and easily stressed; it's shy, and the boy keeps taking it out and holding it every day to "make sure it's tame." I think the little thing could fit inside of a normal chicken egg.

And naturally he won't listen to anything I say. So last night I brought some aspen bedding over, and made my effort to get it to feed (rat pinky, tongs, soiled rat bedding in a baggie to pre-scent, dead rat dance, the works) and of course failed, to everybody but my own surprise. I offered to take the baby snake for the summer since the kid's driving down to Orlando (3 hour drive) to stay with his dad for the summer, and told him I'd be willing to keep the snake for him and try to get it feeding for him, but he said he's going to take it with him.

I...am just...appalled. And he won't listen to me when I try to tell him he shouldn't take it out and should give it time to get used to the new cage, and that he definitely should get an UTH or a heat lamp or SOMETHING so it doesn't die...I don't know if there's anything to do. The only good thing in this situation is that the snake isn't wheezing, popping, etc. although the tongue isn't moving as much as it should, and it's still active.

Is there anything I can do? I mean, I could talk to his mom, but she doesn't even LIKE snakes. I just don't want the poor thing to die, and while I don't think the snake is going to need to be force fed---he's still active and stuff---and I think the only thing he needs is to be kept properly and left alone for a while, but I don't think he'll get that where he is.

I'm still trying to get the kid to let me take him for the summer, but I don't know if he will or not; his sister, my friend, is trying to convince him too, but...

Anyways, does anybody know any other tricks that might get him feeding? I found out after the fact that they'd gotten him to feed once on MICE hoppers, so that might be the problem; he might just be a mouser. And if that's the case then fantastic, as long as he's eating...but still. The fact remains that the kid isn't taking care of it right. I don't really know what I can do, or if there's anything I CAN do, at this point.