Hey, I work at a pet store that sells reptiles. Generally I don't have problems with any of the reptiles, and usually know what the problems(if and when there are problems) are very quickly. We got a pair of very young hatchling ball pythons. We gave them a 2 1/2 week waiting period before we attempted any feeding or handling. They are both captive bread in canada. They were about 15 inches in length. When we tried our first dead thawed pinkie feeding, they both turned their noses instantly. Another employee took one python home, but over the next couple of months they did not eat anything. We had to force feed them twice, but one of the died suddenly a few weeks after the second feed.

My first question is about the BP that died. The night it died, it was holding it's head very awkwardly, it was laying stretched out across it's tank, and it's head was sort of pointed down and towards one side. Any ideas why this happened, and why it died?

Second, the BP that is still at the store was showing great improvement, though we still had to force feed it, once the fuzzy was in it's mouth it wrapped around it and constricted it. This was the first sign of improvement since we recieved them in August. The next week we tried force feeding it again, but it completely refused. And now along its side, parallel to it's body it looks like it's skin has been pinched up and it won't go down, the pinched up skin is only about 1 cm long. Could this be dehydration? Or perhaps a sign of shedding? It has not shed from August when they arrived and still has not shed.

Thank you in advance for any answers, we are trying to get this BP eating, and I am very worried about it

I apologize for the length of the post but am getting very frustrated, I am the only one at the store who has not given up on this poor snake.