Please help

[Bruce&Dan]

I have two books on ball pythons and i have read both front to back at least once but i can't get him to eat. He has been fed live rats all his life so thats what i have tried to give him but he only bites at it. First i thought maybe the rat was too big so i tried a smaller one but he still won't eat I've tried everything and i don't know what to do. If someone could give me some kind of advice it would be greatly appreciated.

[dr del]

Hi,

It would help if we could double check the husbandry for anything that might be adjusted to help get him started.

Can you tell us the following;

How are you are you measuring temperatures (where and what with )?

What are the temperatures?

How long have you had him and how often do you handle him?

Can you get us pictures of his enclosure?

How long do you prescent the area for?

It sounds like he is striking the rat out of defense not hunger so it might be worth seeing if there is anything we can do to make him feel more secure.

Do you feed outside his tank or inside?

The answers to these should help us narrow down the problem.


dr del

[psycho]

I have two books on ball pythons and i have read both front to back at least once but i can't get him to eat. He has been fed live rats all his life so thats what i have tried to give him but he only bites at it. First i thought maybe the rat was too big so i tried a smaller one but he still won't eat I've tried everything and i don't know what to do. If someone could give me some kind of advice it would be greatly appreciated.

first of all check if he has any mites on him usually they wont eat if they have mites on, second its ok if they go off feeding for a month or so

[frankykeno]

first of all check if he has any mites on him usually they wont eat if they have mites on, second its ok if they go off feeding for a month or so

This is a pretty broad statement don't you think? Mites are not the most common reason for a snake to go off feed. Not feeding for a month or so might be okay for a healthy adult snake, it's certainly not the same situation for a new hatchling or a snake that is in poor shape to begin with and may not be able to survive another few months with no food in it.

[nixer]

whats your temps and humidity? what are you keeping him in.