Another Failed attempt

[littleindiangirl]

Get a bunch of newspaper and crumple it into balls until the tank is almost full. Prescent with extra stinky (what was she eating before? Mice?) bedding around her enclosure for a half an hour to 45 minutes.

Offer her food in the middle of the night (11-12a) after you've prescented.


How large is she in grams? If she is an adult, she can easily go some time without food. What was her history? You say you adopted her, is she a wild caught by any chance?

Any info you can give will help, like i said, it sounds like your set up is good temps and hide wise, but the constant trying to escape is not normal.

[rabernet]

Awesome, just wanted to make sure that you had seen the checklist! I can tell you that my first ball python went on an 8 month fast, partly due to my insistence that I make a glass tank work for him.

When I moved him from a 20 gallon long to a 15 quart tub, and allowed him to acclimate, he broke his fast after a week of acclimation. Have youtried to set her up on a small tub yet?

[VegaBP]

Get a bunch of newspaper and crumple it into balls until the tank is almost full. Prescent with extra stinky (what was she eating before? Mice?) bedding around her enclosure for a half an hour to 45 minutes.

Offer her food in the middle of the night (11-12a) after you've prescented.


How large is she in grams? If she is an adult, she can easily go some time without food. What was her history? You say you adopted her, is she a wild caught by any chance?

Any info you can give will help, like i said, it sounds like your set up is good temps and hide wise, but the constant trying to escape is not normal.

I always offer food at night. I started out just moving her hide to get her to eat because she was only out at night. But that wasn't working so I started waiting until she was already out and about.

I wish I had a scale... It was on my "next to buy list" when I was laid off and now I just don't have a single dollar to spare. But she doesn't appear to be loosing weight she is still very beautifully thick and she seems pretty heavy I know that doesn't quite give you the answer you wanted ha ha.

I was told she is about 3yrs old. The humane society said she was eating two adult mice a sitting the day before I picked her up and had been eating regularly since they had her. They also had her kept in a glass tank.

I've given the WC idea a few days thought to be honest. But truly I just have no way of knowing that.

It seems like she's only been trying to constantly escape since last week when she actually did. Maybe you saw my post about it. Since than every second she's awake and out of her hides she is trying to wiggle her way back out the same spot. I took the weights off her tank last night and she immediately had her head in the space she got out last time.

[VegaBP]

Awesome, just wanted to make sure that you had seen the checklist! I can tell you that my first ball python went on an 8 month fast, partly due to my insistence that I make a glass tank work for him.

When I moved him from a 20 gallon long to a 15 quart tub, and allowed him to acclimate, he broke his fast after a week of acclimation. Have youtried to set her up on a small tub yet?

Ha Ha I am now thinking much more about the tub idea. A few weeks ago I wasn't willing to budge on the tank issue but now Its almost my only choice. I've cut my 55 gallon in half but so far I haven't gone all the way to tub. I just love the tank... But I want her to eat.

If I were to have her in a tub for say a two month period where she was eating weekly could I then move her back to the tank without causing unnecessary stress and if I did would the same problem just begin again or would the chance be just as good that she would continue to eat?


Thank You again for your responses guys. All the help the better.

[rabernet]

Ha Ha I am now thinking much more about the tub idea. A few weeks ago I wasn't willing to budge on the tank issue but now Its almost my only choice. I've cut my 55 gallon in half but so far I haven't gone all the way to tub. I just love the tank... But I want her to eat.

If I were to have her in a tub for say a two month period where she was eating weekly could I then move her back to the tank without causing unnecessary stress and if I did would the same problem just begin again or would the chance be just as good that she would continue to eat?


Thank You again for your responses guys. All the help the better.

Obviously, you're concerned enough about her not eating, that the ultimate goal right now is getting her to feed for you, and do so consistently.

The best advice I've ever been given is "listen to your snake, they'll tell you what they want".

If she eats in a tub consistently for two months, and you want to put her back in the tank, you can try. But if she stops eating again, she may be telling you that she wants the tub.

However, I think once you see how easy it is to maintain a tub, and that if you want to look at her, you can just get her out, you may become sold on tubs and think of something else better suited to such a large enclosure!

Good luck and keep us posted!

[rabernet]

Here's how simply I set up an adult ball python in a tub. This is a Sterilite tub from Walmart (41 quart locking lid) with a small kitty litter pan as a hide, and a crock water dish.



There's enough room in the hide to thermo-regulate - in the next picture, she was laying in the cool side of the hide:




I feed them in their tub and they usually come flying out of that hide to constrict their prey.

[dr del]

Hi,

Since she escaped last week and keeps trying the same spot it might just be it is taking her a little longer to "give up" and settle down again.

Have you thought of asking the humane society for the details about how they went about the feeding routine since it worked so well for them?

Maybe they were doing something completely different ( what state were the mice in when they fed her F/T or PK or live? ) that you haven't got round to trying yet.

If it was PK or FT for example they may have been leaving it in the tank overnight or even covering the tank with a towel or something while feeding.

There is also the prey types you have not tried yet - I was thinking maybe chicks or ASF's as a short term idea to get a rythm going if she would accept either?

But asking for the details of the original feeding routine would be the best first step I think. Borrowing the wifes hairdryer to really heat up the head of the PK and FT's is always worth trying too - but if you get caught it was nothing to do with me allright?


dr del

[VegaBP]

Hi,

Since she escaped last week and keeps trying the same spot it might just be it is taking her a little longer to "give up" and settle down again.

Have you thought of asking the humane society for the details about how they went about the feeding routine since it worked so well for them?

Maybe they were doing something completely different ( what state were the mice in when they fed her F/T or PK or live? ) that you haven't got round to trying yet.

If it was PK or FT for example they may have been leaving it in the tank overnight or even covering the tank with a towel or something while feeding.

There is also the prey types you have not tried yet - I was thinking maybe chicks or ASF's as a short term idea to get a rythm going if she would accept either?

But asking for the details of the original feeding routine would be the best first step I think. Borrowing the wifes hairdryer to really heat up the head of the PK and FT's is always worth trying too - but if you get caught it was nothing to do with me allright?


dr del

I wish I could, I've tried contacting the humane society many times since I got her and they have ignored me completely. Unfortunately the only means of communication I have with them is email. I never had a phone number and the only correspondence I had with them was email. The place I picked her up from was a volunteers house so I couldn't even go back to where I got her..... When I picked her up I was told she was eating f\t white mice.

When I feed f\t I put the head in front of my che for a few moments to warm it up.

Ha Ha the hair dryer has already been hidden so I can't use it to heat them up ha ha ha. I just use warm water with the mouse in a bag to thaw them out, and like I said hold it in front of the che to bring the heat up.

[VegaBP]

Obviously, you're concerned enough about her not eating, that the ultimate goal right now is getting her to feed for you, and do so consistently.

The best advice I've ever been given is "listen to your snake, they'll tell you what they want".

If she eats in a tub consistently for two months, and you want to put her back in the tank, you can try. But if she stops eating again, she may be telling you that she wants the tub.

However, I think once you see how easy it is to maintain a tub, and that if you want to look at her, you can just get her out, you may become sold on tubs and think of something else better suited to such a large enclosure!

Good luck and keep us posted!

Thank You Robin! Thats all very helpful. I might have to begin seriously considering getting a tub set up.

Maybe once the big tank is empty I can start looking into the JCP I want so bad!!! All I have to do than is convince the old lady that we need another beautiful reptile!!! ha ha

[VegaBP]

Is it length or height you want more in a tub?