At last he ate!

[omnibus2]

Hey, my first ball python, my pastel, at last ate the mouse after 3 weeks of ignoring his food. I don't have pictures now (Sorry, I'll get some later), but he ate a good sized hopper. I heard the mouse squeal, and sure enough he was constricting it, and later proceeded to eat.

I downsized his enclosure to 10g and added some newspaper, so thanks to everyone who has posted that trick, I've been looking around. I'll feed him a couple more times until I begin handling him.

[dr del]

Grats,


You have the right idea with getting him on a good feeding schedule before worrying about handling too.


dr del

[Hock3ymonk3y]

If you heard the mouse squeel, that means you are feeding live. If you HEARD and didnt see the mouse squeel, you are not in the room watching.

It is important to monitor live feedings in case you need to intervine and keep your snake from getting bitten and scarred...

[Boanerges]

Congrats

[blackcrystal22]

If you heard the mouse squeel, that means you are feeding live. If you HEARD and didnt see the mouse squeel, you are not in the room watching.

It is important to monitor live feedings in case you need to intervine and keep your snake from getting bitten and scarred...

You are a bit overly concerned about this. A large hopper could doubtly do any damage to a snake, and even still, many many breeders feed live to hundreds of snakes without a single issue.
Here's my theory. The more you hover and watch the snake with the lights on, the more prone the snake is going to be nervous about eating and possibly cause problems in the actual feeding, which may cause the snake to get bitten.

Also, 3 weeks is no big deal for not feeding a snake. Many ball pythons go months without food and no ill effects. Good thing to get him eating though! :]

[omnibus2]

If you heard the mouse squeel, that means you are feeding live. If you HEARD and didnt see the mouse squeel, you are not in the room watching.

It is important to monitor live feedings in case you need to intervine and keep your snake from getting bitten and scarred...

I appreciate your concern. His tank is covered by cardboard on the outside; I could actually barely see some areas of the tank. He attacked the mouse behind some cover that I didn't get to see. You are right that rodents can injure them, but at this point, I really wanted to stay out of the snake's vision so that he wouldn't be intimidated by my presence.

@blackcrystal22

Sorry for not clarifying but he is a baby, about 3 months old, so I did get rather worried about him not eating for 3 weeks.

Anyway thanks for the replies everybody.

[Hock3ymonk3y]

I appreciate your concern. His tank is covered by cardboard on the outside; I could actually barely see some areas of the tank. He attacked the mouse behind some cover that I didn't get to see. You are right that rodents can injure them, but at this point, I really wanted to stay out of the snake's vision so that he wouldn't be intimidated by my presence.

Oh, okay.