A little help needed please....

[allbran4]

I bought 6 adult ball pythons over the course of the summer with the intention of breeding them this coming season.

I bought -

1.1 mojaves
1.0 spider
0.1 pastel
0.2 normals

They were acquired from 3 different people.
1.0 spider, 1.0 mojave and 0.1 normal are eating like champions. All from different people.
0.1 pastel, 0.1 mojave and 0.1 normal are from the same breeder and have not fed in my care yet. They are between 1300 - 1800 g at the time of purchase. I have also not seem them defecate in my care either. I have had them for about 7 weeks now.

They are set up in a rack system that is heated underneath, the humidity is 60%, the hot spot is 95 and the ambient air temperature is 80-82.

I have tried feeding f/t from tongs heated up real warm and have had absolutely no success. They are not interested at all. This is what they were reportedly eating prior to purchase. I have also tried a small live rat in an attempt to "kick start" their feeding response (recommended by the breeder). Again they showed little to no interest whatsoever.

I turned down the night time heat last week, not to cool them but to see if that would work (ambient temperature only which is 80-82). This was also recommended by the breeder. 1 week later I tried f/t again and there was no response. 2 of the 3 females are beginning a shed cycle now and so that may be why they didn't eat THIS time.

I'm a little discouraged and frustrated. I know they are ball pythons, but still...

Any words of encouragement or suggestions?

Thanks for reading this short story.
Brandon

[Elise.m]

Are you against feeding live? Have you tried cutting the f/t so the snake can smell the blood?

[Spaniard]

What size tubs are they in? I've had success getting trouble eaters to start feeding again by dropping them into a smaller tub size for a couple of weeks.

Your temps and humidity sound right, the fact that they are all from the same breeder and not eating or showing any interest is a little weird.

If the breeder wasn't being honest its possible he had them eating African Soft Furred rats or mice and misrepresented their feeding history.

[Vypyrz]

I notice all of your non-feeders are female and it is breeding season. That may also have something to do with it. Perhaps some of the breeders on here will have a little more input on this...


Rob

[DrLew]

the biggie = they get traumatized when their environment changes - give em some time and once they acclimate themselves to the new environment they'll eat.
Offer weekly, i prefer f/t - so you can leave it in there overnight - when you check em in the AM - they'll have eaten overnight.