Concerned with my BP after assisted feed

[Frost33]

Ok, I'll move her tonight, but I'm still worried about how limp she is when I pick her up. Is this just part of her being stressed?

Why will cluttering up the tank help? As I said earlier, she was in this tank from day 1 and has always been a problem, with the exception of eating once.

I just watched a video of a BP eating a hopper, my snake isn't that big, would a fuzzy be a better option?

Sorry for all the questions, just trying to get them all out.

EDIT: The substrate is T-rex Sani-Chips. This a problem?

[RichsBallPythons]

Ok, I'll move her tonight, but I'm still worried about how limp she is when I pick her up. Is this just part of her being stressed?

Why will cluttering up the tank help? As I said earlier, she was in this tank from day 1 and has always been a problem, with the exception of eating once.

I just watched a video of a BP eating a hopper, my snake isn't that big, would a fuzzy be a better option?

Sorry for all the questions, just trying to get them all out.

EDIT: The substrate is T-rex Sani-Chips. This a problem?

You need to be sure temps are proper as well. with a baby you want to aim for higher temps to help in digestion/growth.

Aim for 82 cool side and 92 warm side and 60% humidity.

The bedding your using is fine.

Clustering up the cage will make it look smaller and feel smaller to her while shes roaming.

[AkHerps]

When assist feeding you offer pre killed Once eating on its own offer live.

That's why I said throw it in with the snake.

My baby ball didn't eat for two month when I got him even though I had everything set up properly, temps right, etc...the first time I put a small adult mouse in his house with him and left him alone, he ate it and has been doing good ever since.


You want to clutter the cage because ball pythons naturally live in small cramped rodent burrows, so they feel more comfortable in small confined areas rather than really roomy spaces.

Your snake is probably just weak from the stress of you assist feeding.

[RichsBallPythons]

That's why I said throw it in with the snake.

My baby ball didn't eat for two month when I got him even though I had everything set up properly, temps right, etc...the first time I put a small adult mouse in his house with him and left him alone, he ate it and has been doing good ever since.


You want to clutter the cage because ball pythons naturally live in small cramped rodent burrows, so they feel more comfortable in small confined areas rather than really roomy spaces.

Your snake is probably just weak from the stress of you assist feeding.

Not even close to accurate. The snake is weak due to mal nourishment from not eating. When a hatching goes more than a month no food they need to be assist fed, not pan it out if they eat or dont eat.

You will soon learn this when you get babies that hatch and dont eat for a month and you have to assist feed them. This snake needs to be set up properly and assist fed to get it to gain weight before letting it eat live

[Frost33]

Thanks a lot, you've all been a huge help. I'm going to move her soon as I hit send.

When can/should I move her back to the bigger cage?

Also, size does concern me, a hopper seems so big for her.

[RR - Mackenzie]

Thanks a lot, you've all been a huge help. I'm going to move her soon as I hit send.

When can/should I move her back to the bigger cage?

Also, size does concern me, a hopper seems so big for her.

Once she is much bigger, give her a bit.

Ball pythons can swallow 3x the size of their heads, so she'll be okay.

[AkHerps]

My snake was fine going over a month with no food, he wasn't weak at all. When I had to handle him after a meal because his jaws went down his throat he was extremely weak afterwards just from the stress of it all.

The OP'ssnake also wasn't weak just the day before, so thats why I was thinking stress.

We also don't really know how the OP went about trying to assist feed.

Yeah a lot of breeders start their new hatchlings off on small adult mice and skip right over hoppers.

[RichsBallPythons]

Yeah a lot of breeders start their new hatchlings off on small adult mice and skip right over hoppers.

Can you name some of them. As a small adult is a HUGE meal for a hatchling thats under 150g.

Hoppers leave bulges in hatchlings on thier first meal, id hate to see small adults fed to them.



Not trying to bash you but making sure you prove what your saying as feeding too big to non established feeding babies can cause problem-some faster than anything.

[AkHerps]

I've seen it all over the forum, with many breeders on this forum saying they just start off on small adults. Small adult mice are really pretty small unless you're just getting jumbo sized mice.

The OP's snake is pretty small and if the snake wont take any hoppers, etc..in the future that aren't alive, they can try the smallest mouse they can find if nothing else works, since you don't want to be assist feeding forever.