Some suggestions please! Urgent

[DmD]

Hello Everyone,


Hope you have all had a good week, onto the topic. I purchased a male pastel, two weeks ago and the breeder said that he was feeding perfectly and I believe him. As he is quite plump, two weeks and counting now he is very aggressive any time he sees a heat source moving he strikes.

1. He was born late February
2. The cage I have him in is a 5cm bigger than what the breeder had him in
3. Temperature is correct
4. Humidity is a bit low
5. The cage has a hide, and a large water bowl
6. Cage is immaculately clean
7. Breeder was feeding him on live mice, have not yet tried to convert

His cage is on top of my females cage, and she has no problem feeding

Any ideas, why he does not want to eat or his aggression?

Should I put him in a smaller cage?
Should I decrease the size of his food?


Please help me, I really want to get him eating again

[5GsReptiles]

Yes I would go with a smaller cage...Probably 2 hides one on the heat side and one on the cool side... Ball Pythons get scared easily so maybe you should atlease cover the front for now.... How long has it been since he hasent eaten?

[MitsuMike]

Questions:

How big is the snake? (gram wise)
Dimensions of cage?
What is the problem? Aggression? You mention not eating in a question, I am assuming he has been off feed for 2 weeks.

After this it will be easy to fix.

[iCandiBallPythons]

Can you post a pic of your setup plz?

[DmD]

Questions:

How big is the snake? (gram wise)
Dimensions of cage?
What is the problem? Aggression? You mention not eating in a question, I am assuming he has been off feed for 2 weeks.

After this it will be easy to fix.
He is 120 grams
The dimensions of the cage are 460 x 300 x 170 mm
The problem is he strikes at any heat source? And when I offer him food he strikes it but does not coil around it?

Should I put him in a 360 x 210 x 160 mm

[Shadera]

What kind of substrate do you have him on? What kind did the breeder have him on?

Also, what sort of container is he in? Is it clear, or opaque? Is he in a high-traffic area of your home?

After each change, wait a week before offering prey again. Don't want to inadvertently add more stress.

[DmD]

Thanks Shadera,


He is in a clean exo terra cage, I keep him on paper towls like the breeder. The cage is in my room, and maybe the cat has been annoying him? I will put a black towel over the aquarium today, thanks so far!

[MitsuMike]

Ok he is stressed and nervous hints the needless striking.

Switch to a 6 qt tub
Papertowels as a substrate
1 hide on the hot side and a water on the cool
Make sure temps are 90-92 hot and 78-82 cool
Let the little guy chill (no handling no nothing just leave him alone) for 5 days and offer an 18 or so gram mouse (small adult)
After that you should be all good

[ed4281]

If switching to a smaller enclosure is not an option for you, I would clutter up the cage with fake plants, crumpled paper towel etc. It seems that the more cover they have when moving about the better. Also add more hides.

Wait a week with no handeling attempts and then try feeding if he still dosen't eat repeat.

[JLC]

If switching to a smaller enclosure is not an option for you, I would clutter up the cage with fake plants, crumpled paper towel etc. It seems that the more cover they have when moving about the better. Also add more hides.

Wait a week with no handeling attempts and then try feeding if he still dosen't eat repeat.

I agree...crumpled up newspaper works great! Just fill the enclosure with loosely crumpled paper. And leave the paper in there when you feed. The snake won't have any trouble finding its way to the prey. (although this could prove challenging if a live prey item goes uneaten! LOL best with p/k or f/t)

And to reiterate...after adding paper like this, wait a full week before offering anything to eat. After a couple of successful feedings, you can start gradually removing the balls of paper, a few each week, until the snake doesn't need them anymore.