Assist Feed

[DarrinLowe]

Well,

Our ball (Jambi) did not want to eat again, for his 3rd week without food, so we tried assist feeding him. After a few tried, he managed to get it down and everything seems okay.

I was reading that after assist feeding we should not handle him for one week, once next wed comes, should we assist feed again if he will not eat?

[FatBoy]

I would only assist feed every 2 weeks. Offer him a meal after a week and if he don't take offer in another week, then consider assissting again.

[steveboos]

I am assuming he is a hatchling ball python. I wouldn't force the issue too much. I had a ball python that was on deaths door, i assist fed her every 2 days, but it only took 2 attempts. Then she would eat a pre killed mouse pinkie left in the tub, then fuzzies, then hoppers. Now she eats live ones within seconds of getting in the cage.

Now if your snake isn't in as bad of shape as mine was (which I'm sure it's not), then go ahead and wait a week before you feed. My girl was to the point where she was almost skin and bones and her cage mate already died of starvation. Now she has gone from 25 grams to 115 grams in a little over 2 months and is my best eater now!

[DarrinLowe]

Okay, thank you for the advice. He (or maybe she, as we noticed through assist feeding it's head is rather large) was not quite skin and bones, but we did notice it was moving rather slowly when it went to drink, (slower than usual) but yeah it is a hatchling. So very small in width and everything, but surprisingly long. I get a feeling it's gonna be a big one. It is our first bp, and in some aspects I guess we were a little impatient. But we just wanted to make sure everything was okay.

[Jeremy78]

I am assuming he is a hatchling ball python. I wouldn't force the issue too much. I had a ball python that was on deaths door, i assist fed her every 2 days, but it only took 2 attempts. Then she would eat a pre killed mouse pinkie left in the tub, then fuzzies, then hoppers. Now she eats live ones within seconds of getting in the cage.

Now if your snake isn't in as bad of shape as mine was (which I'm sure it's not), then go ahead and wait a week before you feed. My girl was to the point where she was almost skin and bones and her cage mate already died of starvation. Now she has gone from 25 grams to 115 grams in a little over 2 months and is my best eater now!

Huh?

[rabernet]

Okay, thank you for the advice. He (or maybe she, as we noticed through assist feeding it's head is rather large) was not quite skin and bones, but we did notice it was moving rather slowly when it went to drink, (slower than usual) but yeah it is a hatchling. So very small in width and everything, but surprisingly long. I get a feeling it's gonna be a big one. It is our first bp, and in some aspects I guess we were a little impatient. But we just wanted to make sure everything was okay.

Have you talked to the breeder of this snake to find out how they were housing it before they sold it to you?

Also, I'd recommend checking out our caresheet which has a section on "Why won't my snake eat" so that you can eliminate reasons why it's not eating for you.

Something as simple as moving it to a separate feed box can make it not eat, or a cage too large without proper temps can cause it not to eat as well.

[DarrinLowe]

Our focus for the last week has been maintaining optimal conditions in the cage.
We have a thermostat on the warm side that has it between 87-90 F, and the cold side is just below 80. We spray as often as we can, to keep the humidity up it goes between 40 and 55. I've never seen it any higher.

In terms of feeding, we attempted to feed him in the cage for about an hour, and there was no luck, (last week we left one in for 24 hours) we then tried to feed him in our feeding bin for 30 minutes, and no luck once again.

After that we thought it might be appropiate to try assist feeding, we were as gentle as we could be and made sure that we did not do anything that would hurt him. We gave him some time in his feeding box and and when we came back it was down.

[FatBoy]

A snake in the condition you are describing will die from stress quicker than starvation. Give it some time before assisting again and in the in between time leave it alone. Please describe your setup, sie tub, hides, etc. That may be part of your problem too.

[DarrinLowe]

He is in a screen top 10 gallon, the top is lined with triple-layered tin foil, with one inch open on each end, and a circular hole in the middle that is filled with our heat lamp.

We use aspen bedding, with a UTH on his warm side, that has one hide ontop of it. There is a water dish in the middle(directly under the infrared heatlamp), and a second hide on the cool side.

We have a digital thermometer and a thermostat (for the heatlamp, but not the UTH) inside the heated cave, set at 90 F, along with an open air thermometer / hygrometer on the cool side.

Every morning, afternoon, and evening we spray to maintain a 50% humidity.
Water is monitored frequently, and we are not handling beyond when we fed him yesterday.

I do not have a scale yet, so I cannot record the weight, but I will be investing in one after my paycheck comes off hold.

Edit:
His water tub is fairly small, I would say the part that actually holds the water is maybe 5"x3.5" and 1" deep.

[FatBoy]

OK...this will probably not make any sense to you but I would suggest trying one more thing. First cover 3 sides with dark paper of some type, second, stand in front of the tank and start balling up newspaper in your hands. Ball it up in loose balls and put them in the tank. Fill the tank about 1/3 way to the top with this paper, do make sure none get in the water bowl. This will add a lot of security for your animal and eliminate a lot of stress. Less stress will give you a lot better chance of him eating. After about a week drop an appropriate sized live mouse in with him, with the paper still in the tank. Leave it for a couple hours checking on the snake through the front glass every 30 minutes or so. If he does not eat then assist again. Try offering live food each time before assisting.