Force feeding question

[Akren_905]

Hey everyone I finally got my 2 baby balls from the store, and ive got a bit of a problem. They were all kept together in a 15G (12 of them), I now have them in a 10G thats split with a divider but the smaller one is the one im worried about. She is about 4 inches shorter doesnt have the same muscle tone, her skin seems loose she drank alot the 1st day but i figured it was from being in a tank with other and it was hard to drink cause they were always fighting.

But she is smaller by at least 30-50 grams 3 -4 inches shorter skin is loose, has lots of folds when shes not that coiled, also its like she doesnt have proper muscle tone and seems to be dented in in a few places but it goes away when its touched.


So should i buy a few pinkies tomorw and force feed her? She didnt eat today and she didnt eat last week she was at the store either. I tried to get her to strike at a rat pup F/T and then a smaller hopper. Shes never had live. I tried alot to stimulate her to eat but no dice, so i tried to force feed her but she seemed like it was to much effort to swallow the baby mouse( ive FF snakes at the store before and the odd freinds sickly snake).

[Jeo123]

How long did you have her before trying to feed her? It's pretty likely that she's just not eating because of the move at this point.

I'd give her a little while before resorting to force feeding.

It's also possible she's about to shed. At least with mine, most drinking is usually leading up to a shed.

[don15681]

force feeding only as a last resort. need more info on how you have the setup, weight, and pic would help. you can also give a hide for security. but if you need to get food into the snake, then here's a sticky that's pretty good at telling you how to do it. click on it to open it. hope this helps, don

http://ball-pythons.net/forums/showt...g-Instructions

[dr del]

Hi,

Do the folds go along her body or from top to bottom?

Do you have a picture of her?

Has she ever eaten?

And, I have to ask, what on earth would make you select non-eating small snakes from a communal tank?

It just seems to be setting yourself up for problems.

Can you run through the temps at the respective hot and cool ends of the split tank and how, and where, you are measuring them? A picture of the setup might give us something else we could suggest as well.


dr del

[Akren_905]

Hey everyone to answer your questions....

She has eaten before just speratically, if i didnt take her im sure she would not of gotten the proper attention from the reptile manager beacue to him "every snake looks the same". She hasnt eaten forover 2 weeks, her folds run from top to bottom she has divits in her sides, her eyes are clear and plump, she has nothing around her mouth, She is in a 10G tank with a screen lid split in 2 for a day but they still stay on there own sides, the warm sopt is in the middle of the tank its perfect temps just like my other tank setup.

Her problems arnt from em but from her stressed at the store, i tried a small live mouse but she bit it and it bit her nad she freaked out and ran from it (i split the tank when i tired to feed them, they used to go into they own small container to eat before). But she still acted liek she wanted food so i had 4 pinkies she looked liek she wanted it but didnt wantto strike. I picked her up put the nose of the pinky into her mouth then she bite down, same followed for the other 3 but each time she got more and more into by the last one she took it by rubbing it on her nose and just parting her lips. she didnt strike but opened her mouth a bit took it, when i placed her back in the tank after each feeding she never spit them and she ate them fast as fast and kept looking for more.

[Stewart_Reptiles]

Before resulting to force feeding I would suggest is to house them in 6 quart tubs and use aspen as a substrate the tighter and the more secure the enclosure the better.