Baby ball python not eating

[Darin Werner]

I bought a baby ball python about 2 days ago from a reptile show for 20$ i got her in a 10 gallon tank i got 2 hides that i made mulch and 2 sticks shes about a month old well today i tried to feed her and she wouldnt eat at all she would like sniff it when i put the pinky the there to her and she would like go up to my hand kinda weird idk what to do i even tried to assist feed to but she would spit it right back out. idk what shes doing she sometimes gets out and romes all around her tank i need help asap thanks!!!

[Kinra]

You have to give her time to settle in. Wait a week before you try to feed her again, and only do an assisted feeding as a last resort. Assisted feedings are super stressful. BPs can go weeks/months without eating. I had a small 2010 go on a 2 month food strike and she doesn't look any worse for wear.

Give your little girl time to settle, a week with no handling or contact other than cleaning and refilling her water bowl. Then if she still doesn't eat, check your husbandry. If that is fine, wait another week and try again. Try mice and rats, live and f/t. Once she starts losing dangerous amounts of weight then try an assisted feeding.

[JLC]

Most of all, she needs time to settle into her new home. It can take several days...sometimes even a couple of weeks...for a snake to settle into a new home and become sure that it's safe and secure. They won't eat if they feel insecure, because while they are eating, they are very vulnerable to predators.

Don't force it! Just give her time. Don't play with her or mess with her or her enclosure in any way...except to give water and make any necessary adjustments to the husbandry.

Be sure to check out our Caresheet as well. It'll give you some excellent information to make sure the cage is set up in a way that she'll feel safe and have all her needs met. And at the end of the caresheet is a section called "WHY WON"T MY SNAKE EAT" that you may find very helpful.

Welcome to BP.net! And good luck with the little one!!

[Darin Werner]

thanks for all your help i will keep that in mind

[CCfive]

I just wanted to add to the above that pinkies are usually too small of a prey item for ball pythons.Of course unless they are exceptionally small they can usually start out on mouse hoppers or rat fuzzies.

[rperry03]

Let the snake settle down, place a hopper mouse in the tank, and supervise. Sometimes you need to get a babies attention and not with
a pinky that's too small and doesn't move

[R_lopez]

Pickys are wayyyy to small feed him a live hopper or fuzzy

[Darin Werner]

So do i need to wait a week and then add the hopper or buy one and put it on in there do i put it inside the hide or what???

[Jared2608]

You never leave live food in with your snake, so you wait a week, then buy the hopper and introduce it to the snake!