Quote Originally Posted by h&tmaster View Post
once again, THANK YOU for posting this! we got our first BP 3 or 4 weeks ago and have yet to see him eat. weve tried every version of small to medium rat. (live, stunned, dead. in a seperate tub and in his tank). we froze the last one which we are going to try and feed him monday. if he dosent eat that we will now, for sure, try a mouse. i'm with ya on, as long as he eats i dont care what it is. not sure of his weight, dont have a scale yet but he is def. fat and healthy right now which means hes GOT to be a good eater but he may be imprinted on something we havent figured out yet. we got him from the local pet store and knowing what we know now, we will not do that again. we love him dearly but they knew nothing about him. ive dropped the hint that i sure would like to know where he came from so i could get some history on him as he was 53" the day we brought him home. they avoid the question. he seems to have been very well cared for but we just cant get him to eat. decided to quit worrying until spring, or if he really starts dropping weight. he may be a winter faster but i sure would like him to eat and mouse is the next thing on the menu if f/t fails as well. thank you again!
One of the Balls I had about a year ago wouldn't eat anything. I tried everything except Soft-Furred rodents. I tried mice, rats, F/T, etc. Didn't know what to do. I got her from a "reputable company" off of KingSnake. She was a Pastel Jungle. I had her for 1yr. She never ate, except once and it was a Soft-Furr. She regurgitated right away. Took her to the vet. No parasites. She hated being held, always wanted to be somewhere high. I would hold her and immediately she wanted to be on my head then from my head, she would look up searching for somewhere higher. Anyway, I called the company back because she sure acted like a Wild Caught. Her skin along her spine was all brittle as if she was out in the sun with a bad sunburn. Not red, just brittle. No scale rot or burns or anything like that. Anyway, had her for a year, tried all food. She never shed, the day she passed, she had very bad smelling brown liquid oozing from her mouth and cloaca. She passed away only weighting 364 grams! After she passed, I put her on her back and opened her length wise along her stomach and found her to have had her internal organs rotted out. Everything was giving off a foul odor and the inside of her tissue was flaking off and white (like a mold), it was horrible. However, as soon as she died the smell that she was leaking out of her instantly disappeared. I found her stomach to have ruptured as well as her liver. First time ever doing an autopsy and I must say I was very proud of myself on how well I did and had complete closure on the situation with my Pastel Jungle. I keep a detailed report on any snakes that have passed away and the findings/causes. It helps me to dictate all of this on paper that way I know what signs/symptoms to look for if it ever comes across my path again.

Long story short, I wish I would have known she was WC or not. It would have saved me a GREAT deal of stress while she was alive and sadness when losing her. If I would've know she was wild caught I would've instantly started her on Soft-Furred instead of waiting until she was too internally damaged to eat it.