My Ball Python is Hungry but Won't Eat.

[Natt]

Hey again.

So she just shed yesterday and she's lively and sniffing around for food. This is the third attempt feeding her personally but the previous owner told me he gave her live medium rats.

I bought her a small one because the previous owner was from an area renowned for lets say a less than shady reputation. Anyways, she followed the rat for a bit but took no more further action, after giving her an hour to make a move, the whole time she seemed more interested in getting out of her tank than eating the rat. This was mid day so it was unusual for her to be out and about to begin with, so I assumed she must have been really hungry.

I took the rat out and cleaned her tank up and gave her some alone time until night time and tried again. after about half an hour of the same thing, she finally got interested but the rat tried to attack her face and my boyfriend hit it a bit too hard on the head and the rat died. I left it in there and its bann about an hour and she's still lively and still won't touch the rat. She wants nothing more than to get out of her tank but wanted out before the rat died too.

I'm going to freeze it and attempt to feed her another day even though she's used to live, this happened the other two times aswell (excluding killing the rat).

(she's 5, temp - 80-90 degrees, humidity 20) Any insight or suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

[Inarikins]

How are you measuring your temps and humidity? Does she have two identical hides? Can we get pictures of the setup? A lot of feeding problems are caused by improper husbandry. How often are you waiting between offering? If it's any less than a week between, it's too often and you're stressing her out.

[Capray]

Since she's used to live, It's not likely that she'll eat a f/t.. try again next week with a small live rat and feed her at night is my suggestion. She'll be fine for a week, it'll just increase her feeding response.

Her humidity still needs to be higher..a damp towel over the lid should help.

[BlueMoonExotics]

x2 on the humidity being too low. Did the last owner happen to give you a feeding card? When was the last time she ate for you or her previous owner? How long have you had her? She might just need time to settle in still.

[Natt]

Yeah I know it's too low, I would try the towel tip but I have the heat lamp right on the lid, I asked for tips in my last thread, I had her on a heating pad to help with humidity but then sacrificed the temp. She did have 2 hides the last couple times I tried to feed her but I always take them out when I try and feed her after hearing horror stories of snakes being killed by rats. She has one hide now only because I thought she may have had burns from the heating pad and wanted to force her on the cool side of the tank, I havn't put it back because its damaged and I need a new one (no excuse, I know). I use a wall thermometer, I just heard about the gun one today, so I will be looking into that.

I've had her for maybe 6-7 weeks, I tried feeding her the first time a couple days after I got her because she shed the day before I got her. The second time was about 3-4 weeks after that due to advice I had received, giving her time to settle and get used to new bedding ect. and so it's been about 2-3 weeks since then.

So if I manage to get the humidity up (which I'm planning to do with new mulch, she's on paper towel at this moment because I thought she had scale rot and I didn't want to put mulch in right before I fed her incase it upset her), get another hide in there and wait a week or two, you think she will eat?

Also.. should I leave the set up as is when I feed her next or am I right to be paranoid about her getting attacked by the rat easier if the rat has a place to hide?

[Capray]

You should be supervising the whole time the rat is in there. Unless the rat is very smart, it will usually ignore the snake. It starts attacking the snake when the rat gets hungry, so you should have the rat in there while you watch i for like 2o minutes max if she doesn't eat.

If the lamp's in the middle, just use two smaller towels with a gap for airflow...?

I'm thinking she will eat after week of consistent temps and environment.

[KMG]

Get us some pics of your setup. It does sound like a temp problem. Pics could really help us give better advice.

Your humidity issue can be solved with humid hides. I posted that in your other thread.

[FireStorm]

I see a couple of issues here. First of all, get a new thermometer ASAP. Those dials that stick on the wall are pretty much useless. They are inaccurate, and don't measure temps where the snake actually is. Here is a link to some inexpensive ones: http://firestormreptiles.com/weblog/...rmometers.html

Have you considered moving her to a tub, or at least blacking out the sides of the tank? If she's pacing/trying to escape she is probably very stressed. Ball Pythons are not normally that active. You need to get her setup (temps, humidity, hides, substrate) correct and leave her alone so she can settle in. Continuously rearranging her cage isn't going to help.

[Archimedes]

X2 on the pics of her setup, humid hides., and getting her temps right. Also, what is her weight, and has she lost any since she went off-feed? It sounds like a husbandry issue, but we won't know for sure until we see pics and get her temperature regulated.

[Natt]

Here's the pic, sadly I can't afford a thermometer or another hide until payday, so maybe I'll wait a week once I get the set-up better. Although it's useless, the humidity reads 40% now so clearly must be higher in her hide since what she lays on stays moist and the heat seems to drop when I mist it, again useless info until I get a proper thermometer.

I never weighed her and don't have a scale. Her previous owner told me she once didn't eat for 7 months but at the same time he had her in the same tank, less bedding, really dry, one hide and she was freezing when he took her out for us to see her, so I'm not surprised she went 7 months.

I always watch when the rat is in there, however, I've clearly left the rat in there for too long the last few times. I'm just worried, smart or not, that the rat will get in one hide and if she sticks her nose in there he will feel cornered and scared and attack her and I won't be able to see it happen right away. I was also thinking of trying a large mouse instead incase the previous owner accidentally said rat, but that will be a last resort after I straighten everything else out and try again first.