BP won't eat

[Igby]

My friend purchased a ball python from petsmart around a month ago (i know, i know, but he seems to be pretty healthy) and has not been able to get it to eat. According to the staff, it was on a pretty regular feeding schedule and was eating without issue prior to being brought home. I would greatly appreciate any suggestions for how we could remedy this. It was striking and releasing for a while but has since apparently lost all interest. Beyond that it seems fine. Active and curious. Just will not eat.

[StupidZombie]

I actually just had an issue with this. I acquired a yb male hatchling from petCO. He refused everything i tried (they were feeding him hopper mice).
I upped his heat, even gave him another hide in his tub, but he still refused. Tried live, f/t, left it in over night, he just was not eating. He then shed, so i offered when he finished, no avail.

I just bought a live fuzzy (smaller than his usual) and boom he ate. He'll be getting those one more time or twice before i try a hopper then a rat pup.

It worked for me that way, im not an expert but thats a story from me that literally JUST happened this past week

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[M.P.C]

If he is active and curious alot outside of night thats not a good sign but a bad one that something is off in the enclosure, have your friend triple check all busbendry numbers to make sure thats not the cause

[Igby]

I actually just had an issue with this. I acquired a yb male hatchling from petCO. He refused everything i tried (they were feeding him hopper mice).
I upped his heat, even gave him another hide in his tub, but he still refused. Tried live, f/t, left it in over night, he just was not eating. He then shed, so i offered when he finished, no avail.

I just bought a live fuzzy (smaller than his usual) and boom he ate. He'll be getting those one more time or twice before i try a hopper then a rat pup.

It worked for me that way, im not an expert but thats a story from me that literally JUST happened this past week

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They were feeding him/her pinkies which is what we have been trying. It also shed about 2 weeks ago so we backed off until it shed (which, incidentally, was a very difficult shed) and then tried feeding again a few days after that. we also moved from a glass enclosure to a tub that is roughly the same size. This seems to be holding both the heat and the humidity quite a bit better. And the snake seems to be more comfortable in there. My friend put the same substrate inside that was in the glass tank in an attempt to make the switch less jarring.

[Stewart_Reptiles]

First you need to forget everything you were told at the store one of them is feeding pinkies they are TOO small and often not recognized as prey item.

Second you will have to provide us with details. Animal's weight, enclosure size, temperature on both side, type of hides used (are they tight), humidity, how often you have been handling your snake, how have you been feeding the snake (in the enclosure, out) etc.

In 99% of the cases this issue is due to husbandry.

Here is what you can do if you have not done so, I wrote this many time before and will just paste it here.

The only unknown is the prey size that will depends on your BP's size you want to feed something equal it's girth size.

Get a 6 quarts tubs, lay 1 inch layer of aspen, get a 6 inches plastic flower pot saucer to use as an hide.

Provide a hot spot of 86/88 at the most on the hot spot and 76/78 on the cool side.

Hides also need to be very tight hence the plastic flower pot saucer.

Aspen will also allow the animal to bury itself adding more security.

Once you have done the changes, NO HANDLING, no tube feeding, for a week, once a week as passed offer a live ??? mouse.

When offering leave the mouse near the tub for 30 min to an hour before feeding, offer a little food and water to the mouse. Than put the mouse in the enclosure and close the tub, try offering at dark. If not eaten remove after 20 min.

NO HANDLING until the animal eats on it's own 3 times if successful.

Your setup will look like this plus the flower pot saucer





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[gavindestroys]

Hey all, friend here. As far as Gannon's (BP) weight goes, I am unsure. I believe she's about a month and a half old, if that helps. In any case, since I bought her, I've housed her in a glass vivarium, with both a heat lamp and an UTH (10 gal, which was the size of the vivarium). I recently found that I was keeping the tank entirely too hot, given that I was using a celcius thermometer, and a site gave me the completely wrong formula for conversion. So bad on me. I also was struggling to keep the humidity up; spraying twice a day still would only keep the humidity around 35%. She did have two hides, and usually prefered the one on the cool side with the UTH just underneath. Since I had found out how completely wrong I was doing my husbandry, (I'm used to corn snakes, which are a cinch compared to BP's, apparently ) I have completely revamped her enclosure. I've switched her to a plastic tub, with just an UTH providing the vast majority of the heat. I have a hood providing more ambient light due to the fact I can't put her near a window. The side of the tub with the UTH stays around 83-86 degrees, while the cool side maintains about 75-78. The humidity has been pretty constant, hovering right around 68%. As for substrate, I have a layer of aspen on top, with a layer of repticarpet providing a barrier between Gannon and the UTH. During the night, since my husband and I keep our room kind of cool, the temperature dropped about 2 degress, and the humidity dropped around 1%. We tried to feed her about 3 hours after we moved her into a new enclosure, which may have been too soon. I left the fuzzy, not pinky , in the enclosure over night, and she still shows no interest. I'd really like to not feed her live, but if it is the only way for her to eat, so be it. How long should I wait before trying to feed her again?

[Stewart_Reptiles]

Hey all, friend here. As far as Gannon's (BP) weight goes, I am unsure. I believe she's about a month and a half old, if that helps. In any case, since I bought her, I've housed her in a glass vivarium, with both a heat lamp and an UTH (10 gal, which was the size of the vivarium). I recently found that I was keeping the tank entirely too hot, given that I was using a celcius thermometer, and a site gave me the completely wrong formula for conversion. So bad on me. I also was struggling to keep the humidity up; spraying twice a day still would only keep the humidity around 35%. She did have two hides, and usually prefered the one on the cool side with the UTH just underneath. Since I had found out how completely wrong I was doing my husbandry, (I'm used to corn snakes, which are a cinch compared to BP's, apparently ) I have completely revamped her enclosure. I've switched her to a plastic tub, with just an UTH providing the vast majority of the heat. I have a hood providing more ambient light due to the fact I can't put her near a window. The side of the tub with the UTH stays around 83-86 degrees, while the cool side maintains about 75-78. The humidity has been pretty constant, hovering right around 68%. As for substrate, I have a layer of aspen on top, with a layer of repticarpet providing a barrier between Gannon and the UTH. During the night, since my husband and I keep our room kind of cool, the temperature dropped about 2 degress, and the humidity dropped around 1%. We tried to feed her about 3 hours after we moved her into a new enclosure, which may have been too soon. I left the fuzzy, not pinky , in the enclosure over night, and she still shows no interest. I'd really like to not feed her live, but if it is the only way for her to eat, so be it. How long should I wait before trying to feed her again?

Right now your priority is for your animal to eat not let it get worse to the point of no return so F/T is not your priority. A well established animal (an animal that eats with consistency) will switch a lot easier than one that is not. Do not offer more than once a week, the more you offer the more it will lead to a refusal.

Fuzzies are also too small a hopper is the size you are looking for. If the animal is a fresh hatched a month or a little more it is not a consistent feeder and you MUST do everything you can to get it on track ASAP, at that age/size things can go down the hill pretty fast if not addressed.

Provide proper temps 24/7 with minimal fluctuation and no night drop, smaller enclosure, no handling, those are the 3 most important things. (I highly encourage you to make the changes I suggested above.

Also VERY IMPORTANT: BUY a thermostat and place the UTH at the bottom of the tub, there is also no need for additional light a darker environment is preferable anyway as those animals are nocturnal. Remember that without a thermostat you will end up with a burned snake whether the UTH is on the side and a reptile carpet is placed between the side or bottom of the enclosure and the snake.

[gavindestroys]

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[gavindestroys]

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[gavindestroys]

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