Ball python won't eat (yes I read the pinned posts)

[Momokahn]

And here we have the ever more common species of

"Pretendaneeda advica, yetknowidallalready andtellyouso supremo"


While our Ball Pythons are not in the wild, and we cannot replicate the wild, we should look for CLUES to their natural habitat, behavior and general needs.

It has already been proven without a doubt (scientifically proven as a fact, not opinion) that Ball Pythons are NOT social animals. Not with each other. Not with humans. Not with pet Lions.
They are not social. They come together at times to pro create, because that is what their rather simple brain and instinct tells them to do.



Aside from that they do not seek out each other or other species.

They do however prefer small, dark places to hide. Do they move in the wild? Obviously at times they do. To find a breeding partner. And most often, to find a NEW dark small hiding place since they had to either pee and poop and the old hiding place does not work anymore, since the prey can smell the snakes waste and will avoid the area. You see, Ball Pythons often wait for prey to show up and then grab it. They are opportunistic like that. They usually do not "hunt". They are far to slow for that, other then coming across a nest of baby birds or baby rodents that cannot get away.

Ball Pythons are also cold blooded. And they shed their entire skin. So...depending on whether they ate or are getting ready to shed, they need to seek out areas that are warmer/cooler/ more or less humid.

In a rather small enclosure (and compared to the wild, yours is small) there will be only a couple areas that are "just right" for having just eaten, or going by the ambient temperature or humidity level, etc etc. What you see as SOCIAL behavior (they cuddle up) is that they simply compete for the "just right spot" at the same time. There is no cuddling going on, no tea time, no gossip hour.

They are also not social with humans. They do not have the brain capacity (again, proven) for advanced psychology such as that. What they CAN learn to do is to realize we present no danger. We won't eat them. We won't hurt them. They can learn to "trust" into that, for lack of better words. And that in itself is AWESOME, considering they are wild animals and very shy ones at that. But...for some people that is never going to be enough. They have to pretend that reptile loves them, looks forward to play time, needs its enrichment, is social, etc etc. If it makes those people happy to pretend that, well, nothing wrong with that. Until it gets in the way of taking the proper care of them, of providing the basic needs. Now, there are some reptile species that are more aware and smarter then others. But we are talking about Ball Pythons here.

So what if most of your snakes are fat and "happy" ? You know what, I can stick a dog in a small cage all his life and feed it well. It will still be fat and it will wag its tail when I feed it (happy??). Does that mean I take into account the needs for that species ? Dogs ARE social, they ARE affectionate. They make the best of pets for people that need an animal to return love and affection. Some of your snakes do well DESPITE your care, certainly not because of it. As you learned, some just cannot.

I do realize I'm typing to the wall, so to speak. Because you will not care nor listen. You know it all. You know better then us, and you know better then anyone that opposes your opinions. Opinions you present as "facts". They are not.

So you got the snake to eat, after someone gave you "real help" consisting of such things as braining and assist feeding. Most likely you "assist" fed then. What a shame to do this to a snake that simply didn't eat because of your ignorance and inability to take many years of knowledge and practice into account, not to mention basic facts about a species.

So go on pretending you are the bomb when it comes to those animals and we are all wrong. Go on assist feeding every snake that can not get used to living in improper care. Just do whatever you want to do.

You will anyway.

Since this forum is so unhelpful and terrible, there are many great Ball Python pages on Facebook you may like.

I so wanted to reply earlier today to this thread but my hero Zina came through and NAILED IT. You see I am trying to get better with my passion and emotions.