Is my baby ball python going to starve himself??!

[Abigail23]

If you’ve seen my other threads on here you know I’ve been struggling to get this baby to eat. He’s about 2 months old and I rescued him from a bad situation. He was fed 5 live hopper mice meals before I got him, but here in NY I don’t have access to live feeders. I waited a week before I fed him and made sure to thaw out his mice and warm it up to make it seemed alive for him. Wiggled it around but he did not move. He didn’t leave his vines (he loves climbing his vines and hides in them). Today (a week after the last attempt) I tried to feed again. Wiggled it around... no reaction. Put it near his vines. He went and smelled it. Currently left it on the bottom of his tank. He still up in his vines and seems to have no intentions of going to eat.

I’m getting really worried because he’s so young and not eating for almost 3 weeks seems dangerous since he doesn’t have any fat stored to gather energy from.

Ive heard of putting them in a paper bag with the feeder and seeing if they eat. Should I try that right now or should I just leave the mice in all night?

I feel like I’m going crazy from all this stress!!! 😫

hes in a 10 gallon. Weighs 65 grams, his temps are good and so is his humidity. Hides are his size and even stuffed with crumpled paper to be more snug. Even has a blanket that covers his tank for privacy.
I don’t know why he’s not eating


i know assist feeding is a big no and should be the LAST resort. But will he die if I don’t try to assist feed?

(sorry if there’s typos, was typing this in a hurry)

[zina10]

How are you warming up the mice ? How do you transport the warmed up mice to the tank ?

[Abigail23]

I put the mice in a plastic zipblock bag and emerge it into warm/hot water for about an hour. When the stomach is soft and seems fully thawed I then blow dry it to heat up the body to about 98 degrees to recreate body heat, and then I just walk it over and put it in the tank

[zina10]

never put a frozen feeder into hot water.

Try this...

Have a small bucket or bowl ready. Sometime early afternoon, take out the FROZEN rodent and put into that small bucket bowel with COLD water.

Leave be until late evening.

Late evening, drain the cold water. Add HOT water. Not burning hot, but def. hotter then very warm. Since you are feeding tiny mice, you don't have to wait so long. Give it 5 minutes, drain water, fill again with hot water. Wait 5 minutes, drain water, fill again with very hot (again, not to the point of hurting your hands, but hot) water.

So you do this 3 times. Drain and refill.

After the third time, take out the rodents and roll up in a few paper towels and carry to the cage. By the time you get there the paper towels will have absorbed most of the water. The rodent should feel quite warm.

Offer rodent. Make sure you do this late evening or at night.

Your baby might need a cage that has less deco. Just stuff on ground. Several hides, dark substrate, dark around the cage. Sometimes you have to go to a smaller container, but try the other tricks first

[SMTHook]

Got a temp gun yet? I still think you have a husbandry issue (security or temps) rather than an eating issue. I have a feeling your expectations and his priorities are miles apart.

[Zincubus]

If you’ve seen my other threads on here you know I’ve been struggling to get this baby to eat. He’s about 2 months old and I rescued him from a bad situation. He was fed 5 live hopper mice meals before I got him, but here in NY I don’t have access to live feeders. I waited a week before I fed him and made sure to thaw out his mice and warm it up to make it seemed alive for him. Wiggled it around but he did not move. He didn’t leave his vines (he loves climbing his vines and hides in them). Today (a week after the last attempt) I tried to feed again. Wiggled it around... no reaction. Put it near his vines. He went and smelled it. Currently left it on the bottom of his tank. He still up in his vines and seems to have no intentions of going to eat.

I’m getting really worried because he’s so young and not eating for almost 3 weeks seems dangerous since he doesn’t have any fat stored to gather energy from.

Ive heard of putting them in a paper bag with the feeder and seeing if they eat. Should I try that right now or should I just leave the mice in all night?

I feel like I’m going crazy from all this stress!!!

hes in a 10 gallon. Weighs 65 grams, his temps are good and so is his humidity. Hides are his size and even stuffed with crumpled paper to be more snug. Even has a blanket that covers his tank for privacy.
I don’t know why he’s not eating


i know assist feeding is a big no and should be the LAST resort. But will he die if I don’t try to assist feed?

(sorry if there’s typos, was typing this in a hurry)

If he showed 'interest' then that is crucial to my mind ..

Next feed I'd wait until evening , in low /dim light . Wait until it's settled under a hide ... get the mouse / rat on tongs and blast it with a hairdryer for ten seconds then dangle it in front of the hide entrance IMMEDIATELY ... of there's any interest shown then do the same thing again and again ..


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[Stewart_Reptiles]

Do this to a T https://ball-pythons.net/forums/show...-hatchling-101

[hilabeans]

+1 on what Deborah said.

Many (make that most) times, a refusal to eat is due to habitat conditions and not directly to issues with feeders. If he is feeling insecure (not enough hides, inappropriately sized hides, habitat too exposed, lack of privacy) or his temps are off (unregulated, too high, too low, no gradient), he will refuse to eat. In that case, no matter how delicious and perfectly warmed your offering may be, it will be rejected time and again.

You mentioned having other threads on the issue so you may have already been thru the habitat thing, but I started my BP with Deborah's method and kept him there for months. He established as a good feeder early and has never missed a meal since, even thru his transitions to larger enclosures.

Bottom line, it works.

Edit: And the reason this screams "habitat" to me is your mention of him being "up in his vines". Typical bp behavior would be swirled up in a hide laying low 99% of the time, they're not really the vine-dwelling type. So if he's constantly cruising or climbing, that tells me he's uncomfortable.

[Zincubus]

To be fair ... Royals do love climbing and will use any branches or vines that are in there BUT you rightly mentioned that it's odd for them to stay in them all the time .. mine love climbing in the evenings for an hour or so but will spend most of the time in their hides


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[AbsoluteApril]

Ive heard of putting them in a paper bag with the feeder and seeing if they eat. Should I try that right now or should I just leave the mice in all night?

Just to touch on this specific point, that's a trick that I've used and can work for corn snakes. I have never heard that used for ball pythons and would NOT recommend it.

I also agree that something might be off a tad, a hiding ball python is normally a happy ball python and I'd be concerned he's in the vines and not a hide. I'd put a hide right below or under the vines (without anything wadded paper in it).
The link Deborah posted is great and highly recommended to follow.