Ball Python not eating

[Craiga 01453]

I actually did research ball pythons before I got him. You make it sound like I just impulse bought him and threw him in a tank. I soak him weekly because he used to be wrinkly like he was going to shed but he never would and the wrinkles weren’t length-wise. Forums said that he might be dehydrated and that soaking him would fix that. His humidity is currently 60 and never drops below 50. His ambient temperature is in the high 70s and his basking temperature is 90. He is in a 20 gallon tank. For daytime I use a 100 watt for heat and at night I use a blue light. I am using a thermometer rather than a thermostat. If getting a thermostat will help then I’ll make the switch. I used to handle him more but recently no because I know it’s not good to mess with them at all until 2 days after they eat. Now as for the pinkies, this is where I failed: when I got him I asked the petsmart employees what size they had been feeding him and they said pinkies. After a few weeks read more and realized fuzzies would be better because it is the same size as the thickest part of his body but I could never get him to eat them not because he wasn’t interested but because he likes to eat everything side first and I have rarely been able to get him to eat them head to tail. He’s very sweet and timid and if I were to try to help him I’m certain he would drop it. He would always try to eat them but would give up because he doesn’t realize it would fit if he would turn it. So instead I kept feeding him pinkies but more frequently because that’s what was suggested. Btw the minimum days is 3 days in between feeding so it’s not too frequent especially since it was such a small meal. I think your taking what I’m saying in a way I don’t mean. I have tried everything with my snake and he has never gone more than a week without eating and it’s not because I just decided not to feed him or something, it’s because he would miss when he strikes and even then I would still try and sometimes it would work. If he didn’t eat a meal I would try again 2 days later and most of the time he would eat it. So the comment “your poor snake has only eaten a handful in a year”, is not true. I try everyday to make sure I’m doing everything I need to. I’ve taken him to vets and they always say that there is nothing wrong. I’ve tried to get him to eat bigger mice but he just likes eating everything sideways and I’ve never been able to get him to eat it differently. I’ve never just sat back and let him starve.

Alright. Well I'm not trying to be rude, but I'm going to be blunt. Fifteen minutes of google searching will tell you the MOST IMPORTANT PIECE OF EQUIPMENT you can have is a THERMOSTAT.
Without one you're risking dangerous heat spikes that can lead to horrible burns, neurological problems and even death.
Every decent care sheet mentions a thermostat.

Anybody telling you to feed a pinkie mouse to a ball python is clueless and you should learn elsewhere. But, just like a thermostat, appropriately sized prey is something you research BEFORE bringing an animal home. That only takes a few minutes of googling as well. Fuzzies are also WAY TOO SMALL.
Look at the feeding chart I linked...no pinkies or fuzzies anywhere on it.


As for soaking...maybe he's dehydrated because he HAS NO NUTRITION in him. And rather than just put a band-aid on the problem by soaking, why not actually FIX THE PROBLEM???

And yes, offering food too often DOES stress the animal and lead to further refusals. I've had thousands of feedings with over a dozen snakes over about 15 years. I, and any other experienced keeper, will tell you that you should only be offering every 5 days at least. You even said yourself the minimum is three days, yet though u were offering after two. So you're even breaking your own rules that are wrong.... But yeah...

Your snake is trying to eat anything it can to survive. But you're feeding it basically a sip of water. That'd be like us surviving on a glass of water a day.

So maybe reconsider your sources, they're clearly not reputable sources.