Quote Originally Posted by Bogertophis View Post
Glad that his mouth looks okay now. Also glad you haven't been handling him since the fall, he may still be sore internally.

So he's NEVER fed for you, is that right? What did the breeder feed him? You should first be offering the same exact prey (size & type- rats or mice).

One thing you're doing wrong is offering TOO often. Don't offer more than once a week, please, as that adds stress too, making him LESS likely to eat.

Then, if a snake refuses once a week for a couple times, you might lengthen the time between offerings to every 10-14 days. I realize that's a long time for a hatchling though & not ideal-

The thing is- we aren't seeing the snake- & we cannot fully diagnose issues online- only try to help you with husbandry issues. Have you double checked ALL his "husbandry"? (what are the hi & low temps in his home? Hides? Humidity? Location of enclosure relative to other home activities- ie. is he in a quiet, unbothered location?)

Are you only offering while he's in his regular enclosure? I hope so- as moving a snake to a side container often results in non-feeding. Be more specific as to HOW you offer him food- tongs? drop feed? time of day? room lighting? It may be time to either try a small live feeder of the right type rodent, OR a vet check (& maybe x-ray for internal problems- broken bones?).

If you need to find a qualified herp vet, this may help: https://arav.site-ym.com/search/custom.asp?id=3661

Good luck, & please keep us updated.

QUICK AFTERTHOUGHT: I just double-checked how long it's been since you got this snake. We often advise not to offer food for at least a week or two from the date of their arrival, due to the stress of shipping/new home, AND to avoid meal refusals. The handling & fall surely made this worse (harder for him to settle in) but it hasn't been an outrageous amount of time since he last ate for the breeder- that was around the 10th from what I can tell in your first post???

But DO make sure you find out WHAT the breeder was feeding him! Mice or rat, what age/size, live or fresh-killed or f/t? And by tongs or drop-fed if dead prey? Best results come from doing what the snake has learned to expect from prey.
1) Yes, he has never feed for me. The breeder fed him a small f/t mouse twice before shipping to me. It was around the size of a hopper.
2) I regret offering food as many times as I did. He was very active on Monday last week so I offered him a f/t mouse. Then when the other snake eat on Wednesday, I got excited and that he might eat. And then yesterday when the other snake eat again, I thought, he might eat last night. I was wrong all three times. I'll try to feed him a live mouse on Friday or Sunday this week. It depends on if the place I need to get live mouse from is open on Sunday. If they are only open on Friday, I will have to buy it Friday and then try to feed him so the mouse doesn't sit in my house for 2 days.
3) Hopefully, he will eat this upcoming weekend.
4) He's on paper towel at the moment. His temps on the cool side are 75 - 77 degrees and his temps on the hot side are 90 - 92 degrees. I keep both snakes in my office. I work from home. I don't make a ton of noise when I'm in there and I placed towels over their tubs to block out any light. It's the only place in the house that I can close off from my kids.
5) I only offer food in his tub/bin. I feed all of my ball pythons in their bins/tubs. On Monday, I offered the mouse on tongs and then I left it overnight inside of his hide. Wednesday, I just left it in the opening of his hide. This worked for the other snake. Yesterday, I left it in the opening of his hide. I checked back a few hours later and he was just laying on top of it, with half of his body in the hide and the other half laying on the mouse like a pillow. I grab the mouse with tongs, which he didn't seem to mind and them I offered it to him. He just buried his head under half of his body like he was scared of it. At that point, when I took the mouse back out, he went into his hide. I waited about 30 minutes and then heated it with a blow dryer and then I stuck it in the opening of his hide. This morning he was just crawling around the bin trying to push up the lid but the mouse was still in there. I took the mouse out and threw it away. I changed his water and misted his bin. I haven't bother him since. I will just leave him be for now until Friday or Sunday when I try to feed him the live mouse.
6) Thanks for the link to the vet info.