New ball python not eating / not loosing weight and acting strange

[Bogertophis]

MarkJeyFry- What are the temperatures (highest & lowest) in his enclosure? What is the humidity? What type of enclosure? Kind & # of hides? (pics really help us see what might be wrong)

When you got him, did you allow him a week or two to settle in, with no handling? How much do you handle him now?

Are you offering his prey the SAME way & the same KIND as he was raised on? Frozen-thawed (f/t), fresh-killed (f/k) or live? Mice, rats, ASFs, or other? (they all smell & presumably taste very different- please note I haven't personally tried any )

You mention he's really shy- most snakes are- so how busy is your household? Is his home in a quiet room? Other pets around? Kids? Noise & vibration level near him? (they feel vibrations from loud music & door slams, etc. & it does stress them some).

You mention he has lost weight, so obviously you're handling some him to get a weight. How often do you weigh him? (that too is stressful!)

What time of day do you feed him? What's he doing when you offer him food? (is he in a hide or cruising his enclosure when you offer)

Where do you feed him? Do you feed him in his regular home, or move to another container to feed? (They do NOT like to "go out to eat". Always feed them where they live. The handling to move them adds stress & is distracting, when they need to be at their bravest to tackle their prey. Even when you're feeding dead prey, they're going through the motions as if it's live- they think they're making a kill, & trust me, live rodents pose a danger to snakes.)

With adult BPs, sometimes a fast is "normal" even though it drives us crazy. But bear in mind we're not seeing your snake, so we have no way to know his true body condition- as to whether he's too thin or well-fed in general.

With male BPs especially (they generally don't eat as much or get as large as female BPs since it's the females that reproduce & need extra food for that) if you feed them larger prey, they're more likely to go on long fasts- basically because they don't need to eat as much as you're trying to feed them. So exactly what have you been feeding him? Adult males of normal size do best on small rats or 1 or 2 mice per meal. Many make the mistake of trying to feed them medium or larger rats, which is just too much food, & results in the snake going on long frustrating fasts.

The other strong possibility is that you're not feeding him correctly- some snakes will take food from tongs, others want to be drop-fed in privacy. Night works best, & usually when they're in a hide- BPs are ambush predators, not active hunters.

Also- how are you thawing his prey??? Very important to do this the right way so it's not spoiled by the time he gets it. (Thaw in cool water, & only after it's soft throughout, use very warm water for a few minutes to warm it up.) Never thaw by leaving out on the countertop... the inside stays cold a long time, while the outside spoils- your snake can smell that, & says "YUCK!"

Also- are you offering his prey WARM, & I mean very warm, so he thinks it's alive. This is a big deal for BPs- they rely on their heat sensing pits to respond & eat. Many find it helpful to even use a blow-dryer to give the thawed prey that "finishing touch"...& by that, I don't mean a nice hairstyle. Offer right away, while it's still very warm- & seems alive.

What does his stool look like? I'd imagine you haven't gotten much, since he's not eating, but that's a good thing for a vet to check, since internal parasites can cause illness & even death in snakes if left untreated. Has he ever been fed live rodents? (snakes catch "worms" from live prey) He probably has been at some time in his life, since he's now 4 years old & hasn't always been your snake, so this is something to consider also. If fixing husbandry issues don't work, a vet check is in order. https://members.arav.org/search/custom.asp?id=3661

BTW, is this your first snake? And yes, sick snakes may still shed- that's how snakes "heal". How often has he been shedding?