How to assist feed properly?

[whyteboi]

I KNOW this baby snake has never eaten, and I know it is at least 3 weeks old, Im tired of waiting, he seems a little skinnier, I tried live pinky mice, live pink rat, and ft hoppers, in cage and not.

I got a live rat in his cage from last night. He seemed so interested at first, and kinda would twitch I guess when the mouse moved like he was gonna bite or at least as if he was excited. Guess not.

Im wondering if I should hold the snake and where, and how far to put the mouse in, like until the mouse is at his throat so basicly just the mouses head, or just barely at all, just enough to get it in with his mouth open which seems the most logical. I know to use Q tips to get mouth open, but will the snake fight me? Mine seems laid back for the most part.

I was also wondering if feeding this live pink rat is ok durring an assist feed so he gets the idea of eating live mice to help him get started? Or if I plan on going to FT should I try a FT hopper?

[SarahMB]

Have you taken the snake to a vet?

[SatanicIntention]

Live hopper, at night, leave it for about 30 minutes. And leave the room...

I would set this baby up in a TINY tub, 6qt shoebox, set at 94/84. 4" clay saucer for a hide and a small waterbowl, on newspaper. Leave for a week in a dark, quiet place. I set mine up this way(53g at start), and she's fed 4 times on live hopper mice. Already, she's a 90g hissy little sausage.

[Cassandra88]

Thats what i was going to say, you should take it to a vet, find a good herp vet that should be able to answer your questions and evaluate your snake better than anyone can over the internet

[Adam_Wysocki]

3 weeks is not even close to long enough to wait before attempting an assist feed ... you'll end up doing more harm than good.

Try a live hopper mouse in the cage with some crumpled up newspaper over night ... and stop messing with him.

Here's a link to an article that I wrote for my website a few years ago ... it might help as well.

http://www.8ballpythons.com/journal/...ingseating.htm

Good luck ... and remember, assist feeding is a last resort ... not something that should be attempted because you don't feel like waiting any longer.

Hope this helps.

-adam

[whyteboi]

I have tried all of the stuff you guys have mentioned. For all I know this thing could be 7 weeks old, and I have never seen a BP this skinny online, for a baby anyway.

I dont have the $ to take it to a vet, not even sure there is a herp around here.

I left a rat pink with it, and no luck....... last night

I dont want to find this thing dead tomorrow cause it ended up going 9 weeks with no food, cause I got it from a pet store who could care less how old they are or if theyve even eaten when they recieve them.

It looks like I am gonna have to try a deli cup but I honestly have no idea what that is. Can you post a picture of one or link me to one?

But I am afraid of that, cause I just dont know how old this thing is.

[Sausage]

I dont have the $ to take it to a vet, not even sure there is a herp around here.

I really don't know what to tell you other than that you should've thought more about the costs of owning a BP before you bought one.

[Cassandra88]

Have you left it alone in a tub with all your husbandry correct for a week yet. If you have than keep trying a little longer. Also maybe you can have your mom borrow you the money to go the vet and pay her back with payments or something. If not maybe you should find an experienced owner to take the snake off of your hands.

Also if you've really tried all the things people here have suggested in the past week chances are you've been stressing it alot trying to feed it everyday.

[Stewart_Reptiles]

Force-feeding should only be done as a last resort.

Did you made all the necessary changes that were suggested to you and that you seemed to be very reluctant to make in this post http://www.ball-pythons.net/forums/showthread.php?t=47186&page=1&pp=10

Did you switch him to a 6 quarts tub with 2 tight identical hides, water dish, UTH and thermostat?

Do you offer temps gradients of 80-84 on the cool side and 90-94 on the warm side?

Did you get a digital thermometer/hydrometer?

[qiksilver]

why don't you take advice? listen to adam i'm pretty sure he might know a thing or two about ball pythons... maybe just a little. but honestly, stop messin with the poor thing, you're fussing over it like crazy. i have a snake that hasn't eaten since september, no big deal, he's fine. just leave him be for a little (like a week or two ) and then worry about it. a yolk is a marvellous thing because it leaves them full for a while. stop stressing him and he'll be fine, i wouldn't eat if some big creature always stood around prodding me. i know you mean well, but it's just a baby, it's scared, let it relax a bit.