He wont eat.. what am I missing?

[Sango]

Greetings!
I've gotten myself into a big of a pickle and I want to be 100% positive that my enclosure is right. I've got a baby BP, I bought him two months ago and so far, he has only taken food during that second week. I've had some dealings with snakes that wouldn't eat [a corn] but this guy is starting to worry me. My main concern, is that I've got a trip coming up in Aug that will have me away from him for almost a month. Normally, if I had a trouble with a pet, I would cancel a trip but this time I can't. He will be staying with a friend of mine while I am away and I /need/ to have him eating.

Humidity: 60%
Hot side: low 90's [my temp gun is MIA]
Cool Side: 83f

I did have some trouble with keeping the 'hot side', hot. But I changed some things and now it's at where it should be. I'd give you the exact temp but I can't find my temp gun at the moment so I'm going on where it was at last time I checked. Since I've had him, he has shed once [two weeks ago].

http://i156.photobucket.com/albums/t4/SangoBango/BP.jpg
http://i156.photobucket.com/albums/t...oBango/BP2.jpg

Tomorrow is feeding night so I am really hoping to get him to eat. He has been eating frozen/thawed mice since he was hatched but I am thinking of trying a live prey item. Something small, like a live hopper but I'm not totally sure I should.

Thanks in advance for any help!

[Kagez28]

your digital thermometer needs batteries, and your temp gun is missing. that to me doesn't really sound like be a responsible pet owner. analog (or dial) thermometers can be up to 10 degrees off. i don't know how long your batteries have been dear or you temp gun missing, but temps being off could be why your ball is off feed. if it is too cool they won't eat because they know their food will not digest, and it being too hot is not good either.

i would get to the store and buy some batteries before you post anything more.

[Sango]

Well that was rather insulting considering everything. I've owned reptiles for years now, I've rescued countless reptiles so I /do know/ that the dial gages can be off. I'm not stupid. Next time it might be a good idea to get all the details before you bash someone. I happen to take a /lot/ of pride in the way I treat all my animals. The temp gun has been missing for all of one afternoon and the batteries for my digital died a day ago.

[Kagez28]

i didn't mean to be offensive

if i were in your place i would have changed the batteries right away. temperature is vital to the snake, and not being able to monitor it is in my opinion not taking care of the animal.

you came here for help. i am sure i am not the only one that would have told you you need to ditch the dials and get batteries. temperature being off could be the cause of going off feed. you said you had trouble getting the hot side hot, well how are you heating it? are you using a UTH, if so do you have something monitoring it (thermostat, rheostat)? a UTH can fluctuate in temperature, so just cause it was that temp last time you checked doesn't mean it's that temp now.

check out the care sheet and make sure your husbandry is all up to par. going off feed is most likely caused by husbandry being off.

[JLC]

Is the enclosure in a busy location? Or subject to loud noises (vibrations from speakers or something)?

All other husbandry issues being ruled out...the primary reason why a BP won't eat (especially a young one) is if it is feeling insecure.

Things I would try:

--Make sure the enclosure is in a quiet place away from normal family traffic

--Make sure there are no bright lights shining directly into the enclosure...and that it is subject to a normal day/night cycle. (Any ambient light is plenty...they don't need a "bright sun" to simulate the daytime for them.)

--Take some sheets of newspaper and crumple them up into loosely wadded balls and fill the entire enclosure with them. Not crammed in there...but just loosely filling up the empty space. ... After a week of that, drop a fuzzy mouse in and leave it completely alone overnight. ....check the next morning to see if the mouse was eaten ....if not, remove and try again the next week. If so...continue with the same practice the following week. After a couple successful feedings, you remove the balls of paper one or two at a time after each feeding until the enclosure is eventually empty of them.

I realize this is a long-term solution and you're looking for a "quick fix" before putting the snake in the hands of your friend...but changing homes is only going to add to the stress. If you can enlist your friend's aid in the "newspaper trick" I think it will really help.

[Sango]

I'm deff the kind of person that will run out in the middle of the night if there was something that any one of my reptiles needed, however, this one time I have to wait until tomorrow when I'm paid [1,500 vet bill for dental work on a dog needed to be paid].

I know the gage isn't up to snuff but it was the only thing I had available to use at the time... and just to settle everything, I removed my chameleon's digital to check the snake and he's spot on temps/humidity.

The hot side used to be a problem. It was fixed within the first few days I had the snake, I only mentioned it as a background information.

--

I do have some crumpled newspaper in with him, I just removed it for the pic but I think I'll deff try adding more of it. He's located in my room, away from everyone else and there isn't any light through the window.. so those two things I've ruled out.

Sadly, I know moving him to my friends house isn't going to help the matter. Believe me when I say that I would cancel the trip if I could but the plane tickets can't be transfered. My friend that I'm leaving my BP with has had snakes before so I'm not leaving him in noob hands. I just don't want to leave her with a snake that isn't eating if I can help it, that and this is stressful enough on me not having him eat.

Thanks for your suggestions and help. I just wanted to make sure that I wasn't missing something small.

I do have a quick question, I've used this in getting various other corns to eat for me but I'm wondering if a BP would go for it as well.. Lets say I brained the mouse or cut it enough to spill some blood, do you think that would help encourage him to eat?

[Sango]

Well, I added more newspaper and he ate like a champ. Just figured I would give an update.

[JLC]

Well, I added more newspaper and he ate like a champ. Just figured I would give an update.

Thanks for the update! It's always helpful when others can read that something actually worked. I'm very glad to hear he ate for ya!