yet another feeding post

[Antonella_M]

my little ball python (6 months) will not eat, he missed almost 3 weeks of feeding, and for that time he looked like he was about to shed (blue eyes) then seemed to have changed his mind. I tried soaking him repeatedly but he looks as shiny as ever, except on of his eyes has cracks. He's crawling around like a maniac, what should I do? should I try the hot water heating, or is he not eating because of the shed, or should I just leave him alone. He's losing weight and I'm losing my mind, help please!

[BallNation]

This may seem harsh put after reading your other post i think you should take your snake back to where you got it. Go buy a book on ball pyhtons go on line and read evrything you can.

And in six months try again.

[Antonella_M]

wow, that's not harsh at all
and I actually got him from a shelter which was going to put him down because he had mites, so I don't think giving him back is a great idea.

just out of curiosity, why such an answer, nobody's allowed to ask questions? not everybody has 10 snakes worth of an experience.

oh I just saw the part about the other post, I didn't think I was doing that bad of a job, what's wrong with curiosity about having more than one snake?

[naba2002]

whats ur warm/cool temps? humid? enough hides? a stressed ball wont eat and thats a fact, check to see if there is anything stressing him/her. and please keep asking questions becuz if we didnt we would have alot more animals suffering....

[Antonella_M]

hi! the temp is 27C I put in a new heating lamp a couple of weeks ago, it raised it from 26, humidity's around 60% , but I keep misting because I think he's shedding. He's had the same shed for a while, and after crawling around the vines and branches for a while he curls up in it for several hours, but then starts exploring and sniffing again, before that was my cue that he's hungry, but now he ignores all of my attempts. I tried twice today, second time heating the head like somebody posted, but he couldn't care less, he started crawling over the tongs until he was fully curled on them and the mouse of which he took no notice. I'll try giving him smaller mice tomorrow, although he's eaten these bigger ones before.

[TanyaL]

my little ball python (6 months) will not eat, he missed almost 3 weeks of feeding, and for that time he looked like he was about to shed (blue eyes) then seemed to have changed his mind.

Can they actually "change their mind"???

or is he not eating because of the shed, or should I just leave him alone. He's losing weight and I'm losing my mind, help please!

Ours will not eat during a shed! Others have suggested to wait a week after a refusal but I don't recall anybody mentioning that they were showing weight loss with refusal.

If you need to take your bp to the vet, there are methods you can use during transport to keep him/her warm enough. When I took mine to the vet, I used a heating pad on the outside of the tub, plugged into an inverter. It took some time to adjust the temps but since I started out in the morning, by time the evening appointment came around, it was good to go. I also took my accurite along to ensure that the heating pad wasn't getting too hot. She curled up in the towel and ejoyed the ride.

Good Luck!

[drugaria]

Did you take care of the mite problem? Typically a stressed snake will curle and hide forever somewhere in the cage, but if you are saying that it was about to sched and then it didn't sched that seems a lot like humidity issue.But than you are saying that you always keep the humidity at 60 %.And that doesn't make any sense because 60% and 27C temperature is the right humidity to get a perfect sched. So I would say take care of the mite problem if haven't done so yet vbecause that may be why it is moving all tha time and let him stay for a week no handling and than try a thawed mouse rinsed with hot water .

[Texas Dan]

Can they actually "change their mind"???



Ours will not eat during a shed! Others have suggested to wait a week after a refusal but I don't recall anybody mentioning that they were showing weight loss with refusal.

If you need to take your bp to the vet, there are methods you can use during transport to keep him/her warm enough. When I took mine to the vet, I used a heating pad on the outside of the tub, plugged into an inverter. It took some time to adjust the temps but since I started out in the morning, by time the evening appointment came around, it was good to go. I also took my accurite along to ensure that the heating pad wasn't getting too hot. She curled up in the towel and ejoyed the ride.

Good Luck!

How far away is your vet? You live in BFE or something?

[Antonella_M]

I live in Toronto, and most of the local vets don't do reptiles, the one that does is about a 45 minute drive...

and of course when I said "changed his mind" I didn't mean it literally, what I mean is that he had all the right steps before, blue eyes, etc. but that was 3 weeks ago, his skin is silky again, only one of his eyes is crusted

still no luck, today tried heating the mice, leaving it in the dark with him, heating it while keeping it dry... no luck.

Could he be sick? His color is fine and he seems very shiny (except his eye), just skinnier than normal, very active too.

[TanyaL]

How far away is your vet? You live in BFE or something?

Was there something wrong with what I said? Does it hurt to be prepared? Or, should I have just thrown her in a pillow case and hoped for the best? I never thougth I would be bashed for being careful. And, for those who can't take their bp's to the vet because of their cold winter temps (as I've heard mentioned), it's a possible solution to a problem.

As it turned out, It was a good thing that I took the extra steps because I had to drop the boys off at church on my way home and since I had about 2 hours to kill, I was glad that I had everything that I did. Because I was prepared, instead of driving 60 miles, I only had to drive 20 miles.

It may sound as if it was a big deal or a lot of trouble, but it wasn't. The inverter is in my truck anyhow, for my laptop. The acurite runs on batteries so all I had to do was pull it out of the tank that she is usually kept in. I plugged the heating pad in that morning, because I had no idea how hot the heating pad gets and I've never used a tub before so I didn't know how quick/slow it would heat. It's better to be safe, than sorry, isn't it??

Plus, the vet's office is usually on the cold side. I had an appointment but there was no telling how long I would be sitting in the waiting room...waiting.

Now, you tell me, was I wrong with what I did?

I will do it again the next time I need to make a trip to the vet.