3 weeks not eating

[steve42683]

i got my first bp about 3 weeks ago the store said he had been eating f/t adult mice and had eaten the saturday before i bought him, since then he has not eaten it's been three weeks i tried feeding the mon after (he would have been feed that prior saturday but i figured with the stress of a new home i'd give him a few days) i then tried the following week and again today and nothing he seems to hide his face or move to the other side of the tank away from the mouse and to me looks like hes getting skinny any suggestions on what i should do?
the first week i just thawed it b/c thats what the store was doin the next week i thawed the mouse then put it in the sink with fairly warm water

[butters!]

can you get a pic of your setup or describe it accuratly

[steve42683]

http://www.ball-pythons.net/forums/s...ad.php?t=69575 about 3/4 down the page is the most recent but now i have foil around it

[butters!]

nevermind,i looked in your gallery.few suggestions.cover up all the sides except the front with a background or a towel.thats a pretty big tank for a youngster so you might want to crumble up some newspaper and cover alot of that ground space up.and try feeding the snake at night time.some will eat at any time and some like to eat like they would in the wild wich is at night were they can stalk the prey.do you know wat the temps are on the top of the bedding under the hides?i see you have analog thermometers and they are pretty high up in the tank wich does not give you a accurate temp of where the snake will be most of the time.do you feed in the tank or a feeding tub?

[steve42683]

here's a pic of him looking at the mouse and then just moved away into a hide



i have been looking for a digital thermometer as suggestions on here was accurite from walmart and i couldn't find it, so i'm not sure what the bedidng temps are also looking for a point and shoot with instant reading to no avail

[butters!]

i also notice the tank is on the carpet.being on the carpet is bad cause its colder near the ground and hard to keep the temps right.get that tank up on a table,you will need a uth $40,a lamp dimmer for the uth $12 at lowes hardware stores or a thermostat wich are higher priced(lowes also have accurite thermometers wich you will need,the one with a probe)$12.and wat are you doing for heat at night?snakes need a light and dark cycle so if you have a blacklite that would be good for the night time.are you using that light 24 hours a day?that could be another reason your snake will not eat

[steve42683]

i have a CHE and no extra lighting at first i had i bulb in the lamp and was told to get rid of it and put that in should i have just gotten a red bulb for day and blue for night and a UTH and ditch the CHE most pictures i have seen on here just have a single lamp that doesn't appear to emit light and never noticed anything for night and day light so i was relying on the sunlight that came into the room

[butters!]

i think thats wat you should still do.i use blacklites and inferred lights 24 hours a day.neither put off enough light to disrupt the day night cycle.the red lights are better imo cuz you can see more at night when they are active.i only use black lights if the red goes out.che's also drain your tank of humidity

[KCBALLer]

it's good to get all the advice on setting up newbie tanks. the people in this forum are great. but i just wanted to let you know its just normal for it not to eat. especially since it probably hasn't adapted yet to it's new enviroment. i have a male pastel BP who hasn't eaten in 7 weeks and a female pastel who hasn't eaten in five. my cousin (who is a professional breeder) had one go for a year. it just now started eating. its good though to cover all the bases but in the end it might just not eat. good luck

[butters!]

oh,and the sunlight that comes in the room is fine for the day cycle.just dont put the tank where the sun shines directly on the tank.