Feeding Habits of Ball Pythons
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Ball Pythons
Ball pythons are one of the best beginner snakes in the pet trade today. They have earned this title because they are calm and docile with easy husbandry needs, not because of their feeding habits.
Ball pythons are VERY picky eaters. It is very hard to successfully get a ball python to eat F/T mice or F/T rats. But, not impossible. Many petstores feed live mice and rats to their ball pythons, so when you get them home, it become quite a challenge getting them on frozen foods.
I've tried. I've tried many methods. I haven't gotten one to work. I've attempted leaving the frozen mouse in the cage over night, leaving it in his hide over night, covering the cage with towels, and dipping the mouse in tuna juice. The only thing I have not tried is putting the snake and thawed mouse in a pillow case-type bag.
For the past year my ball python has eaten live rats, except the 1 thawed pinkie and 1 thawed mouse that he has recently taken.
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Feeding Ball Pythons
Not just looking at feeding ball pythons from a live or frozen standpoint, in general they are proven finicky feeders. It is not uncommon for a ball python to go without food for over a year. Not because he's not hungry, but it could be due to various reasons.
My ball python decided to go without food for five months this past winter. I had trouble keeping the tank temperatures up high enough for him, so he chose not to eat, which is not uncommon for ball pythons.
The slightest change in temperatures, too hot or too cold, upgrading enclosures, changing habitat decor, or even the placement of the tank, could all upset a ball python into not eating.
Sometimes you have to force feed them to get them started eating again. I have heard of times where a ball python will begin to loose substantial weight, even after just six months of not eating. And, a veterinarian told the customer to begin force feeding. In some cases, force feeding is the only option to getting a ball python to eat, but should NOT be attempted unless you know what you're doing. Force feeding a snake is not the best option, but if the snake starts to lose weight, and still refuses to eat, it may be something that you want to consider. It's best that you use smaller F/T than the snake could actually eat; it'll be easier for you to get it down the snake.
You can, also, look at what you're feeding him. If he's used to eating frozen and stops eating, you could try feeding him fresh killed. This way, the rat or mouse is still naturally hot, but it's dead or at least stunned so that it won't hurt the snake. This is a much better option than going straight to live when the snake starts to give you trouble eating, as in most cases the rat will still twitch and appear live to some extent.
I would wait several months before attempting live, and not do so until you've tried every option possible. Remember that it is VERY hard to get a ball python, much less any snake, to go back to frozen feeders after they have had a live feeder, so if your goal is to feed F/T, then I wouldn't suggest even trying live.
Before trying fresh killed or live, you can try dipping the F/T in tuna juice or even chicken broth (tuna juice works better), patting the F/T so that doesn't drip juice, and then offering it to the snake. In many cases, this is a good way to get the snake to start eating. Once the snake is eating regularly, you can start thawing out the frozen feeder regularly without the juice.
You can also bust the head of the F/T open after thawing so that it has the brainy smell. This may not be the most pleasant method, but it works in most cases.
Sometimes, ball pythons can get even more picky than frozen versus live. Sometimes, they will only take one color mouse or rat, if that's what they're used to. I've even heard it so bad, that a particular ball python would only eat white, female rats. It would NOT eat a male rat.
The biggest thing that you, or any ball python owner, must figure out, is your pet snake's tastes. I know it sounds funny, but some times that's the case.
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Comments
i recntly bought a 3ft ball python from my teacher and he hasent eaten in a month and a half is there any advice u can give tohelp him be less stressed
Mychal, a month and a half isn't anythign to worry about. What was he eating before- frozen or live? Stick with that. Sounds like it's either a full grown male at around 2 plus years or a growing female. So you shouldn't have anything to worry about. They can go over 6 months without eating and not have any health effects, and it's not uncommon for them to go over a year without eating.
As the season is a chilly one, he could be feeling the change in season. Even if your enclosure temps are correct (90F), the season could be affecting the feeding strike. My 2 yr old hasn't fed in over 6 months bc of the season, and that's not for lack of trying.
Also, yout purchased him. Make the enclosure as similar to his last one. But, in many cases the change alone will upset them. When putting my 2 year old into a 29gal from his 10gal, he quit eating for several months.
Just bare with it. You've chosen a ball python, just something you have to deal with at this point. They're well known picky eaters. It sucks. It's the one thing I hate about the species.
My ball python is 3' feet long and eats like a pig! It eats 2 medium rats every two weeks and still hungry. I don't know if I am feeding him too much or he just eats alot.
MY BALL WAS A HATCHLING WHEN MY BOYFRIEND AND I BOUGHT HIM ABOUT TWO MONTHS AGO, HE WAS CAPTIVE BRED AND HAD BEEN EATING REGULARLY AT THE PET STORE.. HE ATE THREE FUZZIES (PREKILLED) ONCE WE GOT HIM HOME AND JUST UNDERWENT HIS FIRST SHED AND HAS NOT EATEN IN OVER TWO WEEKS.. FROM WHAT I HAVE READ I SEEM TO BE OVER REACTING BUT HE LOOKS AND FEELS SKINNIER THAN WHEN BEFORE. ANY ADVICE?
Joker- I would personally stick with one medium rat or 1 large rat. Make sure that the rat isn't bigger than the widest portion of the snake.
Jessie- You're worried for nothing. He may feel skinnier, but in order to tell if he really is, you'd need to weight him, and keep up-to-date weights on the snake. 2 weeks isn't really that big of a deal. I would watch him. I wouldn't say it' hatchling if it's eating fuzzies by any means, but in any sense, just keep trying on the regular day that he normally is supposed to eat. Because he's young, if he doesn't eat after 6 weeks, you'll need to find someone, preferrably a vet, to show you have to force feed the snake. If he's already eating prekill, frozen feeders, don't go live on him. Ball pythons are very sensitive snakes, and you have just changed the environment that he was used to. It's going to take time for him to adjust.
I just got a ball python about 5weeks ago and it's about 16inches long. i still have not been able to get him to eat. I have tried very small pre killed mice and even some very small live mice. It shows no sign of hunger. I know adults can go a good while without food but im worries because he is so small if I should do something. Cause he needs to eat to grow. I have only seen VERY little weight loss.
Scott- ball pythons get stressed easily and quickly. Moving to a new enclosure is a big change in a snake's life, and can create stress concerns. If you notice weight loss, you may consider force feeding a small thawed pinkie or fuzzy. Otherwise, let it be. For the most part, he'll eat when he's ready.
Make sure the temps are accurate, as well, because improper temps can cause a reptile not to eat.
my ball pythons havent eaten in 3 months. i have been feeding them frozen mice for about a year now and then all of a sudden they have just stopped eating. i tried to feed them a live mouse the other day and they were not interested in it at all. are they hybernating or sick? what should i try and do? and what is force feeding?
morgan, because the weather is getting warm, I wouldn't think that it's hybernating, but if there has been a drop in weather in your area, it's possible. 3 months is nothing to worry about, as they can go over 6 months without worry. My adult male went about 8 months without eating this winter. As long as there is not drastic weight loss, there's nothing to worry. Just stick with the frozen mice. Try every other week, so that you don't waste them.
i bought my snake about a month ago she is about 2 years old and the pet store didnt know the last time she ate , we have left her in her cage since we had her and take her out on occasion so she can get used to her new habbitiat, i know they only go up to 6 months without eating but i dont know the last time she ate and im worried. any help?
They can go longer than 6 months. Much longer. I've heard of snakes going nearly 1 year without eating. But, usually a vet will tell you to attempt force feeding if you notice weight loss. You may consider taking a small frozen mouse (thawed), and holding her right behind her jaws. Her jaws will open up; just put the mouse in her mouth. If she wants it she'll take it, otherwise, she won't bother and will fight you. If she really begins to loose weight consider taking her to a vet, as it could be parasites, impaction, or anyother health concern. You may have to force feed smaller prey such as fuzzies, which will be easier to force down. But consult a vet before you do this.
Excellent article, if anyone has tried a couple methods still to no avail get a long set of tongs, dangle the rat, and if necessary GENTLY tap the nose.
I have had experiences with a couple ball pythons now, and only had an issue with two of the five not eating frozen mice. However, I've found by dangling the mice from a pair of long tongs, and then gently tapping the nose, usually gets them to chow down. Both of the picky eaters have been converted to frozen rats this way, although I do have to feed one with the tongs every occasion although it is no longer necessary for me to tap the rat on his nose... he sees it dangling and comes runnin! (Okay... slitherin')
It took me a while to get my ball python eating frozen feeders. I still have a few problems with him, but for the most part if I know he's hungry but is still refusing the frozen rat, I can put the head in his mouth, and he immediately takes it. Granted that's not always the case, but it works most of the times.
I'm used to fussy snakes! My female Corn snake decided to go without food for about 3 months when I first got her, after taking 2 like a lamb at first. Now, she'll eat fine, except when shedding, then she'll leave it for her brother to have instead.
Ravyn, corn snakes are nothing compared to BPs, when you change to a new enclosure, they tend to stop eating. When you move the enclosure to a different spot, they may stop eating. Sometimes they refuse a different color mouse/rat. I've known people where their BP refuses any rat that's not a white female; it even refuses white males.
I bought a ball python 3 months ago, and he didn't want to eat at first. I found that thawing them in HOT water for about 15 minutes followed by kind of a puppet show with some long tongs....they rarely last more then a few seconds and the only time he hasn't eaten is when he's about to shed. He's about 20 inches and I feed him a small mouse every 4-5 days. I visited PetSmart where I bought him and found he's siblings to be much fatter then him, so I asked how often they feed him and they said every 3-4 days but each feeding they feed them multiple mice until they stop eating. I was told by another pet store that that is not a good idea and can lead to digestive issues.
Because pet stores get snakes in all the time, you can't be guaranteed that those are your snake's clutchmates. But you never know, they may be. Stick with what you're doing. One mouse once a week for his size seems right. When he gets bigger you can do 2 a feeding. You actually may be able to pull off 2 a feeding now, depending on the girth of the snake.
Whitney,
I am reading all of your responses because I am having the same problem as others with my new BP. I am not worried yet, thanks to all of your responses, but I was told that my snake is really young and small compared to most seen in pet stores. Some that see her say that they can't believe a breeder would ship it so small because it is so hard to get them to eat if it is put in a pet store too soon.
My question is...if force feeding does become nessecary in the future, what do you do after you get the pinky into its mouth? Can you please explain the professional step by step method of getting it to consume what you are forcing without damaging or hurting the snake's mouth and throat?
Thanks!
Usually reputable breeders wait until a snake eats at least 3 successful meals. Because you got the snake at a pet store, it came from a wholesale company and not a breeder, more than likely, which means that this feeding strengent is not guaranteed by any means. Having worked at a pet store before, I've only met a few ball pythons that would eat on their own, even thought the wholesale company supposidely guaranteed that they ahd been fed 3 successfull frozen meals.
That said, because it is a ball python, I wouldn't worry because they stress very easily, and if the snake is a young as you say, he's by far definitely stressed being shipped to the pet store and then rearranged again at you house. So, ave him alone. Don't play with him, don't touch him. Just ensure that he has water. Give him a week before you try to feed him or before you try again.
More than likely the snake is able to eat fuzzies, but pinkies are much easier to force feed. Don't forcefeed until the snake starts to loose weight. You may need to invest in a scale that reads grams ort even ounces will do. But because the snake is small, you'll need something that will better weigh the snake so you can accurately tell whether it's loosing weight or not.
Before you opt to forcefeed, you'll want to give the snake at least 2-3 tries at feeding on his own. Try leaving a VERY, VERY hot pinkie in a small kritter keeper or container with the snake for at least 30 minutes. That will give the snake the opportunity to eat it on its own. If that doesn't work, you can try wriggling the pinkie with a pair of tongs or tweezers. Try both of these methods a few times. You can also use the tongs and gently tap the snakes nose with the pinkie.
If you have to end up force feeding, you'll want to really consult a vet first to eliminate the possible threat of parasites. A reputable reptiel vet can also give you hands on pointers to forcefeeding.
But, doing it at home, gently grab the snake by the back of its head, squeeze just a little and his jaws should open up. Use the tongs and put the pinkie in the snake's mouth. You can use your fingers if you're more comfortable that way. Give the snake the chance to take the pinkie from that point (sometimes once it's in their mouth they'll start feeding on their own), but if he tries to spit it out, you can use the tongs and just GENTLY push the pinkie down his mouth. And that's basically it. Just be VERY, VERY gentle when pushing the pinkie. When I've had to do it in the past, I've found I'm more comfortable using my fingers so I can better tell what I'm doing. You may have to close his mouth once you get the pinkie down far enough.
Thanks Whitney. I will follow these instructions. The pet store manager and I are good friends. She told me this python and two other babies were shipped together from some breeder in Atlanta that they use. She said they always get them from there but for some reason, these were the smallest she had ever gotten. She looks real healthy and has awesome coloring. When I bought her they were just walking back in the door from taking her to the vet. She got checked for mites and was probed and sexed. They said something about an antibiotic shot was given? She certainly didn't feel well after the vet and laid her head in my hand for a long time. I worried about it but bought her anyway. She wouldn't go to anyone except me after that. (That could be in our heads but that is how she acted...lol)
After leaving her alone in her new 30gal tank for a few days, she has become not shy to roam around the tank during the day. I have gotten her out a few times and walked around with her outside or put her under the blanket with me while watching TV and she seems fine. Loves to be cozied in a warm place of course.
But if you think I should stop handling her for a while, I will. It is my understanding that these pythons get alot more stressed than people think and it is hard to see symptoms. Maybe in a couple more weeks, I will try to feed her again in her little 10gal tank and see how it goes. Force feeding is a FINAL option for me. I do not want to do that if I don't have to. Thanks for all of your help!!! I really appreciate it!
cb
Sorry to write again. I forgot to mention to you that my friend at the pet store said she had gotten her to eat hoppers twice, in the month it had been there, but no luck at all with frozen pinkies. I am not a fan of the frozen food anyway. Just wanted to let you know it supposedly ate at the store...
Thanks Again!
cavebuddy, frozen is the BEST way to feed the snake. At this current size, live isn't a problem, but when the snake is bigger and can eat medium to large size rats, you risk serious injury. If you start the snake on live now you'll have a hard time getting it on frozen. Stick with it. It's best for hte snake. Sorry to hear you don't like frozen prey, but it's the best option. oR you risk physical injury to the snake. And then you risk infection, which is another vet visit for medications.
You should never handle a snake for at least 7 days after bringing it home. It's the best way to acclimate it to its new home to help minimize stress. Because you've been handling the snake, you've caused more stress than just bringing it home initially. Also, a 29 gallon (or 30, it's essentially the same size) is a little big for a baby snake. They can get severely stressed in larger enclosures. A 10 gallon would be perfect for the snake until it is about 20 inches long and 1-1/2 to 2 inches thick. Give or take, of course. Then you would upgrade to the 29 gallon tank. You'll need a larger tank when the snake is full grown, since it's been probed and determined female.
Force feeding is usually the last option for people as it will stress out the snake more than regular feeding. Give the snake 1 full week without you handling it and then try to feed it again.
And yes the snake coming to you alone after the 1st visit is in your head. Snake's aren't like dogs. You may have more body heat which is what the snake would be attracted to. Check the temps in the enclosure and make sure that the snake is getting appropriate temperatures on the bottom of the tank. Use a digital thermometer with a probe for like 10 bucks for the best thermometer.
i bought my ball python about 6months ago and it still hasnt eaten and it is getting really really thin. How do you force feed snakes??
6 months... It's time to see a reptile vet. You should do that before attemptingto force feed. The snake may have parasites or another illness. I don't know the age or size of the snake, but if you got the snake as a baby, then 6 months is WAY too long to have waited. You need to see a reptile vet since you say the snake is getting really thin. There may be something else wrong with it.
Thanks for all your advice. Isabella is doing great! She is eating good now and looks really healthy. I believe she will be fine.
I work in the reptile dept. of a pet store, and our last reptile shipment, we had ordered 4 normal BP's, but they accidently shipped out a lemon pastel along with them. So I set him aside for a couple weeks to make sure he was ok, and I took him home. Unfortuanatly, most of our snakes eat on sat. mornings, when I don't work, and the people I work with are very bad at record keeping. And of corse, he doesn't remember what he ate or even IF he ate. And I have no idea when he shed last, although he's starting to look a little on the dry side despite daily misting, so perhaps it will be soon.
I've had him for about 2 weeks now, I tried feeding him a F/T fuzzy after a week in his new home, with no success. I'm considering just waiting a couple weeks and trying again. After that, if he still won't eat it, maybe I'll try fresh killed. I know they can go quite a while without eating, but he's a baby, maybe 18 in. I'm just worried because I have no idea when his last meal was. He looks pretty healthy though, and he's very active. Do you think I should worry now or later?
hi i just baught i a ball python he is 2 months old i feed him a pinky once every 5 days and he seems to be hungry do i still feed him evry 5 days it would be great to get some feed back thanks......
cruxchic, You should be able to easily forcefeed a pinkie. Babies, especially from pet stores get very stressed out. You have to remember that he was shipped to a pet store from a wholesale company (more than likely, unless the pet store gets its animals from local breeders), and then it sat there for a few weeks, getting acclimated, and was then taken to a 3rd setting. Give him some time. You shouldn't have messes with the snake for 1 full week after you brought it home much less after it arrived to the pet store. At this point give the snake say 2 weeks before trying to feed again; by this time he should be really hungry and more succeptible to feeding. Put a steaming hot pinkie in a mini keeper with the snake and leave him be for while. See if he eats it on his own. The pinkie should be so hot that it steams up part of the keeper. If he doesn't eat it in say 30 minutes, force feed it. Then work up to fuzzies; the snake shound be able to eat fuzzies at its size, but since it's having feeding problems start with pinkies. Throw away any F/T feeders after thawing once.
Martino, you can probaby feed him fuzzies. Ball pythons don't feed on pinkies for long. Move up to a fuzzy mouse and stick with once a week feeding.
I have a adult BP probably 6 years old. It is now June and she has not eaten since December. She normally eats live rats but every time I attempt, she seems interested but then jerks back and looks afraid. Today, I tried for the first time in a month. She attacked twice and then lost interest. I am getting tired of buying rats and mice for her not to eat. Any answers? Someone said it could be mouth rot.
It it was mouth rot, you would notice it. She could still be acclimating from the time change.
Also, consider feeding frozen. It's safer. Plus, if you notice that the snake is lossing weight, you could purchase a frozen mouse, thaw it, and put the head in her mouth. She should just take it. If she absolutely refuses you could try to force feed, but I wouldn't go to that extreme unless you notice visible weight loss.
Check this out ab common health problems with pet snakes. I will give you tips as to whether or not your snake has mouth rot. http://hubpages.com/_reptiles/hub/Common-Health-Pr
Also, you may consider taking the snake to a vet, especially if she doesn't take the frozen mouse when you put the head in her mouth and if she's losing weight. Throw away any frozen feeders that aren't eaten. They
aren't good after you thaw them out the first time.
I just recently bought a female ball py. I knew knew nothing about them other than they were a very safe and popular snake. Your site gave me a lot of informatio that I couldn't find on others.
Thank you
My BP~Sasha, a three year old female, in the past has been eating 3-4 adult mice every two weeks. Than I read an article that suggested that I feed her more. So in May I started offering her 4-5 adult mice a week. She takes them all, and continues to act starved. (Striking at the glass when she sees anyones shadow, or reflection) She has gained major girth in the month and a half I have done this. Is it harmfull to feed her this much? When you read info. on feeding, I find there is never one answer. Is there an answer for my Sasha? Also, when should I move up to rats? And are there different sized rats to choose from like there are mice?
You could have moved up to small rats about 1.5 years ago, give or take the females girth. You can feed a snake any prey item that is no larger than the girth of the snake's body. And, yes you can over feed a snake. 3-4 mice every 2 weeks was probably fine. You could try a small or medium rat instead.
my two year old male has not eaten in about 7 months. Nothing has changed in his enclosure and I have tried changing his food choices in the last couple months. I have not however tried frozen mice since he has always eaten live rats or mice. I am thoroughly out of ideas short of force feeding. I would rather not go that route. Is there any other ideas out there.
Definitely try frozen before you try to force feed. It's better for him anyway. Check the temperatures in his tank, they may be a tad low or something causing him to not pull out of winter mode.
Hi Whitney,
I have read that BP's are fed anywhere from 10% - 25% of their body weight every 7 - 10 days by people who know things about BP's, with 10%, 10 days being on the lowest end, and 25%, 7 days being on the very aggressive side. I decided that 18% every 7-10 days seems reasonable.
My BP is 3 years old, 3' long and 783 grams. Based on my math, I'm going for approx. 141 grams. Researching online tells me that adult mice are 20 - 25 grams, which puts me at feeding it 5 - 7 mice every 7 - 10 days. Does this seem reasonable to you? I can't seem to get hold of rats from my pet store. I've just done this math today. Until now I've been feeding 3 adult mice every 7 days, and my BP seems ravenous for more, which is what led me to do the math.....
Thoughts?
Another question in case I manage to get a rat, and then on a subsequent week can't: Do you see any issue with switching back and forth between rats and mice? My BP does not appear to be a very finicky eater at all.
Thanks!
I've never heard of those percentages. I've always just kept with the size of the feeder being the no larger than the girth of the snake. I stick with medium to small rats for adult snakes. But, then I feed frozen. If you feed live, you'll probably want to stick with mice as they pose a lesser threat to your snake.
You may have a problem switching back and forth, but your could try it. I mean I've known people with snakes who only eat certain color, sex, and size rat and nothing else, so in that case switching wouldn't work, but you could try it.
I have yet to have a Ball Python that will not eat refuse an African Soft Fur Rat. The only problem with feeding the ASFR is that they tend to not want to eat anything other than ASFR.
Hm. I've never tried ASFR, but since it seems to be addicting like waxworms for geckos and lizards, it's probably something I wouldn't want to try.
We use them here only with Ball Pythons that refuse to eat and are losing a considerable amount of weight. Since ASFR are native to the Ball Pythons' regions in Africa and are a natural food source for Ball Pythons they seem to feel at home with this type of prey. Even captive born Ball Pythons seem to possess the natural prey drive to eat something they have never encountered in the wild. ASFR are very easy to breed like mice and tend to live in colonies. If you do not have the ability to breed ASFR you can keep a dead one in the freezer and rub the scent on a mouse which, in my case, has had a 70% rate to get your Ball Python to eat a mouse.
That's an interesting tip. I've never heard that one. I've only heard using tuna juice or chicken broth and drying out the frozen mouse.
Hi Whitney,
First go around with a rat didn't go very well. The snake seemed not at all interested, and initially a bit scared. Do you think it's okay to let him go another week and try again (he last ate a week ago).
He may not want to eat rats, since you've been feeding mice for so long. It would be fine to wait a week. They don't necessarily have to be fed weekly once their older, so he should be fine waiting another week. Also, did you try a small rat to start or did you go for the larger one? You may consider trying a smal rat and moving up, if you're wanting to feed medium rats.
Check the Link on the first post from me to you earlier today (technically yesterday, depending on where on earth you are) and you'll see the rat. But to answer your questions technically - it was 73 grams. The snake is over 780 grams so it's less than 10% of the body weight and definitely not any bigger than the biggest part of the snake.
Anyway - we're now caring for a couple of rats. My kids named them, so I hope when feeding time comes around nobody will be too attached to the food.
Sorry I didn't notice that your name was a link. You could probably feed him a little a larger, but definitely make sure he's eating the smalls first. Could be the color or the fact that he's used to mice. What color mice do you normally feed? Sometimes that can affect what they eat, especially if they get used to only white or only black.
So I've had my ball for a few weeks and the day I bought it, unsexxed and "captive bred" I'd been told they'd fed it that morning. The habbitat has under gone a significant change from 5 gals to 35 gals but the bedding and hide are the same I don't feed it in it's habitat and I've done exactly what the pet store did but it still wont eat I know some snakes have gone up to and over a year with out eating but this one is young it's about 17 inches long and weighs 1.9 ounces. I'm not worried yet but I'd like some tips as to how to get this darn finicky thing to friggin eat!
If it comes down to it, try frozen pinkies, force feeding it. Put the snake in a small container with a steaming hot pinkie or fuzzy, and give it about 30 minutes to see if it'll eat on its own, otherwise, you'll have to try to force feed. But don't go that route unless you notice weight loss. BPs are very stubborn feeders, and since you just got it a few weeks ago, it may take a little bit. Although, usually it only takea a week or two to get adjusted. Just watch the weight.
i'm new to having snakes as pet.
is there any other food i can feed a python hatchlings other than pinkies?
like small frogs or criket or worms?
Nope. BP's aren't going to eat crickets, and you shouldn't feed frogs. Stick with pinkies and fuzzies.
http://bp0.blogger.com/_60fQBFYjJHM/SG4xVBkI3zI/AA
what type of snake is it? is it a python?
It looks like it's a colubrid, but it's hard to tell from the picture. Why?
i caught it at a carpark staircase. as it's quite skinny but lengthy. i do not know what to feed it. mice seems too big for it to eat.
btw it's around 1.7ft long.
http://bp1.blogger.com/_60fQBFYjJHM/SG5mvPY1EOI/AA
http://bp0.blogger.com/_60fQBFYjJHM/SG5mvArMuRI/AA
i hope these pictures help.
Jean, if it's a wild caught snake, you need to release it. In many states, it's illegal to keep wild caught animals as pets. Plus, you don't know if it has any parasites or diseases. It's more than likely a corn snake or some other kind of colubrid; I will note the tail is throwing me off a bit as it's rather long and thin. It's definitely not a python. If I knew where you lived, the state, I may be able to help further ID-ing the snake, but please just release it back where you found it.
I just bought a Ball Python a few weeks ago. It's just over a footlong, and was larger than the others there. I bought it at a regular PetSmart, and it looked like it had just eated, or is just generally a really wide snake. I was told to feed (frozen food) it in about a week, and to try either 'jumper' mce which are similar to the fuzzies, or adult mice. I tried both and I've done everything, even split the mouse's skull open. Currently a fuzzy it sitting in the feeding cage with it and has been there since 9 this morning. I move him into a separate feeding cage every time I attemp to feed him. Could this be why? I was told not to feed in the same cage because they can mistake a human hand for lunch... He is not interested in the mice what so ever. He moves away from them and tries to climb out of the cage. He is a huge sweet heart and has never struck at me. Oh and he yawns when I put the mouse in with him. Boredom? I do not know. Any suggestions??
It's a young snake, and you just got it a few weeks ago. Let it sit and leave it alone for a while. Moving him to a separate enclosure isn't going to affect it's eating. Some snakes get stresses out by it, but typically it shouldn't cause a problem. What you heard about not feeding it in the same cage is a myth.
Ok so I'm going up north tomorrow untill Monday. I wont have him with me and no one else holds him or anything, so should I just try again when I get back?
Also there is no feces inside his enclosure. I searched and search, yet I see none. I was wondering if maybe he DID eat at the pet store and his motabolizim is slow and now he's constipated? I don't know how common that is or not, or if he just isn't 'going' because he hasn't had anything to eat.
I would just wait and try when you get back. If he did eat, he should have passed it within a week. He may be constipated or he may not have eaten. Try soaking him in warm water.
I just got back and I moved him into the different cage to feed him and he was completely uninterested. So I moved him back into his cage and placed the mouse on tope for a half log he llikes to sit on with all the lights off. He is a lot more interested in it now. He keeps yawning when he is by it. Is there a reason for this?
He may just like to eat in private. It's not uncommon for BP's to wait until everyone is sleeping to eat the thawed mouse. I had a friend who's adults would eat during the night. She would put the thaw small rat at the front of the main hide of each cage, and during the night the snake would eat it. But don't do this if you're using a loose substrate like aspen.
I'm using aspen that's why I put it on top of the log instead of inside the log. I'm going to try dangling the mouse in front of him in his cage, but if that doesn't work, then I don't know what will. I don't know how to force feed, nor does it sound very appealing, and I cannot feed live mice, my mom would have a fit because then when it's older I will have to feed live rats and such and she doesn't like that idea to much. But thank you for the ideas.
Hm.. Have you tried dipping the mouse in tuna juice and drying it? Sometimes that will entice them to eat. Unfortunately BPs are the worst feeders and are easily stressed. Good luck. Force feeding may be the last option to consider.
I will try tuna juice. Hopefully this works!! Thanks.
I'd give it a few days. If you try every day, you may stress out the little guy. Let me know if it works.
I'd give it a few days. If you try every day, you may stress out the little guy. Let me know if it works.
Well I tried again today, this time in his cage and he didn't want anything to do with it. There are still no feces in his cage and I just soaked him in warm water after I tried feeding him. I will wait again until next week to try. Do you think I should leave the light off of his cage for a few days? It's not a heat source so I didn't know if it will affect him or not. Also suppose he doesn't eat for awhile and hasn't eaten at all in his life, how long of a time span should pass until I should be concerned? I got him on July 6th and he hasn't eaten since I got him and I don't know if he ate before that or not... Sorry it gets frusturating but I'm just worried he won't eat, and I don't want to give him up because he is such a sweet heart!!
You can leave the light off as long as you have the UTH, but I don't think that will affect the snakes feeding habits. The light really just set the day/night scenario. You really shouldn't get too concerned until the snake starts to loose weight. You may want to consider a vet to rule out parasites, as that can be a cause for a snake to not eat. But re than likely it's just caused by the snake being a ball python...
I recently tried feeding him a thawd mouse that I let sit in some dirty gerble bedding and he was definitally more interested in it but still didn't eat. I think I'm going to try that soon again. Also I have been soaking him in warm water in case of constipation. I have now noticed that there are dry patches around his face. The rest of the body looks shiny and healthy but his head appears really dry. I've been misting the cage daily but it doesn't seem to help... Any idea what this could be?
I wouldn't mist the cage, but instead add a larger water bowl. The dry areas are probab areas where the skin didn't fully come off with the snake's last shed. Also, if you are letting it sit in gerbil waste, make sure that you get any waste and beding off the mouse before you try to feed it to the snake. Try tuna juice as well.
I only misted the cage to rise the humidity level because our air in our house is rather dry. The water bowl is big he does soak himself in it every now and then. I'm going to be getting a larger cage because he has been nosing the top of this one and the cover doesn't fit right and I don't want an excaped snake! The gerbil bedding I am using has no waste in it but it smells like gerbil. The tuna juice didn't work when I tried it and I ran out of tuna to use. I make sure to remove the bedding also. When I move to a bigger cage should I use a different type of bedding? Right now I'm using aspen shavings and I know that it can be harmful to them if they swallow it. Is there any type of bedding that would be good to use that will allow me to leave the thawd mouse in there over night? Also there is no waste in the cage still and he hasn't shed the entire time I've had him... Hmmm ball pythons! Frusturating animals but I love them!
You can use reptile carpet or paper towels, which would allow you to leave the thawed mouse in the cage overnight. You may want to consider cage clamps to prevent the snake from escaping. For te most part the snake will always be able to touch the top unless you buy a really tall tank, but they need more length than height.
Well he ate!!! I left the mouse in his feeding cage over night and it was still there this morning. I opened his jaws by hand and he didn't really care and I placed the mouse in his mouth. The first time he spit it out then the second time he took his time and ate it. I now moved him back into his other cage and he drank so I'm pretty excited that he ate. Now should I try again in a week? I'm hoping he knows now that the mice are food!!
That's good sometimes it just takes a minute to get them started. Hopefully he will start eating soon. Yes try once a week.
I have a ball python that I bought from a guy who couldn't keep him anymore. (I got a 40 gallon tank, furnishings and the snake for 80 dollars.... the snake is healthy and eating well too.) He's about 20" long. However, I don't know how old he is. I'm guessing he's pretty young... maybe a year old? I have no way of telling.
How often should I feed him?
Also is there a chart somewhere about figuring size/age of a ball python if fed correctly. I haven't been able to find anything. Also it would be nice to have such like girth of the snake v. what to feed them in a rough chart... which I also can't find. Especially for those who don't know the lingo.
Also I think it's worth mentioning that buying ball pythons from pet stores run the risk of the ball python getting BID Boid Inclusion Disease. It's a horrid way to lose a snake. At a large chain pet store I saw some ball pythons with mites that seemed to have signs of this disease...But then that pet store put the vents so that mites could crawl through them from one enclosure to the next. Rather sad thinking some unwitting fellow would buy a snake from that store and find the snake dead in 6 months... Even without mites you can spread this disease. Thought it might be good to mention that.
a 40 gallon tank is a little too big for a 20" snake. you may conside blocking off part of the tank. you want to feed it at least once a week until it's a little older. When the snake starts refusing to feed weekly, you know that it is ready for every other week or so. ball pythons grow at different rates, so it will be very hard to determine the actual age of the snake. I wouldn't say a year old by any means, but you won't really be able to estimate it. I mean females are typically larger than males, and the growth rates will vary per sex and per individual snake.
You can incounter snakes with BID with breeders as well as pet store.
There's really no need to mention that in a page about feeding; it would be better placed in a care sheet page.
Hi, I have recently bout a ball python that is maybe 14-16 inches long and I have a few questions. I hope someone can help because it is my first reptilian pet and everyone I live with is terrified of it so I am the only one taking care of it.
1. How old would she be if she is 14-16 inches?
2. What and how much should I feed the snake?
I have had her for 2 nights now and she has already shed and eaten 1 hopper. I was told to feed her once a week with one hopper. But I don't know if he gave me a baby hopper or what. It was tiny and pink and the mom and dad were bigger and white. Oh and I call "it" her because I am hoping it is so I can balance the male to female ratio in my home lol
The age will vary on the sex of the snake, as females grow faster than males. Plus, it will vary upon snake, no two snakes have the same growth rate. I cannot give you an exact age.
You want to feed the snake once a week. Frozen food that is no larger than the widest part of hte snake's body. Hoppers are hoppers; there is no such thing as a baby hopper or an adult hopper. If the hopper was pink, it was a pinkie and not a hopper. More than likely you can feed fuzzies. You don't want to go too small or too large. Just remember no larger than the widest girth of the snake.
Remember females can get up to 6 feet, so don't wish too hard it's a female unless you really want a bigger snake.
i got really lucky with my bp.as soon as i brought him home[about 2 mnths old] he settled right in.started feeding him frozen after he was fed live in the store.now every week i put a thawed adult mouse on a piece of cardboard in the cool end of his tank.within a minute everytime he is out of his hidebox sniffing.i actually think he looks out at me to thank me!i actually had a 6 foot brazillian boa for near 2 years who bit me so many times i simply traded it for my bp.happiest snake ive ever owned.loves chillin on my bed and knows when its time to go back to his crib!
My boyfriend and I have recently got a bp. that is about 18 inches long now. We have had him for about a month and a half now. I am by far an expert on snakes or any reptile for that matter. We started out feeding him once a week. (Every 7 days) Around the 4th and 5th day after he would eat you could tell in his behavior that he was hungry again, so we started feeding him every 5 days. I mean within a minute of a mouse being in his tank its dead. He thinks that we should start feeding it two small mice every 5 days. I personally think that is a little too much for a snake that is only 18 inches long! Can you overfeed a snake? Or is ours just a pig?
Yes you can overfeed a snake. You want to stick with every 5-7 days and no more. It can cause health and growth concerns if the snake grows too fast in a short period of time.
Hey I own a ball python and it has been with me for the past year, he is about three feet and he looks like hes going to shed, his underbelly is cream colored and his eyes are turning kinda blue. Last week i tried feeding him a thawed mouse and he snapped once then refused. I tried more than 3 times, and he kept refusing. its been 2 weeks and i tried again and he refused again, he didnt even snap first, he seemed uninterested. so yeah, im trying everyweek but am wasting the mice, i dont know what to do because i dont want to pay and waste the mice away, theyre pretty expensive. any advice on what to do?
I would give it a few weeks after the snake has shed and then try again. Becuase it is getting a chilled, the snake may be feeling the weather change. My BP does it every year even though his tank temps are spot on. If the snake still does not eat, try again a few weeks later. Give the snake time to get hungry, so to speak.
So I took over taking care of the sweetest BP in the world, (opinion, of course), from a friend who couldn't care for her any longer. Envy is at least 2 years old, maybe older, and I've had her for a month now. When I got her, they told me to feed her just two mice, (she's on live) every three weeks. However, I thought that wasn't enough, so i've been feeding her 3 med. sized mice every 10-14 days...see,she's been through a lot & probably should of died. The person who had her before my friend got her as a baby & didn't even have a heat lamp, so she had to be without one for months during the winter, suffice to say, I believe her head is a bit too small. However, she is now over 2 ft. long & really needs to eat more, after about a week I can see that she is starting to get hungry again. I want to start her on a rat, but my dilema is that I doubt she will switch to frozen & I am afraid that the rat might hurt her. She isn't much of a killer, and sometimes when I watch her feed & the way she strikes sometimes leaves the mouse's hind legs to scratch at her face. To be honest, it took her a while to figure out how to eat right, sometimes Envy used to try to eat the snake backward, but then would spit it back out & re-arrange it. She has gotten much better, but I'm not sure if she can deal with a rat. Plus, her head is small compared to her body so I'm not even sure if she could get it down. I was thinking of moving up to 4 every 2 wks., but was told that would take too much energy for her to kill them. Then I thought, what if I fed her every week? I realize that at some point she'll have to switch to larger prey, but how do I know when? And is there any precations I should take when first introducing her to a rat? How do I know when to move her up to two rats?? Does it have something to do with her lenth or her girth? All I know is this girl is hungry & I don't know what to do! I don't want her to get her eye scratched out by an aggressive rat! If you have any advice, please help!!! Thanks so much!
If the snake is two years old and only just over 2 feet, it's probably a male and not a female. As for feeding the snake, you want to go no larger than the widest girth of the snake's body. I've done three mice at a time before, and my male hasn't had any problems in terms of energy, but yes it can be energy consuming on the snake. The head of the snake has nothing to do with what size you can feed, as their jaws separate into like 6 pieces in order to get the prey down. Just make sure to go no larger than the widest girth of the snake. As for bumping her to rats; you're probably best keeping with the mice if she's a slow killer. You may have more harm done to her by switching, unless you can try frozen. You don't know if she'll take it unless you try, and try more than once. Since she is a slow killer the frozen may be better for her even in terms of mice, even. You can feed her once a week probably two mice and she should be fine. Generally, if you're feeding rats, the snake won't need to eat two.
I can't get my snake to eat.its been three weeks.i've gotten him to eat once,but now every time i try to he,just wants held and when i stick it in his face he hides.he's about 1 and a half foot to two foot long.the first time i got him to eat i gave him a frozen pinky warmed up.he doesn't look like he's getting any skinier.
How long have you had him? Is he drinking? Where did you get him from? What are the temps?
I have a 2ft long ball python named King Brutus... I think he is beginning to shed and hasn't eaten in 3+ weeks. Im am not sure what his feeding preferances are, and i was wondering what the best way to find out what they were. Should i try feeding him a live mouse or should continue to try feeding him the thawed frozen mice?
If he's already eating thawed frozen, you don't want to switch to live, it will be harder to get him back on thawed frozen mice. If the snake isn't losing weight, then don't worry about it yet.
nevermind i got him to eat.he likes small,live,moving mice and he doesn't like you to watch him.
So you changed to live?
I have a BP that I've had for almost 2 years now . He ate about 2 almost 3 weeks ago, and it was a medium size frozen rat. He's been acting like he wants out of his tank which makes me think he's hungry. I've been trying to feed him for the last week or so and all he wants is out of his tank. He's not interested at all in eating right now. How long do I wait to try again? I did move his tank from one room to another where it's warmer. Could that be a reason why he's not eating as well?
It could be the change of environment. It could be the cooling temperatures outside. Make sure that you are heating the tank with other means besides just a warm room. You want an under tank heater to make sure that the surface of the tank is the right temperature. If the temps are right, then that could cause him not to eat, as well.
I'd give it some time. It's better to wait longer than to waste a frozen rat every few weeks because once you thaw them, they should be trashed.
My 3-4 year old ball python chose to stop eating after her last shed about a month ago. I figure that the colder months may be why she stopped eating, as she hasnt shown any other signs of infection or sickness. Thank you for your guide as you helped confermed for me that it could just be the colder weather causing her to stop her eating.
i am lookin at purchasin a bp and was wondering which sex would be best to have. i grew up with a 15 foot python so that is where i get my love of snakes from. i'm worried that i won't be able to take care of it properly. i sleep in the basement of my house which doesn't get very warm in the winter ( i live in illinois) and there is little heat to my room. the snake would be stayin in my room with me cause no one else wants to take care of it. i will have everything i need to take care of it i.e. the heat lamp, misting spray.... i know to wait at least a week to two weeks after gettin it to hold it. but if we "bond" and it likes to be held, would that stress it out too much holdin it? cause i want it to be used to me handling it and holdin it and i do plan on lettin it sit with me in my bed and wrapped around my arm or just curled up layin on me. i'm gettin a little snake starter kit from my local petsmart store where i will be buyin my snake from and it has everything that i need in it including the tank and 2 different lamps, a heat lamp and another lamp that i can't remember, misting spray, a care guide book, and some like wood chip bedding that they have in their tanks at the store, a water bowl and a hideout for it too. any suggestions would be helpful. thank you
Typically the sex isn't going to matter. Females will be larger than males, but other than that there's not that big a difference in personality You want to make sure that you can keep the temps within the enclosure warm during cooler months. As for misting, spray there's really no need to do that if you have a large enough water bowl, the humidity should be fine.
You really can't bond with a snake, it's a reptile. It's not like a pet cat or dog. It can stress the snake out for overhandling. You can handle him, but not excessively. The snake's not going to curl up next to you and sit there, like a dog.
Sometimes those starter kits will not have the right equipment, and it's typically better to just spend a little extra to get exactly what you need. And, 2 lamps is probably going to cause too much heat. The undertank heater will be your best bet. A digital thermometer is needed to properly gauge the temps. Aspen chips are what you want to get, not pine or anything else. Otherwise, reptile is good too. If youse a loose bedding, you'll want to feed outside the tank so that the snake doesn't ingest the bedding while feeding.
Hi again!
My lovely Ball Python is acting very strange at the moment and I was wondering if it's usual behavior, he's never done this before though.
He is currently eating right now and I did my usual routine. I held the mouse by the tail and dangled it in front of him. He grabbed the middle of the mouse like usual and wrapped around it to 'kill' it. Well it's a prekilled mouse so yea. He sat there for a little bit then he let go.
Normally he doesn't let go, he just adjusts his bite to the head, or tail end of the mouse and eats it. Well this time he let go and started sniffing it and rubbing his head against it, then sniffing himself.
He then opened his mouth and bit down on the tail, as if he wanted to remove it. After spinning himself in circles for a bit, he gave up on the tail and started sniffing the mouse more. Well then he sniffed himself and opened his mouth and bit HIMSELF! It was very lightly but he still did it. He let go and started sniffing the mouse again, biting the tail, then a leg, then trying to take the rear end first.
He acted like he was looking for the head end, but by this time it was underneath him. Now at this moment he has let loose of the mouse and is sniffing himself and pushing really hard against himself with his nose. I've never seen him act like this during a feeding before. I just tried to readjust the mouse for him and he was kind of circled around it, but not squeezing it, not really touching it either and as soon as I touched the mouse with the tongs, he squeezed like no other. Now he is back to the sniffing routine.
Any help for my seemingly confused Python?
I'm not sure what exactly to tell you. I know my BP has done this before as well. Just give him time to find and position the mouse for easier ingestion.
Well it seems like he got prettys stressed out yesterday but today I bough this bedding, it's reptile sand that is completely digestable and such and very expensive but it doesn't hurt them if you feed them in it. So I fed him today and he is eating it now.
I think the overall issue was that his eyes are bluish and glazed, so it seems he might be getting ready to shed so I was thinking maybe he just couldn't see the mouse very well. Is that right? When snakes eyes glaze over before a shed they can't see very well? I'm just not sure, but he hasn't done it today so it seems ok now...
Thanks anyways for your reply though!
Kallie, I will answer your question in both places. You do NOT want to use sand with a BP. Some snakes are ok with sand as the substrate, but you do not want to house a BP on the substrate. Plus, in general calcium based substrate is not good for any reptile as it will greatly increase impaction risks for desert reptiles. You want to use aspen bedding or reptile carpet for your BP.
Sounds like he's getting ready to shed. In general, snakes can't see at all, but shedding makes their eyesight even worse.
I noticed after shedding this last time that my BP had some dull areas on her skin whereas the rest was really shiny. Was it that the new skin never fully developed or that the old hasn't come off (which I sort of doubt since I have soaked her several times since then).
It could be where the old skin didn't come off all the way. The dull areas would not be new skin unless those areas were dull to begin with.
Thanks. It's been a couple weeks since the shed and it's still there though. I guess it's just old skin that never developed.
Hey, I got a ball python thats about 4ft and it would always eat its mouses whenever we gave it to him right away but about a month and a half ago I gave it a adult mouse and it waited till the night then it ate it,, now I gave it a medium rat and it wouldnt eat it. So I exchanged it for 2 adult mouses and it wont eat them, what do I do?
It could be the weather. As long as the temps in the tank are good and you haven't introduced any new snakes/reptiles (or even just played with before washing your hands to handle your snake) which could have introduced a parasite. I would just give it time and see what happens. Sometimes this happens; it's definitely not uncommon. If the snake starts to lose weight, you definitely want to find a vet to check it out.
how do i get my pythons to eay i got 1 female 3'3'' and 1 male 2 2.5 foot long now my female stoped eating she used to eat like a pig but now wont because her male wont eat its been 5 months for the male and 3 months for my female i have them in the same cage i tryed seperate the 2 pythons and still they refued to eat i was giving the female the medium rats and the male small rats the ate like pigs then now nothing the male stoped eating when he had a bad shed and the female is follwoing the same patten. my female never was picky she ate 1 medium a week and he would eat 1 small ever week and a half but then he reufed to eat so i started back on mice with him he would eat 4 per 10 days. but then he refues to eat at all and my female will hunch up like shes hungry and fallow them around lke she wants to strike but she wont do it she did get bit once but still ate after that not sure of the reasons.
Are they housed together? If so separate them. Make sure the temps and the humidity is good.
i have a 3 1/5 foot ball python and i want to know if i can feed it a medium rat every week?
It will depend on the snake's girth not length. You should not feed anything larger than the larges girth of the snake's body. A medium rat every other week should be fine, versus weekly, though.
hey, my female ball is kinked.. is possible to breed her next season? or its a bad idea?
You shouldn't breed reptiles with kinks. It is genetic.
I have a ball that is about 8 months old. She was eating really good for the first couple months that i had her but here in the last month in a half she has hardly ate at all. I recently got her a bigger tank thinkin that she was stressed but that hasnt changed anything. I cant tell if she has lost any weight or not. But im starting to get worried. Should i go ahead and take her to the vet or am i just over reacting.
She's probably stressed from the tank change, like you said. My male did that when he was upgraded way back when. The only thing I can say is to forcefeed if she's losing weight. Otherwise, just ride it out. A month and a half is nothing to worry about unless the snake is losing weight. They can go up to a year without eating. My adult male has gone up to 5-6 months with minimal weight loss. As long as the temps are accurate and the snake was previously healthy, there shouldn't be a problem. Just keep trying every week or two.
I just got a 6 month old ball python about 20 inches or so. Is a medium rat too big for it?
Probably. As mentioned, you should never feed prey larger than the widest girth of the belly, and I highly doubt a 6 month old BP is large enough for a medium rat. It should probably still be on adult mice. I'd say 2 adult mice, maybe 3, or a really small rat.
It's always better to feed a little smaller than too big.
what is the differince between a ball python and a pastel python
Pasels usually have a yellow tint and very little green/brown coloring.
what about feeding my ball phython a gerbil? I have him on a consistent diet of mice, two a week, or every for days, then one only the next week. I was wondering if a variety of food would be a good idea or not? My phython is 2 years old, and 2.5 ft, have yet to get his weight. But I prefer in my own opinion, feeding my python LIVE instead of frozen is best.
I'm not going to get into live, as to some degree live has one advantage which is knowing that the feeder is healthy when you give it to your snake, and well knowing that it still has nutrients to it. But as for gerbils, it's not a good idea. Hamsters and gerbils are very fatty and have little good nutrition. It's best to stick with mice, rats, and rabbits, but of course BPs don't get large enough for rabbits.
I bought a beautiful 16 or 18 in baby ball from a breeder a few days ago and, by reading posts here and elsewhere, I have noticed a few mistakes on my part in taking care of him. He appears to be healthy but I'm going to raise the temperature a little to make him more comfortable. What is the best way to heat a wooden cage with sliding doors? There are heating pads in the back wall but I don't think he's getting enough ambient heat. Would a ceramic bulb on top work well?
Also, my first instinct was to handle him frequently to acclamate him to being handled. Now when it is supposed to be feeding time he couldn't be less interested. I can see how he'd be stressed so I'm going to leave him be for a week or so and try again. I might try the tuna or gerbil bedding method next, that seems to be getting people's BPs interested.
He's been wonderfully tame and a pleasure to handle so it will be hard for myself and my roommates to give him some space to get used to living with us. What would the best approach be to allow him to adjust while enjoying our new pet?
Wooden cages are harder to keep warm. If you can, I'd suggest moving the UTH to the bottom so that the snake can actually get some of the belly heat; it'll fair better with digestion that way.The ceramic bulbs may help a little, but typically they just heat the air, which is not where the snake is going to be spending most of its time.
I would give it more than one or two refused feedings before you opt to try tuna juice or gerbils. Hamsters and gerbils are expensive if you get yoru BP eating them; as in many cases, they won't go back to regular mice/rats. Plus, they're not nearly as healthy.
It's not uncommon for snakes, especially younger snakes to not eat when you first get them in your possession. Plus, since you have been handling frequently, it is highly likely that the snake is very stressed.
Best way to let you adjust is to leave him alone. Make sure that there's water and just leave the snake alone for at least 5 days. I know it can be hard to leave a new pet alone, but it is very stressful on them. When you get a new puppy, you don't just throw everything on them at once.
The UTH packages say not to be used underneath wooden cages. I've heard in that case to put it underneath the reptile carpet so he can get more direct heat. That seems to me to be a little dangerous, for the snake and fire risks. What do you think?
Ah... I've never paid attention to that, as I've never used wooden cages. Sorry. I'm not really sure what to tell you in regards to heating then. You should watch out though as sometimes snakes can escape the sliding glass doors, so you may want to consider a lock for them.
Yea, I've had that in the back of my mind. I've kindof broken the bank with getting him set up this far so I'm going to wait on that until he gets a little bigger. And hopefully starts eating! :-) I'm not too worried yet. As far as heating it goes, the only reason I was considering the ceramic bulb was that the UTH discolors the surface the cage is on. And it's not my surface to discolor, you know? The heating pads I have currently are built into the back wall so I can't readily move them. Any experience with the discoloration?
UTH will pretty much discolor any surface. I've had them burn through towels and still mark up the wood underneath. I'm not sure what to tell you since the UTH is on the back of the enclosure, but if you ever purchase a glass enclosure, you can consider proping the tank on small slate tiles, and then proping the UTH on another slate tile. The slate proping the tank will provide air ventilation so that the heat from the UTH doesn't build up and crack the tank, and by proping the UTH on another slate tile, you'll be able to ensure that the wood or whatever surface the tank is on isn't discolored.
As for the wood enclosure, there's really not much to do, that I'm away of. The bulb may add some heat, but it's best to have the UTH (even better if you were able to put it on the bottom instead of the top).
Don't put it past younger snakes to escape.
I have a BP and when i fed her last she consumed a piece of a wood bedding chunk. Is this harmful to her?
It's not a good thing, that's for sure. Swallowing the bedding can cause impaction, which is why it is recommended to either not use loose bedding sush as aspen or wood chips, or to feed in a separate enclosure without the bedding. Just keep a close eye out, as the snake may pass it without problems. You should just consider feeding in a separate enclosure without bedding or removing the bedding in the regular enclosure.
Hey there.
Me again, with my hundreds of questions! Actually this one is pretty simple I just need an opinion.
I feed my ball python one adult mouse once a week. After she eats it and is still in her feeding cage, she searches the cage and looks for more and when I reach in to grab her to move her to her housing cage she goes into a strick position like my hand is another mouse.
Then only days after I feed her she seems to be searching her cage and goes into a strick position when I reach into her cage to grab her. Once I have her and am holding her, she calms down and has never struck at me. I don't know if she is just really hungry. The adult mice I feed her seem to 'disappear' once she's eaten them. There is no visible bump in her stomach after she has swallowed it.
Here's my dilema. Should I feed twice a week just adult mice? Or should I bump her up to a small rat? She isn't even a year old yet but is getting close and she is growing veryy quickly. If I buy mice to feed her twice a week, that's eight mice in a month which gets really expensive from where I buy them. Hopefully you can help me out here! I understand that right after eating that some snakes 'think' they are still hungry and look for more but really don't need that extra mouse...
thanks so much; Kallie
You can go as large as the widest girth of the snake. If the snake is truly a female, it's probably a decent size and can probably be fed up to 3 mice or one small rat a week, maybe even every other week. I would not recommend multiple times a week, but you can feed two a feeding. It doesn't sound like she's getting enough food. Generally there should be a small bulge, especially if feeding once a week.
My adult male gets a medium rat every three weeks, which is usually when he starts prowling the cage during the day, and even with this he barely has a bulge.
So, four weeks after my first attempt and a day before I was planning on scheduling a visit to the vet, my baby Apophis finally took the fuzzie. It turns out he's a fan of tuna. Wish I had had some around earlier. I hate the scent but I'll take one for the team. I'm so happy, I don't know if I'll be able to get to sleep. Thanks for all the help!
That's good to hear. Hopefully, you'll be able to wean him off the tuna as time passes.
I have a question, I have a ball python she is almost a year old and shes pretty good size..I have her on adult mice right now and she is a very good eater...so good in fatc that I wat to upgrade her to small rats...I always have gone by her width and never get nething biger then the largest part of her body...what size rat would u suggest for her? I would say shes around 2 ft. or so...and she has a mid section bout the size of a idk a tube of toothpaste..lol..sorry i cant think of nething else...but she eats every 5 days or so and she takes down the adult mice so quick i thought maybe it was time...what do you think?
Since you can see her, and I can't, I can't tell you what size rat to give her. Plus, not all pet stores sell the same "small rat" size. I've seen rats that should be considered medium, being sold as small. Just keep with the idea of not feeding anything that is larger than the widest girth of the snake. If she's only as big as a toothpaste container, then I'd say stick with adult mice, or very small young rats.
i have 2 baby male ball pythons that i got 3 weeks ago 1 shed 4 days ago the other yesterday i attempted to feed them both yesterday frozen pinkies they looked intristed but did not eat any help i pit the pinkies in hot water to warm then then used the big tweezers
any advise thanks
Don't force feed them. BP's are very picky and babies can be hard to adjust. Just take your time with them, nad keep trying the frozen/thawed.
Update i went out for the day and left 2 live pinkies in the dark cage the one that is more active ate 1 the other snake is still hiding the pinkey is having a ball
That is good to hear.
Rats or Mice? does it really matter? my snake eats both. I feed him two mice once a week.
it really doesn't matter, depending on the size of the snake. If you opt for rats, just make sure that the rat isn't any larger than the widest girth of the snake. Larger snakes may benefit from small to medium rats.
well, to start off i have a ball python about 2 feet long , ive had him for a week or 2 from a friend, & he eats like a best im going to feed him once a week an adult mouse. My friend feed him one every 2 weeks i think thats to little. but hes scared of me & wont let me watch him eat. as soon as i leave he eats the mice its so cool.
well im back with more feeding problems with my 2 baby balls i got them about 6 weeks ago they both ate 2 weeks after got then the following week i got them 2 fuzzies and they just hung out with the snakes for a week till they died i waited another week and got 2 pinkies fearing thow the small fuzzies i had before where to big thow they shouldent have been well i just got back from the store put snake in the feeding tank with a pinkie and fuzzy in my dark closet and the main tank the other snake with the same he took off any time the fuzzy came near him so i took it out and have left only the pinkey in there for now they havent eaten in 3-4 weeks im geting nervis any help
It's best to feed F/T not live. You should never leave live in the tank with a snake anyway, ESPECIALLY not for a week. Mice and rats can and will kill a snake. This is not a good habit to keep- leaving live rodents in with a snake. 3-4 weeks of not feeding isn't anything to worry about, unless the snakes are losing weight. Check their temperatures to verify that the surface temps are accurate. Also make sure they are housed separately.
I have done a lot of research on reptiles over the past few years but i still like to get other opinions from other experienced people. I baught a beautiful little ball python 6 weeks ago and have everything as perfect as i feel i can get. she is 22" long. i keep her in an aquarium that is 36" long and 12" wide. i have two hide boxes and several silk plants and vines. also i use repti-bark substrate. the temps are 77 for the cold end and 93 for the hot end, with 56% humidity all the time. so is all this stuff set up ok? also ive had her for 6 weeks, she ate after the second week but has not eaten since, is this normal?
I just got a small ball (barely 2 feet) about a week ago and i just tried feeding him a live fuzzy today. he killed it really quick and got his mouth around its rear end and that how its stayed for about three hours till he let go of it and lost all intrest in it. should i be worried about this or just try again in a day or two.
I wouldn't be worried because you just got it and it was the first feeding. Try frozen. It's probably what it was being fed on, and sometimes if its steady on frozen the snake may be leery of eating the live. I've seen that happen with my own. I couldn't get frozen, so had the one live feeding, and it took too long; next feeding gave the frozen and she was fine and quick.
Ive had my BP for about eight months now and he has grown substantially. i bought him and he was only about a foot long now he is about three but he will never stop eating, he would eat about three mice a week but i found out he is able to eat small rats because they are able to eat anything thats not bigger then three times the width of there head, the rats weigh about eight ounces each and he loves them, i make sure he gets to spend about three to five hours outside of his cage a day, usually he likes to stay wrapped around my arm or my neck (he stays loose when he does) but how big will he really grow? (the bigger the better) i want to see him eat rabbits someday haha oh and the rats are live, the people at the local pet store are recomending medium rats( 1-1.5 pounds) but i'll let him stay on small rats for another month or two. whats your opinion?
You can feed to the largest width of the snake. It's probably a she if it's grown that much that fast.
So if my bp doesnt eat the frozen can i refreeze it? probly not but thought i'd ask since it wasnt free, lol
No, you should never refreeze the f/t
is ok feeding my 16 inch ball python two fuzzies every week is that over feeding he eats one in the morning and another one at night every week he doesnt seem to mind and he is always active ...
You can probably feed one adult mouse. You can go as large as the widest part of the snake, but not larger.
my ball python ate a mouse tail first is this harmful as it seemed to take longer than usual for him to eat it he kept wraping himself around it did'nt know whether he was trying to pull it back out or trying to squeeze it to make it easier to swallow can they regurgetate if they want
they can regurgitate if they want to. If he got it down backwards then I wouldn't worry about it too much.
i have 2 bp and they are doing great 1 about 19'' and the other is about 21 inches. Today i fed them both 1 big mouse each i dont know if to big. A person said they can eat any thing that is smaller than three times the biggest part of their body is that true?
You can feed as large as the widest girth of the body. Just remember that smalelr is better, as it's safer than trying to go too large.
i bought a ball from petco about a month ago. he wouldnt eat a live feeder due to his mid shed state. he had a rough shed. a few days after his shed, he took a frozen pinkey for me. i was happy he finally ate and has been eating frozen hoppers for the last 3 feedings. i feed him once a week. he is pretty good at telling me when he wants to eat. he will come out and search around when he should be "sleeping" i put him in his feeding box, and shake the food and he snags it right up! he loves feeding time! for all ive read on them being pickey eaters especially with frozen, i can honestly say i lucked out. he seems to be quite the happy snake!
Sounds like you got lucky, especially with a pet store reptile. Hopefully he won't alter his feeding habits during time of stress, weather, or cage change. It is good that you've got him successfully feeding on f/t.
I have had my Ball for 13 years(got him as a baby) and He was always a steady eater. He has eaten live small rats for several years. Now he has not eaten in 9 months. I have brought him to the vet for forced feeding of liquids, blood work, antibiotics. All to no avail. His cage temp is perfect and he has plenty of water. Any other tips?
y does every one say take your snake out of his home to eat that just stress them out more i feed all my snakes in there home and they do just fine but when i do feed them i wait 48 hours to hold him again
Selene, give it time. What did the vet say? At 13 the snake is getting elderly. It may be getting to that time. They don't all live 20plus years, so keep that in mind as well.
Jason, you only need to take the snake out of the regular enclosure to feed if your regular enclosure has a loose substrate like aspen bedding. It's to prevent injesting any of hte bedding. Originally, it was bc people thought that if you fed in the main enclosure the snake would associate eating with the main enclosure and would try to bite, but that's long sense proven incorrect with BPs.
Whitney, 13 is elderly? The vet has no answers and never said he was getting up in age. I tried again this weekend. He will strike at it several times and hit the target but not wrap around it. Will try frozen next. Any other ideas or tips for that?
Not necessarily elderly, but it's older for a BP. They tend to average around 20 years, but some can reach up to 30. It all depends on care and husbandry and whatnot, as well as breeding and genetic history behind the snake.
It's not uncommon for snakes to go up to 12 months without eating, but if the snake starts to show signs of weight loss, it's time to force feed. Is the snake drinking? Did the vet test for parasites or some kind of worm that he could have come across? Maybe you or someone else didn't wash their hands before handling the snake and he contracted something.
Try frozen, making sure that it's completely thawed and warm. If that doesn't work, try dipping the f/t in tuna juice and drying it off a little so that it's not soaking but still has the smell.
He has started to lose weight and the Vet. has tube fed him. He has been on antibiotics and is now on anti-inflammatory medicine. He is drinking and urinating fine. The vet also did blood work and nothing was out of the ordinary. I will try the frozen food this weekend. Thanks for the advice.
The antibiotics generally lower appetite, so keep that in mind.Tube feeding probably stressed him out, which can cause issues. It's hard to say what is wrong if the vet can't diagnose the issue.
Try bumping the heat a little.
And try force feeding something small. F/T is easier to force feed.
When my Ball eats, his body get all deformed looking like he has broken bones. do you have any idea why? also, he loves to climb, but in return falls a lot.. is he going to hurt himself falling?
also, he eats once every 8 days. one hopper and a fuzzy for desert.. do you think this is too much?
Broken bones in the mouth? If in the mouth, remember snakes jaws break apart into about 6 pieces in order to be able to swallow their food. They can hurt themselves if the food is too big.Depending on the girth of the snake will determine what is enough or too much. You want make sure to have a slight bulge but nothing major.
How do you properly thaw a frozen mouse?
Warm water. Depending on the size of the rat, you may have to replace the water a few times to get the rat to thaw all the way through.
Do not put the rat in the microwave with water. Just put a bowl of water in the microwave to warm up the water. Put the rat in the water after.
would you recomend frozen/thawed food or live food. my friend feeds his live food.
Frozen thawed are much safer.
no not broken bones in his mouth. instead of having a smooth curvature like he normally does to his body, it looks somewhat kinked in spots down his midsection. this is only during eating and as soon as the food is swallowed, he goes back to looking normal. i do not feed him anythin bigger then the widest part of his body, i just didnt know if giving him a smaller pinky for dessert was ok or if its too much and going to make him fat.
You may want to get the body checked out, if it's the body getting kinked. When not eating, is the body normal? Or the mouth? (I'm all confused as to what is kinked)
You can try fuzzies instead of hoppers. But, the size of the feeder I don't think would cause the body to become kinked, or the mouth. There's no reason to feed a pinkie after feeding the main meal, unless the main meal is not big enough. You say that the hopper is the widest girth of the snake, so there's no reason to add more to the meal. By feeding too much you can cause the snake to grow faster, but that is not going to be beneficial to the snake in the long run; you'll find that it can cause other health concerns by feeding extra food.
Oh and I wasn't asking if there were broken bones, I was asking if that was what you were asking?
as the bones go, i was just trying to give an idea of what he looked like. he is normal all the time except when he is swallowing food. before and after his body looks fine, but just while swallowing, id say it starts 4 in from his nose and goes 2 in from his tail, he looks deformed. like he is making his back bone look all weird. maybe its just the way he is sitting, idk. next time i notice ill snap a picture and make it accessible to you. also, someone told me to put minerals in his water and feed him raw chicken to help with his shedding.. whats your take on this?
If you can get a picture, that would be better and easier for me to see what you mean. I wouldn't suggest raw chicken or putting minerals in the water. They get all the nutrients they need from the rat. I've never heard of putting minerals in the water. It would be mighty hard to get the snake to eat cold chicken, and if you heat it, it's no longer raw; I've never heard of that one either.
I really wouldn't recommend feeding the chicken. I'll have to do more research on minerals in the water, but I've never heard of needing to do that or it being necessary.
yea i plan to feed him tonight, so if he does it i will grab a picture. and as far as the chicken goes, i thought it was pretty bogus, and probably impossible to get him to eat. i had read that they get all the minerals from the mice, but the girlfriend insisted we tried, but didnt believe me when i said it was probably unnecessary, so now i have a better suggestion for her to now know we do not need to do either.
Sounds good. And yes please don't try the chicken.
I got a pet Ball Python an its about 7 months old and 28 inches long so it would probably be a female wouldnt you think, and i feed it one adult mouse once a week but it seems to be having a problem pooping, use to it would poop 3 or 4 days after i fed it but now its been almost 3 weeks since defacating now it pees or dry urinates on a regulary basis i was wondering if this is a problem and if i should keep feeding it or stop feeding it until it poops. And the Temps in its cage are about 90 degrees on the warm side and 80 on the cool side and the amibent temp is around 85 and i keep all my heating sources on a thermostat so they stay stable all the time and i keep the humidity around 70% and give it fresh water daily. So im doing everthing good but im wondering if not pooping in 3 weeks is a concern..........thank you
Unless you probe the snake you won't know for sure. Sounds like the snake is just retaining more nutrients from her last feed. Has she eaten since her last meal? When was her last meal? Does the snake have a hard lump in the body?
I feed her once a week so she has eaten twice since the last time she defacated and i don't feel a hard lump nowhere.
And tomorrow is feeding day an i was wondering if i should feed her or not or wait till she defacates
And talking about having it probed i popped her and no hemipenes popped out so i think its a female.
Just give her a little time and make sure that she has water. If it continues, you'll want to soak her in lukewarm water with a few drops of mineral oil to see if that will help loosen up any stool that may be stuck in the intestines.
Without proper tools or experience, you may not have done it right, but it's possible to be a female. Not saying it wasn't done right, just a heads up.
I've soaked her in luke warm water several times the last couple of days but still no luck, but she has had dry urinates so shes drinking well and she isn't dehydrated so i'll just wait an see what happens.....Thanks
Sounds good.
Hey there again!
I'm completely stumped on what I should do with my BP. I've written here quite a few times and you've always had great advice so I'm coming back to ask you for some more!
My BP is a little over a year old and is approx. 3ft long and 1LB. I've been feeding her small rats, 1 everyother week. She digests it and it 'passes through' her a couple days before I feed her again. So here's my problem;
The last few times I've fed my BP, she only stays 'quiet' for about a day, then she's out searching her cage again and acting like she's hungry. Also, when I go to handle her, she gets into a strike position before I take her out of her cage (I feed in a separate cage so she shouldn't associate her current cage with food)and once I hold her, she is very jerky and even spooks me now and then with her rather quick movements. (normally she is very slow moving and relaxed when I handle her.) All of her health signs look good, though her skin doesn't shed in one piece but she completes the shed without needing assistance anymore.
Do you have any advice for me? Should I be feeding her every week? (It gets really expensive around here for frozen rats, so that's why I've been trying to stick with everyother week feedings) Also, is there anything I should do to help calm her down while I handle her? I normally sit in one place and don't walk around a lot...
Thank you for any advice you have!
(Oh, I call it a her because of how dang big she is getting so fast! I thought it'd be approx. 1ft a year growth, but she's grown over 2ft in the last year!)
It's actually a myth that feeding in the main enclosure will cause the snake to associate your hand with feeding. The only reason to feed in a separate enclosure is if you're using loose substrate, like aspen, in the main enclosure.
Frozen can be expensive, but you can purchase bags of three, which is a little cheaper than buying one every other week. The small frozen rats are actually smaller than if you were to buy live (but since the snake is feeding on F/T stick with that!). With the size of the snake (from my understanding), you may be able to bump up to a medium F/T every other week.
Ok thank you. I was going to do that anyways but I didn't know if it was to soon to get that size of a rat. Currently the small rats don't seem to leave a lump in the snakes stomach after she eats them so I thought it'd work better to try something larger.
Do you think the jumpiness (not sure if thats a word!) of the snake is because it's hungry? A lot of signs she shows when I handle her leads me to think she is still hungry... Hopefully once I bump up the size of the next rat, she'll settle down again!
Thanks again!
You want a slight lump. Nothing extreme. It could be because she's hungry, but it's hard to tell. Try using the mediums, and see how things go.
I was told by the previous owner to feed my python 3 live, 3-4 in. mice every two weeks. She gets them down no problem every time. Is this a good idea.
Depending on the size of the snake, the number should be fine, but you should try to switch to F/T.
i have owned a few ball pythons and recently got a new one. at first she ate well (gained about 5oz) then stopped for no real good reason. she currently shares a wooden terrarium (3'x3'x2') with a fairly large male. whenever i fed my female and not the male he would seem frisky because of the mouse smell. i never had reason to believe he struck at her and if that might have been it or if its just breeding season. any ideas?
You should have quarantined the new snake before putting it with another snake. If she is small, and the male is large, there could be bullying. It's not really breeding season, since the temps are getting cooler, breeding season isn't until the end of the winter beginning of spring, typically.
You need to separate them.
Plus, since you've owned the species before, you know they can be picky eaters and the slightest bit of stress can cause them not to eat.
The other snake is likely the cause, in addition to being put in a new home and not quarantined properly.
hi! so my snake shed last week, and it was horrible! he got his underside, and a chunk off his mid-section. i had to get the rest. :( my concern is his head and caps are still there. i rubbed his head in the same manner i did to get the rest of his skin off, warm water on the finger and rub lightly until it seperates, but it didnt wanna budge, and i had been doin this for 2 hours and he seemed annoyed. ive been told its a sensitive area for them, and i didnt wanna push my luck.. last time this happened it was only one cap, and he ended up getting it off himself 4-5 days later. i feel bad and am afraid he will not eat, because he can not see. any ideas to get it off that will be easy on him and myself? thanks for all your helpful advice!
You need to get the eye caps off. Warm water soaks and try a q-tip to rub it off.
If the snake repeatedly has shedding problems, you need to re-evaluate the enclosure. Sounds like the humidity is not right and the temps probably aren't that accurate either.
:) In the 8 years that I've had my BP I've never had an issue getting him to eat~ of course I breed all my own mice and stun them before feeding them to him! He is SUCH as sweetie! The only problem I've had was when I first got him he had snake mites! >_< I spent so much time cleaning him and the cage lol
i got the caps off!! it was sort of stressfull, but i got it done. the snake did well, and didnt seem to be bothered by it! its almost like he knew that i was trying to help him out, and in return worked with me to get them off! thank you so much for all your advice! it is very helpful!
That is good. The snake will definitely benefit from having them removed.
Hi there.
I've been reading through alot of your comments and I think most have answered my questions, but i thought i'd ask anyway.
I got my ball python about a month ago from a local breeder at a reptile show where he was selling them. He said that she was about 8 months old and has been eating live adult mice but has been fed frozen pinkies and fuzzies a few times. However she hasn't eaten at all since I brought her home. Reading through the comments though I found out that they are stressed when moved into a new home and 1 month is really no big deal. Plus to top it off she's going through shedding right now. What worries me is she doesn't feel like she's lost any weight, but there are parts on her body when she curls up that look.. well wrinkled. I think it MAY be from dehydration, but I make sure there is always water in her tank.
I've been trying about every week to get her to eat some thawed pinkies, but just recently found out that they had to be pretty hot for them to eat it. SO if you could give me some advice, that would be awesome.
Yes, more than likely the wrinkled skin is from dehydration. Try soaking the snake in warm water once or twice a week. Also make sure that the water bowl in the tank is big enough for the snake to soak in. Pinkies are very small for an 8 month old snake, and yes F/T needs to be hot. Put water in a bowl in the microwave, and then put the F/T in it to soak and heat up.
There are other methods for feeding snakes above- tuna juice, bust the F/T skull open, etc.
Wow i notice so many having feeding problems and stress problems with their BP's. Well with mine, I have one that when i got her, she was so dehydrated and starved that her growth was temp. stunnted she was over a year old and only 14 inches long, she would not eat nor would she drink water, so i thawed her F/T fuzzies in very warm water, above room temperature, the hotter they were the better her strike response was, but i made sure not to make them too hot as to avoid burning her mouth. I left the mouse wet (not dripping) this seemed to help along with warm soaks daily to help with dehydration, she quickly moved to adult mice. Its been 6 months and she is now 22 inches long and eating adult mice, I am about to switch her to rats in two weeks. My other BP she has always had a very strong strike response as soon as u take the lid off her feed box she is already striking. so I was lucky with her. I see people say hatchlings should be on pinkies? I've been told Pinkies have little to no nutritional value when they are mice and even a hatchling BP can handle a hopper mouse especially if it already has a good strike response. They should be on weanling rats or pups by the time they are 16-18 inches long, the quicker you transition to RATs the easier it will be. Is This wrong?
As far as changing tanks and things of that sort I have found that no matter how much bigger the enclosure is then the previous I avoid stress by setting the enclosure up exactly how it was in the smaller one, only there is more space. My snakes seem to have less stress when i follow the same rule for all of them. They have a strong feeding drive, they actually less time in their hide boxes now i use a temp gun and temps are all perfect so I guess they are out in the open because they are comfortable. They never bask or really spend very much time on the heating pads, and they are never curled up in tight balls they are usually stretched partially out and just lying there. Is this normal? does it mean they are comfortable?
Now my question is, I know my snakes are healthy and i keep my humidity levels and temp levels just as suggested yet they shed terrible only on the face, the body comes off all as one but the head just wont! And I also notice that after every feeding they rub their nose and head on everything...what is this about? they only seem to do this after feeding.
You are right when changing to a new tank to keep things as similar to the old one as possible, but there are still chances of causing stress. I've seen it, as that is what I did with mine.
As for bad shedding, it's generally caused by low humidity or other health problems. Since the snake wasn't in the best health when you got it, there's possibility that the shedding issue now could be attributed to that. Have you had the snake health checked by a reptile vet since you got it back to health?
I bought a bp @ june. It wouldn't eat, no suprise there, we tried everything! using different mice, making sure the temp was ok. but when we were gone for 5 days we came home to a dead snake. he belonged to my daughter and she was very upset!! we took it to the store where we got it and the lady was mad at me because it went 6 WEEKS without eating. She said that i starved the poor thing. after doing more research i found out that they are picky eaters and can go alot longer than that before starvation. We bought a new one and it ate well for the first few months but it isn't shedding, and now isn't eating. Should i be worried? The humidity is ok according to the gage but i'm still worried.
I have a bp that is roughly around 16 or 18 inches when he stretches out. i've had him for 8 months now.. the first 2 he absolutely refused frozen(he was definitely hungry), and we tried absolutely everything. once we started with live we havn't had any problems. we feed him one every 8 to 10 days..and that fill him up.. the other day i fed him, and he was still acting hungry so i went and got him another.. he ate it no problem, but has been acting hungry ever since. he's not wide enough to handle a small rat.. what should i do?
April, a lot of the time pet store employees do not know what they're talking about. Make sure that the temperatures are accurate, as well as the humidity. Give it some time, and as long as the snake doesn't start to loose weight, it should be fine. Because the weather is getting cooler, keep an eye on the enclosure temperatures,
Wendy, when it came to the frozen, did you try soaking in tuna juice or anything like that? As for live, don't bump it up if you feel that the next size is too big. You can try feeding an adult mouse twice a week or every 4 to 5 days.
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Pam Christman says:
2 years ago
My Pedro 1 foot long enjoys his live white mice he eats once a week, and is perfectly content with that. He is very gentle and loves to be held. He doesn't pee in the floor or tar up stuff or shed hair all over the firniture. Snakes are great pets you gotta love em'