Baby Ball Python Wont Eat?

Question

I got my first ball python June 13th. The guy that sold her to me said she was about to shed and at that time her belly was pink. Well her belly is STILL pink and her eyes arent milky at all. Should it be taking this long? I have on side of her tank about 83 degrees and the other side about room temp or so (in the 70's) well I tried feeding her 2 weeks ago and she didn't eat so I set that mouse free (she eats fuzzies, the breeder told me so) well I got her another one this Friday and she looks like she's either ignoring the mouse or i dunno what. The mouse was sitting by her water bowl and she went to get a drink and she lifted her head and started flickering her tongue getting closer to the mouse but it quickly ran to the other side. Then sometimes she'll look at it and keep going her own way.

I've been putting the mouse in a mouse cage everyday and I put her in there at night everyday.

Thank you :)

Answer 1

i have 4 ball pythons

get a appetite stimulate

then feed the rat

Answer 2

mayebe you should try a frozen rat they sell those at like petco and stuff

if that doesnt work try taking her to the vet!

good luck

Answer 3

for the shedding problem....check your humidity levels..you want someting in the mid 60s...and they should have a basking spot of about 90...so if thats wrong all this could be stressing her out and make her not want to eat....if all your temps and huimidity is right,it could just still be getting use to its new environment...hope this helps

Answer 4

dont try to feed every day for this will stress your snake out and stress can kill an snake as for the pink belly are what you keep for the botttom it sounds like it is staying to damp you need to treet this asap take to the vet or try some neosporin if it dont work you should take it to an vet make sure it is not pain releaving

Answer 5

It is probably full already! Snakes can be full for months depending on when the snake ate last and it's size. did you talk to this guy who sold you the snake? These are questions that he should probably should have covered with you before you purchased it. how are you keeping it's tank warm? You should probably look into developing it's habitat.

Mouse could be too big if it's a baby too. Look into frogs too

Answer 6

Were her eyes milky and then they cleared up? That usually happens about 1-2 days before they actually shed. The entire shed process should take about 12-18 days from the first sign visible sign of a shed (pink belly) to completion.

How about your humidity in the tank? It should be around 65-75% to aid in shedding.

In addition to getting the humidity right (don't guess measure it with a digital hygrometer - $15.00 from Wal-Mart) make sure she has a bowl of water she can soak in if she wants.

Assuming her eyes have just recently cleared up (in the past 2 or 3 days) I wouldn't worry too much it sounds like part of the normal process. If however they've been clear for the past couple of weeks and she clearly needs to shed (loose wrinkly skin is a definite sign) you should take more drastic action.

Get a plastic container with a lid and fill it with enough TEPID water that it comes up to about 1/4 of her height while she's lying flat. Poke some air holes in the lid and then put a washcloth and her in there together and shut the lid. Then put the plastic container into her tank over the side with the UTH. If you don't use a UTH put it on the warm side but make sure the heat source isn't baking her in the plastic container. Let it sit there for about 20 to 30 minutes and then take her out.

Let her crawl through the wash cloth in your hands and if she was needing to shed she should start doing so. Whatever you do DON'T rip the shed off with your hands! Let her do it. You might find you have to do this two or three times before the process completes. Only do it once a day and let her work at it herself. If she still needs help the next day do it again.

The reason you only do it once a day is because soaking her in water can actually do more damage than good if you do it too often. Snakes has oils between the old and new layers of skin that they produce to help in shedding and soaking them can leach out the oils.

Hope this helps for the shedding.

As far as the eating goes. Don't offer her anything for about 1.5 to 2 weeks and see what happens. Most snakes won't really eat during the shedding process. The rule of thumb is generally that if your snake doesn't eat this week wait at least a week before you offer it. They can go months without food as long as they have water and aren't becoming visibly emaciated.