Having trouble feeding my jungle pastel ball python?

Question

I have just bought a new jungle pastel ball python, i am new to owning a ball python ive always had large pythons such as retics an rock pythons none of witch had any problems eating. I would like to consider myself as a very experienced reptile owner but am currently having trouble getting my new ball to eat. I have tried numerous different stratagies to try and get him to eat such as, feeding at night, raising temp and humidity, feeding in paper bag, and tried using frozen and live pinkys none of witch seem to work. I have only had the snake 4 days so im sure that is the prob but i spent lots of money on this snake and want to see it do well it is already at below expected body weight. If anyone has any new ideas i will be happy to try any proven tips.

Answer 1

im a reptile owner myself

and from my experience a lot of my pets when i first got them

were trying to adapt to their environment first

as you know they could go weeks without being fed

ask the place where you got him from if he had eaten recently

he just my not be hungry yet either

Answer 2

i have only had my ball for a wee and I completely understand your worried but really dont be. here are the steps that i take to get my baby ball to eat. he always eats frozen

1) I place the mouse in a ziplock bag and thaw it in a bowl of hot water, NOT BOILLING YOU DO NOT WANT TO COOK IT for about 10 minutes.

2) After its thawed i place the bowl with the ziplock and mouse under a tap with running hot-NOT BOILLING water to heat it up for around 2-3 minutes.

3) While the mouse is warming i wash my hands (to get rid of the sent so that i dont smell like mouse,) and play with my ball to make sure hes awake.

4) I put my ball in a box (so that every time i put my hands in the cage it doesnt think its getting food).

5) I take the mouse out of the ziplock and rap it in paper towels so that i can carry it and so to get off any excess water.

6) With a pair of tongs (so as not to get bitten) i hold the tail of the mouse and wiggle it about 5 inches away from his head and about 3 inches off the ground.

7) My ball will usually jump for it with in 5 seconds if hes not that interessted i place the mouse on the floor and cover the box for total darkness for around an hour hes has always eaten after that.

There are a few reasons why your did not eat if that happens just cover what ever hes to make it pitch black in and leave him for an hour or so.

Dont be worried if he still doesnt eat just keep trying different things some balls like there food wet some soggy and others completely dry. I got most of my needed info in books and on the web. look around and keep trying and youll get him to eat. If you really start to get worried about him go see a vet or even just go to the pet shop where you bought him and ask them to see what they were doing to get him eating.

if he has never eaten and this is his first meal i cant give you any advice sorry

some people say that if you rub a live gerbile or other rodent against your thawed mouse it gives it a better sent

Answer 3

he is probably not hungry. sounds like your trying to force it on him and your gonna stress him out. ball pythons can go 6 months with out eating sometimes(definitely not good!)and then come around . if he is not losing weight (which he isn't in 4 days) and is still drinking  relax don't bother him  except to give him water and wait a week  let him acclimate to his surroundings and try again after a week or so. if he doesn't eat wait another week  and if he doesn't eat then, try all the tricks you mentioned the following week.

Answer 4

Best advice I can give you is what I found out from a few people that had this same problem and from personal experience... You need African Soft Fur Rats. They may be difficult to find but deffinately worth the time and the slight extra expense. Also if you have only had the BP 4 days it might just not be hungry yet. wait about a week which is most likely how long it will take for you to get some ASFs.

Answer 5

dude im going through that with mine and all i have to say is that they can go months in the wild without eating and it took me bout a mouth to get mine to eat and they can be difficult sometimes. But never have it forced fed if that was an idea. Ok this is what i think you should do i would possibly is maybe hit the mouse so its barely alive(if u have the stomach power)and then dangle it in front of your python with some prongs so that the mouse is still moving just not as much and see how that goes but dont stress it man its a b@$&! sometimes.

Answer 6

ball pythons are known as picky eaters. thats why its crucial to buy one that eats. but no worries. it probably wont eat because its in new surroundings. give it about a week and try feeding it again. its just scared. whatever you do, DO NOT FORCE FEED! it is very stressful. if nothing works you might wnat to call and vet and ask them about their strategies.

good luck!