Ewe Mama Posted November 4, 2012 Share Posted November 4, 2012 For the past year Alvin has been obsessed with snakes. He has watched every nature program, YouTube post, read every library book he could find and asked a billion and one questions about snakes. He has been begging for a Ball Python for months. Last weekend, dh took him to a reptile show and bought him one, with all the necessary supplies. It is supposed to be an early birthday present for Alvin's 7th birthday. Here's the question...we can't get Jack the Ball Python to eat anything. He is four months old and has been fed frozen mice all his life. We thaw the rat out, dry it off, wiggle it around, etc, but he is not interested. We have tried twice, bought frozen mice instead of rats, and tried all sorts of YouTube advice, but to no avail. I figured it might take him a few days to settle in, but he has been remarkably friendly and curious. The dc have all been very good with him. He is turning out to be a great little pet. He hasn't eaten for ten days and I'm starting to get worried about the little guy. Any advice? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Matryoshka Posted November 4, 2012 Share Posted November 4, 2012 We feed our ball python live rats, so I can't help with the frozen thing. They can go a looong time without eating, though, and are reluctant to eat while late in the shedding cycle. This is dh's biggest frustration with our snake - he'll bring home a rat, and the python just isn't interested. One of the benefits to live food, is if he doesn't go for it in an hour or so, we just bring the rat back. They also seem to eat less in the winter, even though I can't see how it's that much colder in the winter, with heat in the house and heating pad and lamp, and they're tropical, so what's with the seasonal slow-down, but yeah, he'll go weeks without eating in the winter. Do make sure he's warm enough - sometimes in the winter we'll bring him into a warmer room before feeding him. They make really good pets, though. Very low maintenance. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wendybird Posted November 4, 2012 Share Posted November 4, 2012 Pythons can definintely be finicky eaters! I agree about the warmth. Also make sure their is some humidity in the enclosure. Our ball python eats live. Do you have somewhere your guy can eat from? What I mean is they are ambush predators and like to strike out from a hidey hole. We have a boa as well and she is the easiest thing in the world to feed, but Copper, our python, went an entire 9 months without eating a couple years ago. I was trying every single trick I could. I know now that he wants a dark place to eat from, he will only strike from his boot(we cut the foot off a rubber boot and he loves it!), and he obviously doesn't eat when he is shedding, but also not for 3 days afterwards. I hope your snake eats soon for you. Just keep offering! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ewe Mama Posted November 4, 2012 Author Share Posted November 4, 2012 Thanks for the encouragement. How often should we offer food? Do we try once a week, every other day? Should we keep trying rats or use the smaller mice? He was being fed fuzzy rats and dh accidentally bought small rats. I thought they looked too big for him, so dh went out and bought mice instead. The array of frozen rat choices boggles the mind: pinkies, fuzzies, pups, small, med., etc. :lol: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ewe Mama Posted November 4, 2012 Author Share Posted November 4, 2012 We do have three hides in his tank, so he can definitely strike for it. Usually when we tried feeding him, he was basking, so maybe we need to wait until he is in one of his hides before offering? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wendybird Posted November 4, 2012 Share Posted November 4, 2012 After you have had him for awhile you will be able to see his hungry style(our guy goes up on his branch and stares at the rat cage lol!)but I would keep trying every week. The general rule of thumb is the food should not be bigger than the snakes biggest section. Last week I didn't have a medium rat for Copper so I gave him two smalls...I know our zoo feeds multiple smaller feeders as well. Going down a size won't hurt, but they definitely won't eat anything they think is too big. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Matryoshka Posted November 4, 2012 Share Posted November 4, 2012 The guy we bought our python from suggested always feeding him in a different container than his vivarium, so that he didn't associate a hand coming into his home with food, and strike at that. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wabi Sabi Posted November 4, 2012 Share Posted November 4, 2012 Our ball python was already quite large and about 8 years old when we got it so I don't know about baby snakes, but as others have mentioned "Snake Eyes" only eats live rats. We feed it once every 6-9 weeks, give or take. The guy we bought our python from suggested always feeding him in a different container than his vivarium, so that he didn't associate a hand coming into his home with food, and strike at that. Yes, we were told the same thing. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
elfgivas Posted November 4, 2012 Share Posted November 4, 2012 The guy we bought our python from suggested always feeding him in a different container than his vivarium, so that he didn't associate a hand coming into his home with food, and strike at that. this is what dh does with ours. they have plastic feeding bins with air holes. he puts the snakes each in their own plastic tub for a bit before he puts the dead rat in with them. now when they're hungry, they go into their feeding bins by themselves and wait :001_smile:. but there are times when they don't eat. whenever they get new cages, it takes weeks for them to settle in enough to decide that eating is a good idea. hth, ann Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ewe Mama Posted November 4, 2012 Author Share Posted November 4, 2012 this is what dh does with ours. they have plastic feeding bins with air holes. he puts the snakes each in their own plastic tub for a bit before he puts the dead rat in with them. now when they're hungry, they go into their feeding bins by themselves and wait :001_smile:. but there are times when they don't eat. whenever they get new cages, it takes weeks for them to settle in enough to decide that eating is a good idea. hth, ann This is what we would like to do with ours, as well. Alvin is so in love with his ball python! I appreciate your advice and help. Ann, does your dh place the rat in the box, or does he do the dangling and wiggling thing with it? The idea of an animal going for weeks without food is so out there for me. I know we're talking about a reptile instead of a mammal, but the mama in me keeps saying, " You need to eat if you're going to grow up to be a big, strong python!" :lol: :lol: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dmmetler Posted November 4, 2012 Share Posted November 4, 2012 I don't have a ball-we have a corn, but there are lots of ways to try to get a reluctant snake interested in a frozen/thawed mouse/rat, including the "Zombie dance" (make the prey move as though it's live), heating it more so it's closer to blood temperature, using chicken broth or tuna water to scent the prey animal, exposing the brain of the animal, using a different prey animal and rubbing it against the mouse to scent it, using multiple smaller prey animals, putting the prey inside a feeding box, putting the snake in the box, covering the box and leaving, putting the prey in the regular habitat inside a box so the snake can go inside and eat, and lots more. You can also try live prey, and I've seen a couple of sources suggest offering a gerbil when a snake is on a hunger strike. Just don't leave a live prey animal alone with your snake, because a scared rodent can fight back and end up injuring the snake. There are some great reptile forums online. The one I use most is specific to corns, but I'm sure that there's one for ball pythons as well. These tend to be where the breeders/serious hobbyists hang out, and they're a wealth of information. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ktgrok Posted November 4, 2012 Share Posted November 4, 2012 I'd get him what he is used to eating, exactly, If he was eating fuzzy rats get him a fuzzy rat. Also, give him another week. Remember, there are reptiles that only eat twice a year, he will be fine waiting another week. I had a friend in college that got a ball and he didn't eat for about a month or so. Drove me nuts (I was in charge of caring for him...long story). What might have helped was we put the food in a bag with some litter from a gerbil cage before feeding it, to make it smell like live gerbil (more like their natural prey, but I don't know that it would help with a captive born snake), and I also gave the snake several warm baths. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mergath Posted November 4, 2012 Share Posted November 4, 2012 ...exposing the brain of the animal... :ack2: I like snakes, but I am now scratching them off my list of "animals I'd like to have someday." Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dmmetler Posted November 4, 2012 Share Posted November 4, 2012 :ack2: I like snakes, but I am now scratching them off my list of "animals I'd like to have someday." Usually you don't need to go that far for a pet snake that is already a reliable feeder unless the snake is seriously ill, in which case it would probably be a poor vet tech getting to do the honors. Apparently it IS pretty common to have to go to those degrees of effort to get a newborn or newly wild-caught snake eating in captivity (especially for an injured wild caught snake being rehabilitated), especially if it's a species that doesn't normally eat mice/rats as it's default food source. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ewe Mama Posted November 4, 2012 Author Share Posted November 4, 2012 :ack2: I like snakes, but I am now scratching them off my list of "animals I'd like to have someday." Yeah, that would have been a deal-breaker for me, too. He is kind of cute though, in a reptilian sort of way.:tongue_smilie: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
elfgivas Posted November 4, 2012 Share Posted November 4, 2012 This is what we would like to do with ours, as well. Alvin is so in love with his ball python! I appreciate your advice and help. Ann, does your dh place the rat in the box, or does he do the dangling and wiggling thing with it? The idea of an animal going for weeks without food is so out there for me. I know we're talking about a reptile instead of a mammal, but the mama in me keeps saying, " You need to eat if you're going to grow up to be a big, strong python!" :lol: :lol: no dangling wiggly thing. we have used live mice/rats upon occasion but one rat did kill one of our snakes, so we don't use live prey much anymore - the rat was hungrier than the snake : (. in the end, the snake will come to feel at home and eat, or not. out of the several dozen we've had over the years, only three have ultimately chosen not to eat, and all three were advanced in years when it happened, so i reckon its their call. i'd check temperature (of the cage, and of the food), humidity, etc. sometimes covering the cage so that they aren't startled by outside movement when they should be thinking of eating helps. hth, ann Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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