My new snake

My new ball python that I got from an expo won’t eat. We tried live, frozen thawed, and both rats and mice. We gave him pinkies, I am wondering maybe he just doesn’t like pinkies specifically but idk. If there is any advice you can give me to get him to eat please let me know. The person at the expo I bought him from said he’s on live pinkie mice, yet he didn’t eat it. We made sure not to hold him much until his first meal so we wouldn’t stress him out and cause him not to eat. What do I do to get him to eat?

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Pinky mice are too small for ball pythons.
I start hatchlings out of the egg on fuzzy rats or mouse hoppers.

If the breeder said mice I would try a live mouse hopper/weanling to see if that will work.
But if this is the same snake that’s had scale rot and is in shed, many ball pythons won’t eat when sick or in shed.

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No its the newer one, not the one in shed. But i will definitely try that.

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So you have your first snake for 3 weeks…that had scale rot and isn’t shedding.
And now a new one? Are they isolated away from each other? And yes, I also want to know how long you have had them. You don’t want to keep offering different food every day, it just causes more stress

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Giving some more information will help with troubleshooting the possible problem.

How long have you had this snake? How often are you offering food? What is the snake’s setup (enclosure type and size, decor, substrate, temps, humidity)? How often are you handling the snake? If you’re able to provide pictures of the snake and its enclosure, that could also be helpful.

Without knowing those specifics, there is some general advice I can offer. As has already been addressed, pinkies are too small for even a hatchling bp, so try sizing up to hoppers (I’m surprised the breeder told you your snake was eating pinkies). Make sure there are plenty of hides and clutter in the enclosure so that the snake feels safe and secure. An enclosure that has too much open space often makes snakes feel too exposed and unsafe to eat. Don’t offer food more often than once a week. Offering food too often usually just stresses the snake out and makes them even less likely to eat. And until your snake starts eating for you, keep handling to an absolute minimum, only mess with the snake when necessary.

Full disclosure, I’m not a ball python person, this is all just sort of general snake stuff. But if you give us some more info on your snake and setup, I’m sure our ball python experts will have some more specific tips and tricks for you.

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This type of general information could be useful to know regarding any snake! :clap::star_struck: