Hi There.
I recently saw a really cute snake in a local pet shop, i made sure to ask for loads of details but after doing some research last few days some things aren’t adding up.
I was told she is was about a year old and has been eating every week skipping out the odd week. But after looking, she seems to only be the size of a hatchling, around 12" long and weighs about 130g.
So either she is not as old as they’ve said or not been eating as well I assume.
She shed a couple days ago and took a huge sh*t which would suggest she’s eaten recently, vet said she last ate 2 weeks ago, so we tried to feed her last night but she wasn’t interested.
Any help with working out her age and how to get her to eat would be great.
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At a glance the body condition looks pretty good. It could just be they don’t know her actual age and now since it’s 2025, they may be calling a 2024 with no info a yearling… Or just making up an age that sounds around right.
There’s a chance it is the correct age and they just have been feeding her smaller meals than they should be and she’s just staying small.
A lot of getting a baby ball python to eat depends on how you are trying to feed them and the enclosure they’re set up in.
What size feeders are you trying?
Live, prekilled or frozen thaw?
What size enclosure is she in?
What does it look like? Or what kind of decor, bedding and such?
How many hides does she have?
What are the temperatures and the humidity?
How are you providing the heat?
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Thanks for the response, her tank setup is probably not the best it could be TBH, i’ve ordered a viv but for now she is in one of those plastic tub vivs with a heating pad got 2 hides in, a couple logs and a stone and a big water bowl.
pet shop i got her from said pinky mice (way to small i thought) but went to a reptile store in Dublin and they said to try her on rat pups(frozen) now to get her used to them so only tried that for now. going to try a mouse next see if maybe she just prefers that, not too worried about her eating just yet as only had her for a week and i used to have Boa’s that were fussy eaters as well. But yeah just the size / age that worried me, they said they’ve had her in the shop since summer last year and that she was born in jan so i figure maybe she’s closer to the 6/7month.
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As with most reptiles, they grow at very different rates so it’s pretty much impossible to say anything for sure without a hatch-date unfortunately. That being said, my boy is from late september/october (i always forget which month lol) 2019, and he was about 290g when i got him on the 29th of february 2020, so unless your girly has only eaten a couple of meals since she hatched, there’s no way she’s a year old. Like armiyana said, she looks fine, so im more inclined to believe she’s actually only a couple of months old, but she could also just be a slow grower, whether that’s due to genetics, not feeding her properly, or her not eating well.
What’s her set up like? Most of the time if they’re not eating, it’s because there’s something up with their setup. Though it is also normal for them to not eat for a little while after they’ve been through a big change, such as when you first get them home.
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Pinky mice are indeed way too small, so that explains her size I think. Rat pup is definitely a great start to get her going. Right out of the egg most BPs will start on a rat fuzzy or hopper mouse size.
Also feeding her when she’s in her hide can help because they are ambush hunters. Just wiggle the pup in front of the door.
Keeping other snakes so far is definitely ahead of the game than most with a fussy bp. So the skipping a week is right. That’s almost nothing to them. Some keepers will only feed every 10 days. After you get them eating on rat pups for a couple weeks you can try moving to something closer to 10% of her body size.
You can try adding some fake plants or crumpled papper to make the tub feel safer. BPs like to stay in tight places they can feel secure in so if the hides are a bit big you can try stuffing some moss or crumpled paper in to make it tighter.
As far as the heat pad, as long as it’s not hitting over 90f you should be fine. I keep most of mine between 86-88f just in case.
Also bps are notorious for holding out until they shed and just dropping a big one. So no surprise there, hahah
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Definitely agreed with armiyana, if she was being fed pinky mice that definitely explains her small size. In my experience, ball pythons prefer prey with fur (so I wouldn’t do anything smaller than a mouse hopper or rat fuzzy) and if she’s been eating mice, you can always ask the store for some bedding to help scent the prey so it smells stronger.
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