Hello all! Im looking for tips and tri ks you use with… scared eatters?
I have a normal ball python i got from Petsmart about 8-10 months ago, should be turning a year old and approximately 200g in weight. It was being fed frozen/thawed fuzzies at the time.
In my efforts then it was less than 100g, so I fed F/T for aboit a month or 2 before switching to small live mice with supervised feeding. Did fine then. Read into ASF and switched to them next. (Switch was r months ago approximately)
Now the snake is scared of live prey it seems, if the rat touches its face it recoils and is refusing to eat. It went a full 4 weeks with no food, ate once, and is now back on strike.
I am working to eliminate issues, so husbandry… Scotch, the snake in question, has been moved from a small 10gallon terrarium to a 27qrt tub with holes drilled into the lid. Ive changed from a radiant heat bulb (that admittedly stopped working and i didnt realoze it…) to a thermostat controlled heatmat under the tub partially under its large hide. (Hot temp is set to 79 just to be safe.)
Substrate was just coco coir, now coco coir and reptibark. My misting system apparently wasnt working right before so i just misted it down before placing him in the tub. And i placed his sticks and cork bark in there for familiarity, as well as moved 'em to a quiet dark place to settle down (our bathroom for humidity-sake.) He has a ceramic bowl of water which i plan to get a bigger one for 'em to be able to soak in.
What else should i try adjusting to see if its husbandry related on why Scotch has suddenly turned off feeding? No mouth rot, no scale rot… Im just dumbfounded lol.
This is far too cool for the hot spot, so this is where I would start. I aim for about 88 degrees on the hot spot, but anywhere in the range of about 86-89 should suffice. Try not to exceed 90 though.
In my opinion you don’t have a picky eater. I think you have a confused eater. Going from ft to live mice to live asf confuses me as well. Why all the changes? Ft is the safest way to feed a captive snake.
Also your temp was way too low as @scissortailscales stated. In addition humidity for a BP should range from 50 to 60%. Since Scotch is now in a tub no misting is necessary. Too much humidity can cause respiratory issues……
In addition the enclosure change could have also stressed your BP. If I were you I would give your animal time to decompress and de stress for a couple of weeks with no feeding attempt. Then decide what you want to feed it and stick with the program. You were actually very lucky to get a ball python from Petsmart feeding period, and especially feeding on ft……
give it time, don’t change enclosures. If a person gets jet lagged, a snake with infinitely less brain capacity is not only practically jet lagged but rather nervous. I’d also like to comment that a bathroom is not a good choice. Bathrooms are made (or at least should be and most are) to have good ventilation for that humidity, issue is, reason that’s there is to accommodate for thing like showers and baths and whatever else causes a lot of steam and a lot of heat and to keep it there for only a short burst of time. Exposing an animal to that repeatedly in an already enclosed space would overall cause some harm, I know as a human sometimes I struggle a bit with the temperature changes and humidity changes in bathrooms, now imagine being much more fragile and living in it! Good luck, and I’d agree, frozen thawed, make sure it’s warm enough, hot spot about 88 because otherwise it will not eat from not being able to have the heat and energy to digest, and hopefully Scotch will be doing better
As @scissortailscales mentioned, too cold.
Also, you need a snug hide that she can cram herself into. Line it with something comfortable like slightly moist moss or toweling and have the opening, just big enough to crawl through, positioned so there is other cage furnishings a few inches in front of it. Balls and most other snakes like to be hidden then suddenly appear mouth open as food passes by.
As for food, try leaving an f/t rat of an appropriate size just outside of the hide. Put a plate or other clean surface there to help avoid her eating substrate. Place the plate a couple days before offering food so it is not a new item to be investigated and leave food an hour or two after lights out. As you place the food, if she appears, move slowly and jiggle the prey slightly. If she doesn’t take right away, slowly back away and leave it. Don’t check on it for a couple hours or even overnight.
Check regularly to make sure water and cage are clean but do it so there is as little disturbance to her as possible. Leave her be.
As @caron mentioned, stop switching type of prey. Stick with rats. While a diverse diet, in many instances, is good,it does confuse them.
I think one point that also may have been missed …
This snake looks pretty chunky in the photo provided. They could also be attempting to self regulate as they may be edging on the obese side.
I admit in my fascination with ball pythons and getting varying information from several sources i was excited to try ASFs at least due to supposed nutritional values and such.
I will be moving the set-up out of the bathroom as everyone suggested. This was why i changed set ups was i was having trouble keeping humidity up and heat in and keeping it regulated, so i was thinking a tub would be a better option and feeding any tine soon will not be happening anytime soon as I figure my guy or girl is stressed with being moved for sure.
Thanks for the feedback! Appreciate all the information. I only changed set-ups due to having difficulty with keeping humidity, heat in, etc and read in that tubs might be a better option versus terrariums.
Im going to give this little snake some time in a quiet place (not bathroom) to decompress before seeing if they will eat again.
Later today I can post an example of a small setup and location. Personally, I keep a lot of mine just in my bedroom, on desks or a tote that can slide onto a shelf or a nightstand work great. And for screen lid terrariums, I always honestly jus tape a piece of cellophane over part of it in an emergency or cut out a panel of a clear tote lid and attach that
@jaxxter I don’t know how much experience you have with bps but I have found that some are so sensitive that if you even look at them the wrong way they will refuse to eat!
And @armiyana Christina, I agree that cameras do add some “poundage”!
But to me this snake doesn’t look overweight. But without seeing it in person it’s hard to tell, at least for me!
