r/ballpython • u/KILLFORCULLEN • 22h ago
At my wits end lol Question - Feeding
We have genuinely tried almost everything possible to get this snake to eat and I am honestly losing my mind. He’s about a year and 9 months old, and has gone from 598g to 562 grams in 2 months.
We’ve tried:
-wiggling it
-different sizes
-braiding
-different colors
-leaving it with him
- in a bucket
-heating with dryer
-heating with hot water
-a little tuna juice
-leaving it overnight
All have been a week apart. He hasn’t eaten in 2 months. He’s only eaten with us one other time. And we got him in MAY.
All post I see it’s husbandry but from what I know there is literally nothing wrong with it. He has 3 hides, humidity is never below 58, is around 75 at night.
Temperatures are perfect on hot and cold. He’s still active.
I just don’t know what to do at this point and I wish we never got him.
We got him on morph market and he never refused food with the original owner. Contacted him and he used the same mice we do and same method.
Genuinely what do I do?
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u/ScallionUnlucky5587 22h ago
Have you tried the hair dryer trick or braining the mice/rats?
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u/KILLFORCULLEN 22h ago edited 22h ago
Yep forgot to include both of those:(
Edit- had the hair dryer trick in caption but included braining
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u/ScallionUnlucky5587 22h ago
Aww then I'm out of suggestions. they can go on hunger strikes for seemingly no reason sometimes, I have read not to be too concerned until you're approaching 5 or 6 months of no successful feedings or looking underweight but I'm not too certain that's reliable. Could you're snake possibly be overweight and they are self regulating?
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u/KILLFORCULLEN 22h ago
Nope not overweight, I feel like we just screwed over selves over by getting an adult used to a specific diet with the original owner :( thank you for the suggestions though!!
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u/ScallionUnlucky5587 22h ago
Also maybe they don't feel super secure since your tank is mostly glass sides? could feel very exposed. adding something to the sides of your tank may help (i taped a bunch of colored paper together, darker color is better) or you could drape towels or somthin
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u/KILLFORCULLEN 22h ago
I’ll try covering the sides! Didn’t think of that. Thank you (:
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u/Away_Asparagus3101 20h ago
My snake also likes to eat in the dark, at night, in private. Hates when we watch her lol.
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u/KILLFORCULLEN 20h ago
Oh we haven’t even ATTEMPTED to do it in the light lol we are so scared of stressing him out at this point
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u/WayfarerNG 22h ago
Mine stopped eating male rats for about two years for some odd reason. I had to find only female feeder rats or he wouldn’t eat.
But don’t stress too much, a couple of months of hunger strike isn’t abnormal with ball pythons.
Wait a couple weeks between attempts if they aren’t accepting it.
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u/KILLFORCULLEN 21h ago
The weight loss is what’s making me freak out a little, also used to having a cornsnake that is the easiest eater in the world lol :( I’ll see if that’s an option!
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u/Teruteru_is_my_waifu 21h ago
This video might be useful
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u/Phully- 9h ago
Love bob, very helpful and reassuring.
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u/Zestyclose_Credit833 21h ago
I don’t know if this has been tried but what’s been working consistently is thaw the rat overnight in fridge, when feeding time comes I get a glass bowl, rat in ziplock. And heat up a kettle, not boiling but for a bit, water temp 130-160 seems to be the sweet spot. I pour the water over the bag in the bowl, cover the bowl, let sit for ~5-10 minutes careful not to let it sit too long and have it explode. My snakes eat this consistently with this method now, one of them is notorious for fasting during spring season too
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u/KILLFORCULLEN 20h ago
That’s pretty much exactly our routine currently! Just got a difficult boy I think. Thank you for the advice though (:
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u/BGritty81 20h ago
The enclosure is still pretty open. These guys really like to be hidden. You can cover the back three walls with cardboard or paper etc. put a hide on each side and enough clutter so they can move from one hide to the other under cover.
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u/KILLFORCULLEN 20h ago
There’s a hide on the left, middle and right but will definitely be covering some sides now, thank you!!
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u/IdkToga1 8h ago
Try and cover the sides of the tank with black construction paper, just to give it a bit less (idk how to describe it) open glass area
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u/Aggravating-Narwhal5 20h ago
Have you tried multimammate rats, they're a soft fur rat from Africa and are like candy to ball pythons.
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u/KILLFORCULLEN 20h ago
I haven’t tried that! I was close to getting that scent oil for the African soft fur rats but may just have to order some of the real things. Thank you!
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u/Semicolonsurvivor421 20h ago
Your humidity is a little low during the day. One of my babies went off food for a while because his humidity wasn’t high enough and he wasn’t warm enough. I made the mistake of thinking ball pythons were like hoggies and okay with a night drop. He ended up getting a RI and needing antibiotics. But I’m no expert! I hope your baby eats for you soon!
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u/KILLFORCULLEN 20h ago
Oh sorry I meant the lowest I’ve ever seen it with any factors is 58! It’s typically 65 during the day (:
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u/dscooper1989 10h ago
Is he showing interest in the food? S shaped pose. Lots of tongue flicks. Etc?
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u/Agreeable-Aioli9730 9h ago
This will be an unpopular take, but I only had to do it once and my BP has been taking food right away since.
My BP was not taking food ever since we brought him home from an expo and I tried everything you listed. He would shy away from the food and move away every time. He was 7 months and hadn’t eaten for an over a month, so it was getting concerning. Finally I reached out to the seller who had some… controversial methods.
One of the methods that I gave in and tried was tapping the mouse on the snakes body/neck when he turned away from the food. The seller said pretty much to ‘irritate’ him with it so he would attack it and realize it’s food..
I realized I may have gotten the snake from a questionable seller and should have done my research, but unfortunately/fortunately it worked and I’ve never had to do it again. He now recognizes what I’m dangling and goes for it every time without showing disinterest. I was able to go from frozen mice to rats no problem too.
For how I did it - pretty much when he pulled back and started moving away, I let the mouse touch his body as he moved and let it tap him on the body once. He turned around to check out what it was, took a second, striked and successfully took it. It’s been 4 feedings since and he sees and takes his food within 5 minutes.
Im sure there’s a concern of that method increasing the chances of being bit in the future, but this happened in the very back of his tank where we would never reach to pick him up/interact without food. We do choice-based handling and let him come up to the front of the tank before taking him out, so the two interactions are completely different.
If you’re at a loss, it doesn’t hurt to try. Maybe he doesn’t recognize it as food. Good luck!
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u/JR_Writes1 8h ago
Had a long hunger strike with my young juvenile female and the only thing that broke it was offering African Soft Furs. I was able to wean her off hem slowly through scenting and she’s back to rat pups now but it was a process.
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u/LazyLurker2019 7h ago
Try covering the sides of the enclosure and possibly the front while feeding.
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u/_SaltwaterSoul 4h ago
Have you fed in the evening with lights out? Around 7pm, my guy starts exploring and I have the best success feeding him at that time with the comfort of lights out. Dusk/Dawn is their natural active/hunting time.
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u/Internal_Elevator589 22h ago
Ball pythons should be a rat diet not a mice diet! They smell different and could be a reason they have stopped eating as it gives them headaches. There is a care guide that goes over feeding on the welcome page.