My Ball is not eating

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allright. I' m at the office but came in just to see if you guys were atentive. You were. This is MFK

1- Snake is 1 foot long. Does not look "ill". Hides during the day, slides around in the dark.

2- Stupid me, but I have no thermometer. The terrarium, a 70 cm x 30 com tank, has light and a ceramic heat bulb ( Exoterra ) of 40 W. Should be, although I will check it asap, around 30º Celsius. It is inside my fishroom.

3- She was, so I am told, fed on thawed rat pinkies, and I was told she did not like "white" rats.

4- I try to feed her with tweezers,gently in front of her face. Nothing ,. have tried leaving the thawed rat in the terrarium during the night. Nothing.
 
Well heres a bunch of things you could try...

1) Heating up the rat pinkie to a temperature that would be enough for it to be alive. If you have a pair of tongues or anything make it dance infront of the snake, little jerky movements. No luck you can touch the snake gently with it...
2) Leave it in a small tub with it overnight so it has closer quarters with it- without any substrate that it can eat that the rat is put on
3) Brain the pinkie (needle through the head- it doesn't create the mess you'd think) and then try the two above.
4) Scent the pinkie with another rodent... mice, gerbil, hamster, anything
5) Try a different food item
How fast you move on from one technique to another is up to you.
As said sometimes they will feed some times they need inticing, but they can go for a while without food, but make sure you take note of the date of the last feed so you don't forget how long it's been. Try these things when it is out roaming about and even at night in relative low light. It's not uncommon, but it can be a pain. As long as the temps good and is hydrated just keep trying. Be prepared though, it might take a while. Good luck amigo!
 
will try all that.

will perhaps ad a heat mat below the "warm spot", to increase temp..what say you?

thank you
 
yeah the warmth of the snake and the food is important.Thawed is just room temp.I warm mine up in really warm water,then in it goes.keep us posted.did you say they get enough water.Some wont eat if they are real thirsty.
 
it has water aplenty, Jason.
 
I'll second everything said so far in this thread, you've gotten some great advice.

Temperatures, appropriately sized and placed hides, and available fresh water are great places to look.

The fact that your ball python is not an adult steers me from saying "that's just what balls will do" because healthy, growing ball pythons should NEVER EVER refuse a meal if your care and husbandry is correct. Taking breaks off of food for adult ball pythons is normal, but not for young ball pythons. Further, the fact that you didn't have a thermometer leads me further to believe that your snake's non-feeding is temperature related.

Guys, a thermometer is as necessary as WATER for keeping reptiles. To not know what your temps are in your cage is just as bad as not feeding it or giving it water in my opinion. It is that important.
 
I would also concour with the rest.Temp and humidity are essential info for sucess. Has it defacated yet?? The previous owner could have ben pumping it up and it decided to go off feed due to having enough in it's system already.Has it shed since you have had or seen it?. I thinkthe record for a python going off feed was 24mo and the snake is still alive. My jungle carpet went off feed for 6 mo once. It was my fault I was power feeding it 2 rats a week and it was getting obece.So it switched off after 6 mo it started eating again on a regular schedule. Another method I have seen is mist the cage with warm water wait for a hour thaw mouse or rat in warm water then offer .
 
I know, I know. I will definitely get a thermo tomorrow.

It has not defecated yet ( 15 days gone by ) is it still digesting? is it empty bellied?

fresh water and humidity she has.

Tomorrow I will aed a heat mat to the warm side. I believe it could be heat related.
 
Another option would be to get a small fuzzie (live ) and a dead frozen of appropiate size .Feed the fuzzie to stimulate the feeding response then intro duce the frozen .That has worked for me in the past as well.. I would not be to worried if it has not crapped yet .Call the previous owner and ask when the last time he fed was .
 
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