Help getting Bp to eat

[eViL_KaRoT]

OK, Dieter, my Ball Python. Has now gotten over his Scale Rot, most of the scabbing came off with this last shed. Just a couple of spots that don't look the greatest, but it looks good for the most part. Now, how do I get him to eat again. It's been since October since he's eaten. And I know he's hungry, because he's snapping at the food!!! But he won't latch on and actually eat it. Well, yesterday I put in a fuzzy mouse. It barely had it's eyes open and has yet to produce teeth, so I wasn't worried about leaving it in there live and covering the tank up. Well, I put it in, covered the tank up with a blanket so that it would be completely dark and he would feel secure, and left it alone for a couple hours. Well, I came back just to check on him in about a hour and he had grabbed the mouse and was coiled up around it. I was like, YESHe's finally eating. Well, I came back to check on him another hour later and he hadn't eaten the mouse at all, he had spit him back out in his water dish and was going back in his hide. I'm not sure, but I think he may have regurged it back up, because all over the little mouse there was this slime all over it!!! I was like, OK, maybe he'll eat it a little later, but doesn't want to get it back out of the water. So I washed it off and warmed it back up them placed it back in the cage and covered the tank back up!! I left him alone for a couple hours again and nothing. Didn't even touch it. Well, due to past experience I just took the mouse out of the cage. It was kind of slimy again, so I think he may have nawed on it again, but did not swallow it again!!! Well, I know that he's been trying to shed the last several days and he had bits and pieces of shed all over him and large areas where the shed was there, still partially attatched in in areas, but you could tell it was ready to come off. So I figured, I'd soak him for awhile to help him with his shed. To help him not to regain his scale rot, I changed the entire tank's bedding (paper towels) and when I got him out I kind of spot dried him, so that I would rip any shed off and possibly hurt him. That definantly help with the shed, but he still won't eat. I'm going to try again tonite, this time with a F/T rat, I don't want to leave a live one in there with him. But any assistance any of you can be would be helpfull. I know that it's normal for BP's to go on off feed for awhile. But 8 months!!!!! I'm starting to worry about him!!!! So far I have wasted so many rats!!! I have tried leaving the F/T rat in the cage overnite, I've tried irrating the heck out of him and making him want to snap at the rat, I've tried rubbing it on my live pet rats, I've tried cuttin the nose, I've now tried a live fuzzy mouse, I've even tried opening his mouth and placing it in his mouth and locking his teeth on the food. NOTHING!!! What else can I do. I really don't want to, but I know when we first got him he was eating Live small rats, should I just put one of those in there and watch it closely? I really don't want to feed him live, but that's the only option I have left!!!

[sclark]

Re:Help getting Bp to eat

Hey Evil,

Geeze that does bite. I have been there several times with some baby balls and with some rescue balls. Balls are famous for being pains in the but to get eating Seems like you tried alot of the suggestions I would have said..

I have one trick you didn't mention that you may want to try. i have had great luck with it..

Pick a night when your sure you ball isn't in shed. Take a your boa, put him in a brown paper bag, Take a live fuzzy, rat or mouse and drop it in the bag. Put the bag in his cage either on the cool side or a little over, just not on the hot side. Mist once in the bag, roll the top up and staple it if you have to, to make sure it stays closed. Leave the bag in his cage over night for about 10-12 hours. No peeking.. You may have a nice suprise the next morning. You can try this with fresh killed as well, but live seems to involk better feeding responce...

Let us know how things work out..

Good luck Evil

Steve

[eViL_KaRoT]

Re:Help getting Bp to eat

OK, let me see. You said

Take a your boa, put him in a brown paper bag, Take a live fuzzy, rat or mouse and drop it in the bag.

Did you mean for me to take my BP? But if I understood you correctly, put him in a paper bag with a fuzzy rat or mouse, live and place the sealed bag back into the cage. That should inact a feeding response and hopefully get him to eat the thing. It's going to be hard not to peek, but I'll give that a try later this week. Should I also cover the cage to add some extra darkness? I'm going to try the F/T thing again tonite. Or do you reccomend not doing that untill I first try the paper bag thing?

[sclark]

Re:Help getting Bp to eat

Sorry Evil,

I had a few things going on around me while I was typing..LOL

Yeah you understood it right... I guess if your ball was hungry enough he may rip the bag open like chips and get his snack..LOL...

But seriously, you followed what I wrote..

Truthfully, I would skip trying the other ways till you see if this works. I have seen it work great on many balls. The trick it to make sure the humdity is up and its warm.. Last time I tried this was for a local pet store I deal with. He ended up with some small balls that wouldn't eat for almost 3 months. I went in there, did the bag trick, and all but 4 ate, and two days later two more ate. The last two never made it..

Like you suggested, darkness, a small area, and an annoying fuzzy should involk the feeding responce. What you said in your post soundling like the Ball chewed on it but never ate it.. Try a smaller prey to start with. if it hasn't eaten since October, the mouth is not as flexable as normal.. May need to work upto normal size prey..

Let us know how things worked out..

Steve

[eViL_KaRoT]

Re:Help getting Bp to eat

OK, 8) thanks for the advise Steve, 8) I'll try that in a couple of days!! Don't want to stress him out too much after last nite!!!! Should I make sure that it is very young and has no teeth again, or just make sure that It's the smallest rat I can get? I'll let you know how and if it works. Thanks again.

[XzyluM]

Re:Help getting Bp to eat

If you offer live prey with the bag trick, you definately want to make sure that the rat doesn't have any teeth and is young. We all know the risks of leaving live prey with a snake. Imagine a rat in a paper bag with a snake. I would also advise waiting around 10 days before offering prey again. Offering prey in small breaks does result in stress.

[sclark]

Re:Help getting Bp to eat

Made me nervous Xzylum,

Had to reread my post. Thought maybe I goofed and wrote something like rat in general.. I do feel Fuzzy's are safe. Never had one nip the snake, even if it was curled up together for the whole night. They are still sucklings so no sharp things yet..

Steve

[eViL_KaRoT]

Re:Help getting Bp to eat

yeah, that's kind of what I figured!!! I'll let you know how it goes.

[XzyluM]

Re:Help getting Bp to eat

Just thought I would add a fine line so in case someone with no so much experience came around they wouldn't stick say a small rat in a paper bag with a snake. You get the idea. ;D

[sclark]

Re:Help getting Bp to eat

Nothing wrong with being extra careful..

Steve

[eViL_KaRoT]

Re:Help getting Bp to eat

Yeah, I could see someone doing that!!! Good Idea of being extra careful!!! Good note!!!