Shedding and not feeding.

[ChloeTrahan82]

So the exotic expo is over with and the madness that it was, i left with two beautiful babies, a het ghost anery boa and a normal baby ball python. The boa already fed she was born in febuary and is almost 2 feet long and GORGEOUS, but my baby ball (i named booger and i will be having pics up soon of both the girl) has been shedding and after i bought him i asked when his last feeding was and she was like OH hes never eaten yet. I found out that when snakes shed they dont feed. Last night i went to his cage and he broke most of his skin and its peeling off well. My question is is when is the best time to try feeding,. I know i shouldnt have bought him after she said he hasnt fed hes only a month old also but since i have him home and im falling for him fast, i wanted to know whens the best time for feeding after he sheds. I got a bag of 8 (four pinkies for him and four fuzzies for the boa) so hes got food.

[Freebody]

i know a lot of breeders put the first meal in live to get them to start eating. if it has not eatten you can feed her as soon as possible, it will depend on the snake if it wants to eat before during or after a shed. if your snakes skin didnt come off all at once your humidity may be to low if its breaking up in small peices. GL with the first meal and i cant wait to see some pics :)

[derekcm87]

That baby never should have been up for sale in my opinion.... I have a baby cal king that I hatched out this year that will not eat on its own for anything and wouldnt dream of selling her untill she has taken down a few meals on her own and shows interest in eating. I have finally had to resort to force feeding and she still will not eat on her own, but if its been a month since she was hatched and still isnt eating I would offer her some food. If she doesnt take it right away then I would put her in a dark room Maybe in a deli cup and leave her alone with the meal for a few hours. Maybe split the head of the fuzzy too. Like you said many snakes will not eat while in shed. But if she still hasnt eaten since being hatched I dont know if I foresee her eating even fresh out of shed... Unless the guy that sold her to you was not properly caring for her. Theres a reason that snake has refusd to eat for a month right out of the egg. Dont freak out though you will get her to eat. I am not an expert on ball pythons but am speaking from my recent experience with my king. Im not too sure how long untill a ball python HAS to eat when coming out of the egg but I would do all you can to get her eating ASAP. I hope she takes the meal first try for you. Good Luck.

[dragunov.762]

i agree that some snake it doesn't matter if they are in shed or not or how long after a shed they will eat. it is a trial and error thing (at least it was with me) i would wait a week and give it a go. also your humidity is too low if the skin does not come off all at once try getting some sphagnum moss and putting it in a hide for her or even daily misting if at all possible. i am going to go out on a limb and say you have them in a glass terrarium and that makes it hard to keep humidity high (unless you live in a humid area)

[Will0W783]

They sold you a non-feeder without stating it as such until you'd paid???? Who the heck was this? When was the snake born? The fact that it hasn't eaten yet is not a good sign- baby balls can be notoriously hard to get started. Once it is through with the shed, I woud buy a live mouse pinky and try to get it to eat that. If it refuses, buy a frozen chick and rub the mouse pinky on that and see if it takes it. Only attempt a feeding every few days, because the snake can become easily frightened and that could prolong the time before it takes its first meal. If I were you, I would have demanded my money back right then and there at the show, and gone to another breeder for a healthy, feeding baby. I wish you the best of luck and my heart goes out to you, as it can be a long stressful road. Do not try to force-feed until it's been several months or weight loss is obvious, as force feeding a very young baby can cause more problems down the road.

[Freebody]

i agree that snake should have never been up for sale, all the snakes i have gotten from my breeder demand they fed then 3-4 time before releasing them to me, i read on this forum about somone putting tuna juice on the food to get a bad eater going and it worked perfect, i think it was marvalfreak but i could be wrong who did it.

[derekcm87]

Yes, I forgot to mention that my hatchling was literally starving to death and I tried every trick in the book and had to force feed in order to save its life at the very end. Didnt mean to make it sound like that is something you need to consider yet. I was just trying to say its possible later on down the road.

[ChloeTrahan82]

thanks guys so much for the feedback. yea ive been reading a ton of info on it and my last resort is forcefeeding. it was a younger girl in her early 20s who sold him to me. The expo was over and sadly i had no time to look and take time to talk to the breeders. i thought also it was shady of her to sell him to me and tell me AFTER i buy him oh hes never eaten yet. she was very spacy and my friend i worked with told me he thought she seemed high at points. It worrys me cause hes such a sweetie and ive fallen hard for him. also i dont think she had him in a humid area also cause that night i had him he split his shed and its in pieces. should i just mist his cage with a spray bottle or take him out and mist him himself?. i have him in a glass tank with the essentials, stick, hiding area and water dish. should i mist his tank even with the aspen moss? i tried the pinkies but i did it before he shed, and i was going to wait till he was completely done. also i noticed his skin started to break and come off after i rubbed him with lukewarm water, should i keep doing that ?. thanks guys again for the feedback this is helping out so much.

[Freebody]

try to put him in a container with some warm water with a lid and air holes, keep him in their making sure the water stays warm until his skin is good and soggy then you can gently help him shed it off, :) i do that when my snakes has a bad shed and a few peices are still stuck on.

[dragunov.762]

you can spray the aspen but it doesnt hold water very well and the light will dry it out quickly. what i do for my boa is i have a plastic shoebox container full of damp sphagnum moss (you can find it at the pet store or at you local hardware store if they have a gardening section. just make sure that it doesn't have chemicals added) i cut a hole in the lid for her to get in and out of and covered the hole with a rock cave from the pet store. it stays humid for about 3 days and then i remoisten the moss either with a spray bottle or in the sink.

[dragunov.762]

also there are beddings that will hold moister better like cocobark, orcid bark and others

[ctdasme]

Pretty sure i got one of those same snakes, mines not shedding though. Been letting him get used to his new home gonna try and feed him 2nite i think.

[ChloeTrahan82]

oh ok awsome!. i sprayed his cage this morning. also i wanted to ask. what about the coconut shavings they use in plants ? i bought a ton of it for my strawberry plants this summer and it holds water perfectly but i dont want to chance if its poisonous or if he accedently swallows it feeding it'll hurt him. i could do that for him for a couple weeks and just keep spraying it. i know i read not to use bark shavings or corn cob for substrate. the reason i aske about the coconut is i saw bricks of the dried out stuff at the exotics expo for 10-20 bucks and i have it sitting outside.

[gonesnakee]

OK as you already know this snake should not have been sold/purchased.
First things first it needs to be rid of all its retained shed deal with that first & also correct the humidity issues causing the bad shed.
A few tips from above or a bath with some help.
Anyhow once it has shed out then worry about feeding.
The fact it is a month old & has not ate is not a big deal.
The fact that it has went into a second shed shows that it was still growing on its egg gut thats IF it is even a month old??? I'm guessing it was maybe a week old & it had not even had its first shed yet, back to the seller obviously NOT being worthy.
A learning experince to ask ALL the Qs prior purchase & take all the sellers info for contact in regaurds to any issues or advice later.
OK ditch the tank right off, you can use that later.
They don't hold humidity worth crap & we are talking about a baby BP that has not fed yet, the tank is too big etc.
You want to set it up in a shoebox rubbermaid at the largest, do so in a low traffic area & have the temps around 90F.
No substrate other than papertowel, a couple toliet paper roll hides & a low delicup for a water dish.
As for prey it should always be offered at night & left with the snake.
Forget about pinky mice they are far too small, heck forget about mice altogether for that matter. This is a snake that you want to eat rats so start it on rats, don;t even offer mice.
Baby BPs fresh out of the egg can take rather large prey right off, some folks start them on small adult mice afterall or fuzzy rats.
I recommend getting a live Pinky Rat to begin with & put it in with the snake overnight in its rubbermaid.
DO NOT move it around to try & feed it (no delicupping overnight etc.) it will just stress it out, do not handle it until it is feeding well either, zero notta.
Basically leave it alone & try once weekly to feed, do not pester it with prey.
I'd alternate attempts between live & FT P rats only once per week.
don't even try until its had a few days to chill after dealing with the shedding issues.
If FT is used ensure it is heated up nice & warm approx 100F offer it with tongs showing the prey to the snake & doing a quick tease & then just leave it if it is not taken right away.
A month is NOTHING for a baby Python & they will quite often go 2-4 months prior taking anything depending on the specimen.
did you ask if it is even captive bred/hatched? It could be farmed (captive hatched) or worse yet wild caught even.
Buyers need to be on their toes & ask ALL of these things plus to look at a feeding record that includes dates & prey items as well as a hatch date.
Anyhow good luck with it & hope it feeds right off for you.
BPs can really SUCK as feeders at the best of times & babies can be hard to start.
They should be well established on FT prey prior even being offered for sale or only offered for sale to another experienced breeder with all the details & they can establish it. Mark

[ChloeTrahan82]

Booger has officially shed about 95% of his skin and has a beautiful rainbowy sheen to him. hes been very active and happy.he has a small patch over his neck still to shed so after that im going to wait about a week and try and feed him. he was not very active while shedding but now he is vert active. im excited about him. next step to feeeeed

[ChloeTrahan82]

grrrr i tried everything. even the tuna on the skin. does anyone know where i can get the live quail chicks shipped to me to try?.

[gonesnakee]

grrrr i tried everything. even the tuna on the skin. does anyone know where i can get the live quail chicks shipped to me to try?.

To quote myself from above:

"DO NOT move it around to try & feed it (no delicupping overnight etc.) it will just stress it out, do not handle it until it is feeding well either, zero notta.
Basically leave it alone & try once weekly to feed, do not pester it with prey.
I'd alternate attempts between live & FT P rats only once per week."

There is nothing you should be trying IMHO other than once a week trying with a live rat P & the next week trying with a FT one.
Trying too many things too often is just confusing & pesterimg the snake thus stressing it out & defeating the purpose.
Not once ever in 10 years have I ever tried tuna juice or chicken broth or any of that other crap folks suggest not once yet in the end they ALL eat.
It can take quite some time for a baby Python to even be hungry, MONTHS.
They have done nothing but feed the whole time they were inside the egg afterall & some will grow for a long time off of the yolk even having a 2nd shed prior feeding.
Its not that uncommon for them to go 3-4 months prior taking anything & then starting right off with no looking back.
Far too many people continually pester their snakes with various prey & methods etc. far too often & all it does is defeat the purpose.
Once a week is all one should try & stick with the basics.
Something you can try with either FT or live too is to wash the prey.
Take some dish soap & gently wash the prey, rinse it well & offer it.
Sometimes thats all it takes as silly as it sounds & as far as all the scenting crap goes if ones going to try all that they need to ash the prey to better "mask" the orginal scent to begin with.
Quite often the washing trick works as the snake has already been pestered with prey enough that it associates its smell with an annoyance not a meal.
There is no worries for the snake unless it is becoming thin & lethargic at which point an assist feed may be warranted.
This would not be for a few months.
It doesn't take much to stress out baby snakes & the more farting around with various crap & moving them around etc. you do, the longer they stay off of food in my experience anyhow (over 10 years, 1000s of babies), Mark
P.S. again ensure all husbandry needs are properly met & a small close quarters setup in a low traffic area with zero interaction until feeding well, individually housed of course.

[mykee]

Mark pretty much said it all, and is often the case, his years of experience and knowledge that he so graciously shares (dealing with likely thousands of reptiles in that time) will be ignored.
Tough titties again I guess, eh Mark?
Almost seems like a waste of time to even bother sometimes, non?

Anyways:
"Booger has officially shed about 95% of his skin and has a beautiful rainbowy sheen to him"
THAT is nothing to be excited about. If it doesn't come off in one piece (i.e. 100%) all at the same time, it is a bad shed.
If you want your baby ball python to eat, you'll need to provide it the requirements that it needs to do so.
"95% shed" means you have an enclosure that has unacceptably low humidity.
Fix the husbandry first, then he'll eat.

[ChloeTrahan82]

yea i think im going to stick to just his word,. ive been getting a lot of feedback but i am going to stick to what he said. hes still active thank goodness. even caught him getting out the cage, my genius boyfriend didnt put the top on his cage. my cat jacky was actually trying to protect him from my other cat lola which was actually sweet to see. thank goodness i realised what was going on. i guess overall i just dont want to lose him. hes my first snake and im just a sap for animals. i dont mean to be a bugger on her, i guess just an annoying naive newbie ;) i do thank all and appreciate the info and feedback