Problems feeding my ball

[etchouta]

Hi everyone.

First post here but I have been a long-time reader of the forum. I never had any problems with any of my snakes regarding feeding (boids and colubrids) until I acquired my first ball python. I know they are picky eaters. Here is my situation:

I fed my ballpython 2 weeks after getting him (beginnig of march). That time it was an adult mouse. I left it over in its tanks overnight (I always feed f/t) and the next day it was still there, so i decided to wiggle it in front of his hide in the morning before throwing it away. That's when he striked and he ate the thing.

Then a week later I decided to go with a small rat. As soon as i put the rat in, the snake striked and ate the whole thing (took him a while but he did it). So at that time I was really happy.

Then the problems started. A week later tried a rat again, nothing. Then after a couple of days, nothing. Even tried a mouse again to see.

And in the last two weeks, the snake has been active, coming out at sundown and roaming around the enclosure, so I figured I could try again. Tried a rat (same size as the one he ate), nothing. He would get excited, crank back and look at the thing from 9pm until the morning, sometimes stretching to go smell the rat and then returning to its ambush position. I tried wiggling the rat, heating it in the microwave, etc. Nothing. But I noticed that he was yawning a lot, like checking if he could stretch enough to accomodate the prey. So I decided to try fuzzy rats, and hopper rats. Nothing. He is really interested and jumpy when I put the prey in the enclosure (or feed tank), but never strikes. I was wondering if any of you had the same problem before.

My daytime temp is an average 83 degrees, with a cold end (78) and a warm end (93). Two hides, one on each side. Humidity 55%. IK even tried turning off my infrared light at night so the snake could pick the heat from the prey more easily. I feed in the enclosure, but tried in a separate feeding tank and tried the pillowcase trick but none of these worked. The snake is in perfect condition. Any ideas what is going on?

Thanks for reading this long post.

Alex

[mykee]

You're trying too many things too quickly; being counterproductive, and probably stressing your snake out, making the problem worse. If he's not hungry, try again in a week, not every couple days. If he ate a rat, I would stick with rats and NOT go back to mice, it's a slippery slope. He'll eat when he's hungry, I promise.

[nita]

Agreed only offer once a week, when he is hungry he will eat.

[locastro21]

see im still having problems with my new ball.. she is a 2yr old female and shows no interest in f/t but goes nuts when u put a live adult mouse in. I rely need to break her of this live prey preferance. U guys have any ideas

[mykee]

Mice as a food source for ball pythons is just a bad idea, not sure whether you got her that way, or you've had her forever, but I would try to get her over to rats ASAP. Try a restrained, live rat. Try a rat that has had time to run around in some used mouse shavings. Try a mouse, followed by a rat, (head to a$$). Loads of things to try, just space them out.