whats wrong?

[twistnitsideway]

Hello, this is my first post and I would post this in the new to forum but this is somewhat an emergency so never the less here you go.


I have just recently aquired a young ball python. I have had him for about 3 or 4 weeks. I am having concerns he hasn't been eating at all we have tried the pinkies and even live as well as braining the pinkies as I did research before hand. anyways hes in a 30 gallon tank with cedar mulch and some tree branches and I have a heat bulb and a temperature reader that says its around 87-90 degrees depending if i have my fan on. anyways its gotten to the point where she is very skinny shes not drinking water and is motionless. So at this point I am force feed him from a sureng with reptile calcium and chicken baby food with some water.

What I am wondering is will I have to continue to do this or will he eventually get better (or worse for that matter) I am very worried that I am going to end up losing this battle.

any help with this is greatly appreciated.

[infernalis]

Your setup, does it have a screen top on it?

[KORBIN5895]

Also get it off the cedar as it is hard on their respiratory system. Try cocohusk or aspen.

[Gungirl]

Ok stop right there please.

Force feeding is far more dangerous than not eating for a few weeks. Your snake if healthy will be fine missing food for a few months as long as it is kept correctly. Stop the force feeding right away.

Toss the cedar mulch that is not good for him at all. Get cypress, cocohusk or even just plain paper towels for now.

Your snake needs to feel secure, do you have 2 hides of the same size, One on the hot side one on the cold side?

Cover both sides and the back of the tank with anything to add security. Paper, cloth, fish tank background.

If you have a screen lid cover it with plastic wrap as much as you can. This will help keep his humidity up. He needs 55-60% humidity all he time and higher when in shed.

Only offer prey Items once a week- every 10 days no more often. The more often you offer prey the longer it will stay stressed and refuse to eat.

Seeing as you have force fed this guy I would make all adjustments and leave him alone 100% except changing his water for 2 weeks. Then offer 1 prey Item, if he doesn't eat it just leave it in the tank over night and check on him in the morning. continue doing this until he eats 3-4 meals for you.

Hope this helps

[Lankyrob]

^^^^This^^^^

[twistnitsideway]

Originally Posted by Gungirl

Ok stop right there please.

Force feeding is far more dangerous than not eating for a few weeks. Your snake if healthy will be fine missing food for a few months as long as it is kept correctly. Stop the force feeding right away.

Toss the cedar mulch that is not good for him at all. Get cypress, cocohusk or even just plain paper towels for now.

Your snake needs to feel secure, do you have 2 hides of the same size, One on the hot side one on the cold side?

Cover both sides and the back of the tank with anything to add security. Paper, cloth, fish tank background.

If you have a screen lid cover it with plastic wrap as much as you can. This will help keep his humidity up. He needs 55-60% humidity all he time and higher when in shed.

Only offer prey Items once a week- every 10 days no more often. The more often you offer prey the longer it will stay stressed and refuse to eat.

Seeing as you have force fed this guy I would make all adjustments and leave him alone 100% except changing his water for 2 weeks. Then offer 1 prey Item, if he doesn't eat it just leave it in the tank over night and check on him in the morning. continue doing this until he eats 3-4 meals for you.

Hope this helps

thank you so much heading to pet store now.

[Gungirl]

Good luck and let us know if there is anything else we can do to help you.

[infernalis]

Originally Posted by KORBIN5895

Also get it off the cedar as it is hard on their respiratory system. Try cocohusk or aspen.

Good catch Korbin, I missed the Cedar until you saw it.

[infernalis]

Originally Posted by Gungirl

Ok stop right there please.

Force feeding is far more dangerous than not eating for a few weeks. Your snake if healthy will be fine missing food for a few months as long as it is kept correctly. Stop the force feeding right away.

Toss the cedar mulch that is not good for him at all. Get cypress, cocohusk or even just plain paper towels for now.

Your snake needs to feel secure, do you have 2 hides of the same size, One on the hot side one on the cold side?

Cover both sides and the back of the tank with anything to add security. Paper, cloth, fish tank background.

If you have a screen lid cover it with plastic wrap as much as you can. This will help keep his humidity up. He needs 55-60% humidity all he time and higher when in shed.

Only offer prey Items once a week- every 10 days no more often. The more often you offer prey the longer it will stay stressed and refuse to eat.

Seeing as you have force fed this guy I would make all adjustments and leave him alone 100% except changing his water for 2 weeks. Then offer 1 prey Item, if he doesn't eat it just leave it in the tank over night and check on him in the morning. continue doing this until he eats 3-4 meals for you.

Hope this helps

Excellent post, and I'm sure it's an oversight....

Only leave dead mice in the cage overnight. Never leave a live rodent unattended in a snake cage.

[Gungirl]

Ahh yes Thanks for the catch Wayne!

[KORBIN5895]

Originally Posted by infernalis

Good catch Korbin, I missed the Cedar until you saw it.

Lol. I missed the force feeding part.....

[twistnitsideway]

sorry to say but I came home to see a motionless snake..........She has passed

thank you for support guys...and girl

[Aaron_S]

It's sad that you lost this snake purely because your research sucked.

I hope you take a look around this forum for proper information and never buy another snake from wherever or whom ever you got it from.

[Gungirl]

Most likely was due to the force feeding and cedar..

Ask a lot of questions before you get another snake. We are more than happy to teach you what you need to know. I hope you continue to learn and in a while get another scale friend.

[Calihusker]

Cedar isn't simply just "unhealthy" for your snake, there's been multiple cases where it has killed the animal..

Sorry for your loss.