Just found my 2 ft long ball python after 3 months, any suggestions on what to do?

I can't believe we found her, but there she was in the bathroom. That's where we found her the first time she got away but only after 2 weeks... this time it was 3 months. Needless to say, it won't happen a third time We live in a very small town and no petstores are open here til Monday. Any suggestions on what to feed it? She was eating 2 baby mice every 6 days or so before. She's drinking water. Has anyone had a snake live this long without feeding?

Three months without feeding is definitely not out of the question. My very healthy female has gone some where around 2 and 1/2 months or so without food.

But who can say for sure you ball python hasn't been living off mice for the past 3 months? I would say to start off feeding one smaller than usual pray item. Maybe feeding one baby mouse instead of 2. As long as she seems to be moving noramlly and drinking I wouldn't worry too much unless she looks like she is in horrible shape.

Hope she recovers from her little adventure!

Very true... I have balls decide on their very own that food is just not good enough for them... for around 2 or 3 months... then they may have a little snack or two... that is one thing about the bp's they are picky eaters!

That's actually part of the reason why I have corn snakes rather than balls. They are so much easier to feed! The ball I had never ate a f/t in her life. I just think cornsnakes are so much easier to deal with in that respect.

Three months isn't good but your snake is far from starving. Feed it just as you were before but I suggest feeding your snake one meal a week about the same size as the snakes girth. If your feeding 2 meals at a time the same size as the snakes girth, this is offer feeding. One meal a week is plenty with these snakes. And congrats on finding it, now don't let it happen again.

tbtusk said:

That's actually part of the reason why I have corn snakes rather than balls. They are so much easier to feed! The ball I had never ate a f/t in her life. I just think cornsnakes are so much easier to deal with in that respect.

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IMO it adds to the snakes personality.

Actually, I would wait about 5 days before you feed your snake. I would not be in a hurry or rush. Treat this as a brand new snake. Your snake may get nervous and regurgitate on you. So give it time to adjust being kept up again in a cage again.

I also recommend getting a NEW cage.. so you never have to find your snake in the Bathroom again.

Chase13 said:

IMO it adds to the snakes personality.

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you know, i guess I would have to agree. At the moment I can't deal with that though, but balls are very cool, so maybe eventually I will get back into them.

On the other hand, WHOO HOO that you found her!!

I would also say to wait several days to feed, and do a smaller prey item. And padlock that snake in the cage!

tricksterpup said:

Actually, I would wait about 5 days before you feed your snake. I would not be in a hurry or rush. Treat this as a brand new snake. Your snake may get nervous and regurgitate on you. So give it time to adjust being kept up again in a cage again.

I also recommend getting a NEW cage.. so you never have to find your snake in the Bathroom again.

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I agree with every word of this post.

DEFINITELY find and fix the escape route, at the VERY least...once is an accident, twice is negligence...

lil_rab2005 said:

I can't believe we found her, but there she was in the bathroom. That's where we found her the first time she got away but only after 2 weeks... this time it was 3 months. Needless to say, it won't happen a third time We live in a very small town and no petstores are open here til Monday. Any suggestions on what to feed it? She was eating 2 baby mice every 6 days or so before. She's drinking water. Has anyone had a snake live this long without feeding?

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Speak to some of the members of a dedicated python/boa forum and you'll find Balls are notorious for not not eating and I've read acounts of snakes going up to a year without eating. 3 months is nothing.

well done that must be a huge relief, i dont think its realy negligence these things happen dont they

I totally agree with all of you.

My son 12 first time snake owner, kept the top off and he says it won't happen again. I will make sure of that. :grin01: Thank you everyone for all the info. I think I will wait a couple of days and feed her one baby rat. From all the posts I see on here ya'll are against feeding live pray but down in florida, that's all we know. She feeds excellent!! Never turns down anything, it's gone before it hits the bottom of the cage lol. By the time she was 5 months old she was lookin around for another one, so we started feeding her two. Now she's 10 months old 2 feet long. I always stay there to make sure the rat doesn't bite her but she gets it before we're standing there for 30 seconds. Even the second one we throw in after that one 30 minutes later, she gets it before the rat can even touch her. We always keep an eye on her to make sure she's not hurt at all. Thanks for all the advice it really helped alot. Lil.

Nothing wrong with feeding live if that;s all they will take. F/T is safer and more convenient if it;s possible.

I have a new baby BP that I've been feeding live African soft furred rats. Once she;s well estavblished and settled I'm going to try converting her to F/T, but until then it's live.

lil_rab2005 said:

My son 12 first time snake owner, kept the top off and he says it won't happen again. I will make sure of that. :grin01: Thank you everyone for all the info. I think I will wait a couple of days and feed her one baby rat. From all the posts I see on here ya'll are against feeding live pray but down in florida, that's all we know. She feeds excellent!! Never turns down anything, it's gone before it hits the bottom of the cage lol. By the time she was 5 months old she was lookin around for another one, so we started feeding her two. Now she's 10 months old 2 feet long. I always stay there to make sure the rat doesn't bite her but she gets it before we're standing there for 30 seconds. Even the second one we throw in after that one 30 minutes later, she gets it before the rat can even touch her. We always keep an eye on her to make sure she's not hurt at all. Thanks for all the advice it really helped alot. Lil.

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Well...give your son a "wag of the finger" for me, and tell him we are forgiving, but disappointed ...

As for the live vs. f/t...my BP will ONLY eat live, and ONLY if it is still twitching. I can't even feed f/k, because I can't go near her when she's eating, so "jiggling" it doesn't work. I need to HEAVILY stun her food. I will usually give the adult mouse she's getting 2 swift whacks against the table, than toss it in. The bp will go over and investigate, get all coiled and ready to strike, but will NOT strike until she sees it twitch or try to get up.

If you're going to feed live, I definitely recommend stunning them, at the least. No matter how diligent and watchful you are, it only takes a split second for your lovely pet to lose an eye from a defensive rat. By the time you see something happen and can react, the eye can be damaged permanently, or even pierced or bitten out. A couple swift whacks against the table wil render it stunned enough to (hopefully) prevent any damage from a defensive rat. Yours sounds like she eats rather aggressively. Mine usually takes her time about it, so even a heavily stunned mouse can "come around" by the time she gets to the business of constricting.

Good luck in the future, and I'm glad you found your snake. If it means anything to you, my daughter knows that she is not allowed to touch the cages unless I am there. She doesn't like the rule, but she follows it...FWIW...

Thank you

I really appreciate all the advice you two. She would never even go to something that was dead. And tyflier, I know what you mean lol. I don't want my hand anywhere near the cage when putting a baby mouse in there lol. I definitely will whack it before putting it in there, never thought about that. Great idea... also great idea about not having him open the cage til we were present. Thank you. I was so relieved to find her. Well actually my 5 year old daughter came running out of the bathroom saying "I found the snake, she's dead" and she was crying. We ran in there and my heart was pounding. I didn't wanna find her dead, I became so attached to her and was heart broken that we couldn't find her for that long. We got in there and there she was by the toilet, coiled back... didn't take her long to figure out who we were. I immediately picked the middle of her up with one hand and calmed her down with the other and gave her a big hug and I knew she was happy cuz she didn't try and get away. Man, I missed her. I don't know about all balls but ours is very affectionate and has never bitten. She'll stay on your neck for hours. Man, I missed the hell out of her lol. I started comin' to this forum cuz I love snakes and corns are so beautiful. I love reading all the informative posts. One day, I would love to own one but for now this is what I have and love lol. Thanks everyone for all the helpful advice. :wavey: Lil.

Thanks for all the helpful advice everyone... she's doin' great!!!

Wow, it's been 11 days since we found her and she's great. As soon as I had her in my arms, she's been as sweet as a snake is able to be lol. She won't leave our laps. I think she missed us, if that's possible. lol She's eaten 2 mice and fixin' to shed. She had a bowel movement since we found her so I know she ate something. Is it possible that ball pythons will eat lizards cuz I noticed that we had 2 lizards runnin' around the house and then they were gone lol. Do snakes eat other things other than rodents?

Thanks everyone for all the helpful advice. My son isn't happy about the new rule (No gettin' the snake out til an adult is around) but oh well, lol.

I started thumpin' the mice in the head before puttin' it in the cage also, thanks so much tyflier. Great idea.

Take care all,

Lil.