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Ball Python feeding question

N

newbie319

New member
You guys have been so helpful when it came to my cornsnake, I thought I'd try and ask this here.

Hi, I am a new owner to a 2013 female ball. I'm not new to snakes as I own 4 altogether, but balls are a bit different than colubrids. First question, I've had her for a little over 3 weeks, and try feeding a fuzzy mouse every Thursday. She has yet to eat for me. I've tried everything from dangling it outside her hide, to scenting it with rat, to leaving it in over night. I suppose this is a 2 part question
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First is the size of the prey too small? And second, any tips you ball owners can offer?
She is in a 4 tub rack system with belly heat. The tape is at a constant 83-85 (hooked to a cheaper thermostat for now). I have a digital thermometer where I read to put it on the tape itself and not inside the tub. Is that ok? Should I put it inside, or just raise the temp slightly? The other 2 snakes that currently call the rack home, (corn and king) have no issues feeding. I know their temps are slightly lower than a ball, but they feed just fine at the higher temps.
And I know balls are picky eaters sometimes, and they fast for absolutely no reason, but she's just a baby! She weighed in 2 weeks ago at 74 grams and has stayed steady 72-74 so I wasn't getting too concerned, but now thinking it been such a stretch for not feeding I thought I'd go looking for opinions and tips. Any help would be appreciated, and any extra tips that might make her more comfortable would be great.

Thanks so much,
Kendra
 
What was she eating with her breeder? That's always good to know. It's possible they were feeding live or something.

Have you tried braining the mouse and leaving it with the snake? I have to slit open the mice for my dumerils. I also have to blow-dry the mouse after thawing in water, and especially warm the head with the blow-dryer, or he won't eat it.
 
I will definitely try the blowdrying method. I'm not sure on the size they were feeding, I will message them now. But I know she was feeding well on f/t. I've tried braining the mouse, scenting it with rat ( I own 2 pet rats), just can't get her even the tiniest bit interested. Her tongue will flick than she slithers the opposite direction. I know trying too much will stress them out and make them worse, so I've kept it to every thursday, like the previous owner.
 
Thank you so much for sharing that link. It is giving me some very useful information. I think I am going to try that 'reset' method, haha. She's in the dark bedroom, in a rack system so she does have it all dark. I've only handled her 2x, once when I first got her to put her in her new home and once when I was trying to change her water, and she was on top of the dish. I will keep up on the no handling, and try the blowdryer/overnight method again.

I appreciate all the help I get from everyone on this site. Thank you again!!
 
Fuzzy mice are also quite small, even for a baby. Mine ate adult mice when he was little. I think getting them on rats early is a good thing, though mine switched just fine.
 
About feeding: I never let my ball pythons near mice, period. (Keep in mind this is MY personal preference, some breeders are willing to feed their balls mice; I am not) It is VERY annoying and often very difficult if not impossible to get them to switch to rats once they've been on mice for any length of time.

Definitely ask the breeder what they were feeding it. Hopefully the answer is rats. You might think of trying a live fuzzy (supervised) but before that, I would do the blowdryer method as well. Kind of waft the smell over to the snake while you're blowdrying it and then offer it when it is VERY warm, but not burning hot to the touch.

Since a lot of people ask, what's the problem with them being on mice forever? They outgrow them, quickly, especially if the ball python is a female. And when they do, there are a lot of ball pythons that won't take multiple prey items. The ones that do take multiples, may require 4+ adult mice to make up the size of a rat. Rats are just better for them, nutritionally. And it's likely going to be cheaper for you to buy 1 appropriate sized rat than multiple mice.

As for housing, ball pythons and colubrids cannot live in the same rack because they have DRASTICALLY different requirements. Unless each shelf is heated individually, of course, but it sounds like this is not the case.

Ball pythons need a hot spot of 89-91 whereas corns and kings need a hot spot of 84 or 85. MAJOR temp difference, even if it doesn't feel like it to you.

So your corn and king are doing fine, because those ARE their required temps. Balls need an ambient air temp of AT LEAST 75, but slightly higher is preferred.

My suggestion for measuring temps is to get an infrared temp gun so you can measure exactly where you want (INSIDE the bin overtop of the hot spot). The problem with measuring the heat tape and not the actual temp in the bin is that you lose a couple of degrees through the plastic. Since you say the temps are 85 or so, This leads me to believe the temps for your ball are actually probably far, far lower than the required 90 degrees. With heat loss through the bin, your hot spot inside is probably more like 81 or 82. This will certainly lend itself to your snake not eating.

So once you get the ball it's own rack (if you plan on getting more balls) or it's own enclosure and fix the husbandry errors, I think you'll find your snake a lot happier and more cooperative when it comes feeding time!
 
Thank you guys so much for your input. I thought maybe the rack wasn't going to work out with her, I was just hoping to find a medium I guess. If I move her to a 10 gal. aquarium, with her own heat mat,thermostat, etc...how long before I try to feed again? And right now, I have 4 different sized mice. I will get some rats on my payday this Wednesday, but won't receive them til probably thursday. Should I just wait it out or try another mouse first, then move her???
 
I would get her in a new enclosure first that tends to all her needs before worrying about feeding.

Then once she's settled in (maybe a week after you put her in the new place) you can try with a rat.

I suggest getting a Sterilite/Rubbermaid/etc container before a 10g tank. Glass aquariums are a monster pain when it comes to ball pythons. They CAN work, but they require so many tweaks it's just a headache, especially since you're still trying to get the heating down. You don't want to bring a humidity problem into the equation.

They tend to prefer tubs, anyways. I suggest sticking your heat mat to a ceramic tile with good quality aluminum tape. That way you can move it as her tub size grows.
 
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