• Hello!

    Either you have not registered on this site yet, or you are registered but have not logged in. In either case, you will not be able to use the full functionality of this site until you have registered, and then logged in after your registration has been approved.

    Registration is FREE, so please register so you can participate instead of remaining a lurker....

    Please be certain that the location field is correctly filled out when you register. All registrations that appear to be bogus will be rejected. Which means that if your location field does NOT match the actual location of your registration IP address, then your registration will be rejected.

    Sorry about the strictness of this requirement, but it is necessary to block spammers and scammers at the door as much as possible.

Rescue ball python...

Have you tried a gerbil, preferably a baby/juvenile, and live? If you can't/won't go that route, try scenting mice/rats with soiled gerbil litter. Many, many years ago, Hubby and I took in a ball python that had stopped eating. It was an adult but we gave it plenty of time to get over the breeding season issue, etc...over 8 months in our possession without eating. We didn't weigh snakes at that time but knew it was losing weight. We had tried everything in the F/T and live categories of mice and rats with no success. We broke down and purchased a gerbil, and "BAM!!", snake took it without hesitation. After that, we got some soiled litter from the gerbil cage at the pet store, scented mice with it and it eventually went back to eating regularly.
 
Susan said:
Have you tried a gerbil, preferably a baby/juvenile, and live? If you can't/won't go that route, try scenting mice/rats with soiled gerbil litter. Many, many years ago, Hubby and I took in a ball python that had stopped eating. It was an adult but we gave it plenty of time to get over the breeding season issue, etc...over 8 months in our possession without eating. We didn't weigh snakes at that time but knew it was losing weight. We had tried everything in the F/T and live categories of mice and rats with no success. We broke down and purchased a gerbil, and "BAM!!", snake took it without hesitation. After that, we got some soiled litter from the gerbil cage at the pet store, scented mice with it and it eventually went back to eating regularly.
Click to expand...

Susan brings up a really good point. A lot of our males, have started to go off feed, for the breeding season, and we found some F/T gerbils in the freezer. We thawed them out just for the heck out it, and tried feeding some of the males and a few other holdouts and most of them actually did very well eating the gerbils, F/T too!
 
Susan, If I had access to baby gerbils I'd try it. They would have to be pretty small since this ball is just a baby. I don't know anyone now that is breeding them and all gerbils at Petsmart are adults. I don't know if I could get some of the bedding though. I'm trying a mouse peach fuzzy this evening (live) to see if she's less intimidated by something smaller. She's in her hide so that might also help. I'll check later and see. At the rate she's losing weight (which in itself is not right) I don't think she can go forever. She's lost 6 grams in one week already. A lot for an already small snake. I did try f/t ASFR (very small) and she wasn't interested. I'll let you know how she does on the mouse.
 
MegF. said:
Susan, If I had access to baby gerbils I'd try it. They would have to be pretty small since this ball is just a baby. I don't know anyone now that is breeding them and all gerbils at Petsmart are adults. I don't know if I could get some of the bedding though. I'm trying a mouse peach fuzzy this evening (live) to see if she's less intimidated by something smaller. She's in her hide so that might also help. I'll check later and see. At the rate she's losing weight (which in itself is not right) I don't think she can go forever. She's lost 6 grams in one week already. A lot for an already small snake. I did try f/t ASFR (very small) and she wasn't interested. I'll let you know how she does on the mouse.
Click to expand...

Well, I think you deserve hand for truly working with this snake Meg.
 
MegF. said:
Susan, If I had access to baby gerbils I'd try it. They would have to be pretty small since this ball is just a baby. I don't know anyone now that is breeding them and all gerbils at Petsmart are adults. I don't know if I could get some of the bedding though. I'm trying a mouse peach fuzzy this evening (live) to see if she's less intimidated by something smaller. She's in her hide so that might also help. I'll check later and see. At the rate she's losing weight (which in itself is not right) I don't think she can go forever. She's lost 6 grams in one week already. A lot for an already small snake. I did try f/t ASFR (very small) and she wasn't interested. I'll let you know how she does on the mouse.
Click to expand...

Good job sticking it out, Meg! I'm sure your hard work will pay off in the end!
 
I hope so. I like her...she's very sweet although I've been keeping any handling down to a minimum to avoid any stress. Wish I had the secret ball python key that would make her eat! Going to check on the mouse situation....
 
Nothing yet...put the fuzzy farther in the hide....sigh....@$@#$@#$#$......That's what I think about it :)
 
Too bad you just can't shake them by the throat and get them motivated! I'll check in the morning...
 
She did not survive. I was going to run to petsmart and get some of their gerbil bedding to try scenting with that but when I checked her in the evening she had died. She lost weight rapidly-not normal. I think she just wasn't right. She was quite bloated when I got her from the vet, could have been kidney issues, maybe just gas. Who knows? I got rid of the entire tub etc, as I couldn't be sure she didn't have some other disease. I don't trust the animals out of petsmart...at least reptile wise, especially when they weren't healthy to begin with. I talked with the girl that was going to take her as to whether or not she wanted me to force feed her for the possible long-term and whether she'd want to do that. We both felt that it wasn't in the animal's best overall health to do that.
 
MegF. said:
She did not survive. I was going to run to petsmart and get some of their gerbil bedding to try scenting with that but when I checked her in the evening she had died. She lost weight rapidly-not normal. I think she just wasn't right. She was quite bloated when I got her from the vet, could have been kidney issues, maybe just gas. Who knows? I got rid of the entire tub etc, as I couldn't be sure she didn't have some other disease. I don't trust the animals out of petsmart...at least reptile wise, especially when they weren't healthy to begin with. I talked with the girl that was going to take her as to whether or not she wanted me to force feed her for the possible long-term and whether she'd want to do that. We both felt that it wasn't in the animal's best overall health to do that.
Click to expand...

Sorry to hear that Meg!. Sounds like what you said...wasn't meant to be.
 
It was sad, but I don't know that I could have done anything different. I gave her smaller, closer quarters to make her more secure, tried f/t ASFR twice, I tried pre killed, live, more live and was going to try the gerbil scented. She would basically curl up around the live prey and lay there.
 
Thank you all. While I wasn't in any way bonded to this snake, I still feel bad that I couldn't keep her alive....I apologized to the vet...although I know this isn't my fault. Somehow I felt that if I gave her a secure quiet place with perhaps live food that would do it. She was a sweet girl, but not to be.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top