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Reluctant feeders...solving the problem
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by levi3 on March 25, 2003
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I have a ball python that I purchsed from a pet store last fall. The poor thing has been riddled with problems the whole time I have had it. First off it had a respitory infection,trip to the vet and an antibiotic took care of that. The thing wouldn't eat for the longest time. Finally I found mites on the animal. A friend of mine told me how to take care of that problem, the same guy told me to put the snake in a small sweaterbox in a dark place on 1/2 a heating pad for a few days and then offer a meal. The snake ate right off. Hopefully it will continue to do so regularly. Any of you guys have any stories about reluctant feeders and how did you finally get them to eat??? Did they turn out to have a medical problem, or was it stress keeping them from eating???
Thanks Ray
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RE: Reluctant feeders...solving the problem
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by Chance on March 25, 2003
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Having my more than fair share of reluctant feeders, I thought I would offer my experiences here. From what I have found out, only time and patience seem to be able to overcome reluctant feeders. Obviously a sick snake that isn't eating needs to have medical treatment or it could possibly die, but a seemingly healthy snake that has been dewormed and is kept in decent conditions may just need some time. Like your ball python example, those guys seem to just go off feed for no reason, wait a few months, then get back on. My experience has been mostly with w.c. imported monocled cobras and boomslangs, but still, all it took was a little deparasitizer and LOTS of patience. Just try all types of prey you can get ahold of. With reluctant feeders, I've tried live mice, dead mice, live rats, dead rats (use small or fuzzy rats for smaller types of snakes, sometimes rats just have a more preferable smell over mice), live chicks, dead chicks, and almost tried live finches with the booms when I thought nothing would work with them. Finally with them though, they just settled in well enough and started slamming food. Reluctant feeders can be a pretty big mystery when there is seemingly nothing wrong with the animal. Just remember though, force feeding is the absolute last resort. And even when you're ready to force feed, try assist feeding first (gently making the snake bite the prey, then set it down and see if it will take it the rest of the way).
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