Feeding

[goReptiles]

Anyone else having problems with their balls eating? Mine hasn't eaten since we gave him a bigger cage. He was in a 10 gallon for a while, and we upped him to a 29 several months ago. We attributed his not eating to the weather, but geezus... he's still not eating. He stays at my boyfriend's house, and I couldn't possibly tell you how much money has been thrown away buying rats and small mice because they just die. I bought him a rat today, and he didn't eat it, so it's at my house to try again next week. It's ridiculous...

He won't eat frozen. And as I mentioned in another post... We didn't feed him frozen, cold mice. We thawed them. Gave them to him at room temperatures. Boiling temperatures. Marinated in tuna juice, and gave wet. Blow dried the tuna juice, gave dry and hot. Covered the cage all the way around with towels. Gave him a makeshift house (before he had a real one) and stuck it in the house with him. We tried everything except putting him in a bag with the dead one.

Anyone have suggestions about what to do? He's been eating live since then. He took to them great. But now in the new cage... Nothing...

 

[ama1997]

How old is it? Is it male or female? I have a few that will go 6 months or more without eating. Last year after laying her eggs. She stopped eating in October when i started cooling for breeding. She didn't start eating again the end of September. She went almost a year without eating. She was almost 3000 g after she laid her eggs. After her first meal in almost a year she weighed about 1800 g. I took her to the vet and they couldn't find anything wrong with her. They said she would start eating when she wanted just to keep offering food every week. She never looked sick or to under weight. Yours might just be off food getting ready to breed or could be something else. Is its cage temps ok? If it starts looking skinny and sick looking take it to the vet see what they say. Do you know if its wild caught? Sometimes wild caught balls don't eat that good. Sometimes they will start to eat and sometimes they won't.

 

[PaulSage]

Have you tried offering a frozen/thawed rat from tongs? It would help to turn all the lights off in the room except for a red bulb (so that YOU can see) for about an hour before offering the rat. Sometimes it helps to dance the rat around like a little puppet. (well, it made it more fun for me anyway)

Also, you could offer him one small live one and one f/t one at the same time. Sometimes they'll take the f/t one if it's sitting there after eating a small live meal.

Good luck!

 

[ReptileMan27]

BPs tend to be off and on feeders. My one finally ate after not eating in months. Sometimes they go all winter without eating. Aslong as their not losing alot of wieght and have water availiable,their fine.

 

[goReptiles]

it's a male. we figure he's about 10-12 months currently. we've tried teeny tiny mice. medium mice. small rats. everything just about. i'm taking care of a small rat currently. tired of them just dying at my boyfriends hands. we have turned the lights off and left a dark blue light on him. nothing. he's loosing weight badly.

 

[Scott Ashton]

Whitney -

What are the temps like on the warm and cool sides of the enclosure?