New Pythons not eating

[Nahph1]

I just purchased a couple more ball pythons (6 total now). 3 were purchased at a show and 2 online and only one of them has been eating. They were all supposed to eat f/t except for one of them. I've tried to feed them 4 times now and no one shows any interest. It's been over 3 weeks now and i'm starting to get nervous. This weekend I will try a live mouse for the one thats used to eating live. But the others I dont know what to do. I thought it just might be stress from shipping, and new home but its been 3 weeks now. Anyone have any idea's, should I be worried?

By the way they are all quite young (under 300 grams)

 

[NextWorldExotics]

Hi,
Are they captive born or captive hatched?
Do you have a hide box?
What temps are you keeping them at?
Are they all kept together or do they each have their own cage?
What substrate are you using?
What part of the country did they come from and where do you live?

Well figure this out :main_yes:
Jon

 

[Nahph1]

info

Yes they are all captive born from captive born and bred parents. They are all housed seperatly in 32qt. sterlite containers in a rack with 11inch belly heat in the back. they have a hide box over the heat at 89-91 and other side is about 78-80. Also they are on paper towels for now. I purchased 3 at the last PA show, and the others were ordered from texas and chicago. I live in upstate new york.
I have had a ball python for almost a year now, and I also have a boa and several corn snakes(not to mention 20+ geckos!) I havent had any of them refuse to eat unless they were about to shed.
Please help, I hate worring about them and want them to be healthy.

 

[NextWorldExotics]

Yes they are all captive born from captive born and bred parents. They are all housed seperatly in 32qt. sterlite containers in a rack with 11inch belly heat in the back. they have a hide box over the heat at 89-91 and other side is about 78-80. Also they are on paper towels for now. I purchased 3 at the last PA show, and the others were ordered from texas and chicago. I live in upstate new york.
I have had a ball python for almost a year now, and I also have a boa and several corn snakes(not to mention 20+ geckos!) I havent had any of them refuse to eat unless they were about to shed.
Please help, I hate worring about them and want them to be healthy.

Your setup sounds fine!
Have you tried live?
How many grams are they?
What substrate were they being kept on before( sometimes they will not feed if you change it... they usually just take more time to acclimate)

 

[Nahph1]

info

They range from about 200grams up to 350grams. I dont know if morphs make a difference but they are 1.1 het.albino, 1.1 pastel, .1 spider. I dont know what substrate they were on, the one's I got at the show were on paper towels. I was thinking of trying cypress or aspen. And I will try live if they dont eat f/t tomorrow.

 

[NextWorldExotics]

I would get them on some kind of substrate , since the breeder most likely had them on one. Cypress works well for c.h. , and wild caughts that arent eating... I use mostly aspen for captive born though... From everything you said, i would say they are either still aclimating or mis-represented.

If you want you can get my # off my site and we can go over this on the phone... It would be easier than going back and forth on here. Or you can pm me yours and ill call you...

I would love to help you get this resolved, but i cant see anything you are doing wrong (substrate may be the issua?)??? They may just need more time. Being morphs wouldnt make a difference. Spiders and pastels are usually very strong feeders.

How are you warming up the frozen rats?
How often are you trying to feed them? (and at what time?)

Jon

 

[Nahph1]

Still Nothing

Still none of them are eating. We tried again this evening but they just act like they have never seen a mouse before! Our normal ball that we have had for like a year ate no problem so did the corns and boa, it's just the new ones.
We changed out the paper towels and are trying aspen. I'm a little nervous about trying live since they really show no interest in f/t ones (sliding over/under them like thier not even there) the live ones could probally crawl all over them. But I'm running out of options here.
Also we usually feed our snakes around 10-11 at night. But we tried earlier today like 7-8 and no change.
When we got them we waited about a week before trying to feed, and have been trying every 3-4 days since then. Should I just wait longer?

 

[NextWorldExotics]

Were they mouse feeders when you got them or rat feeders???

 

[Nahph1]

another day

Well I have talked with the breeders that we purchased the new pythons from, and have set up the snakes exactly the way they had them.
I have not bothered them since Sun. when I changed their substrate. So last night I tried feeding the smallest one, and he took it!!! Had a good bite on it, and starting working on it, but spit it back out. Hey at least he took it. A small improvement but I'll take it. So I guess I'll just leave them alone a couple more days and try again with some fresh mice/rats.:main_thumbsup:

 

[BalloonzForU]

One thing I would suggest is moving them down to 15 or even a 6 quart tub. I reserve 32 qrt tubs for 1000grams and up. They may not feel secure enough in such a big tub. I keep my little ones in 6qts till they are about 400 grams then move them to 15s till they are at least 1000g. At that point it just depends on the snake if they get moved up or not.


Off topic..... Hey Jon... Welcome!! When did you get here?

 

[ShaffersExoticHerps]

I would also suggest waiting at least 3-5 days in between offering them food. Sometimes the more you offer them food the more it will stress them out. It is common for balls to go off feed with no warning. I got a female 3 weeks ago and has not ate yet. I'm not worried because it happens sometimes with balls. I would try to take them down in tub size. Wait a few days from the last time you tried to feed them and maybe offer prey a little smaller than they need. Balls can go a very long time without eating. I would let the snakes continue to settle in and just watch the weight and make sure they don't lose a large amount of weight. If they are cb I'm sure they just need to adjust some more. One other thing. Try offering the food at night shortly after you turn the lights out. That sometimes helps. Take care and good luck!