# Can't get snake to eat? Tips?



## MinteaPoison (10 mo ago)

Hello everyone. I got a ball python about a week and a half ago, he seems to be settled in nicely and is active and exploring the tank usually.
I have a bit of an issue though. I can't seem to get him to eat regardless of what I try. I've tried varied sizes of prey, temping them to make sure they read as a body temperature to help entice him, using tongs to move the prey a bit to get his attention. The most he will do is strike at it, maybe a few times, and then just refuse to eat it.
Does anyone have any tips on how to get him to eat?


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## Shellsfeathers&fur (Jan 18, 2009)

Add some information as to how you are housing him - temperatures, substrate, type of enclosure etc. His age and what sort of food you are offering.


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## MinteaPoison (10 mo ago)

Shellsfeathers&fur said:


> Add some information as to how you are housing him - temperatures, substrate, type of enclosure etc. His age and what sort of food you are offering.


Ah yeah; sorry just a bit frazzled at the moment about his refusal of eating as I haven't had an animal refuse food before.

He's a 7mo old BP, in a 38×18 vivarium which is heavily planted and having 6 hides for him to use. Substrate is a mix of coco husk and forest floor (cypress mulch) with sphagnum moss over the top to help maintain humidity, temp for his tank sits at 92 during the day and goes to 89 at night on the hot side, the cool side sitting at an even 80 regardless. Humidity sits at about 60 normally (with the occasional fluctuation down and immediate correction to get it at least back to 55 without disturbing him).

They said he was feeding on small adult mice so I attempted those at first but he's shown absolutely no interest in them at all. Thought that might be a bit big so I went to a pinky mouse instead to check his appetite. He would strike at those and seem genuinely interested but refuse to take them still.


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## Malc (Oct 27, 2009)

A week is short, it can take a while for them to settle in. You mention temperatures but haven't mentioned how you are heating the vivarium, and how you are taking the readings. - There are several sticky posts at the top of this section covering heating and general care of royal pythons - have a read of those for some pointers, including tips on feeding


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## MinteaPoison (10 mo ago)

Malc said:


> A week is short, it can take a while for them to settle in. You mention temperatures but haven't mentioned how you are heating the vivarium, and how you are taking the readings. - There are several sticky posts at the top of this section covering heating and general care of royal pythons - have a read of those for some pointers, including tips on feeding


I have both a UTH and CRE being used to heat the vivarium at the moment because just the UTH was running far too low before the bo arrived. 2 thermostats to keep temperatures steady, and in addition to those 2 thermometers monitoring both to further ensure the readings are accurate. Even have one of those laser scanning thermometers to get surface temp of the substrate as further insurance just because I don't want to mess it up.


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## Swindinian (May 4, 2020)

Maybe leave him alone, except to refresh water bowl, don’t handle him, and try again in a week. Leave the meal on a dish overnight. Cover the front of viv with a towel, so no visual disturbances.
Is he active nighttime or variable?


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## LiasisUK (Sep 30, 2019)

You've had him a week and tried multiple times to feed it already?! No. Often snakes won't eat for the first 1 or 2 weeks after being moved due to stress. Constantly trying to get it to eat will just stress it out more. 
In future, when you buy a new snake leave it for 1 week before offering food. Then only try at around 5 day intervals. 

Have you tried just leaving the food in with it over night? 

A pinkie mouse is far too small for a royal, hatchlings can be started on small mice however mice are a terrible option in all honesty. Need to get it on rats ASAP. However if it was being fed small mice by the previous owner this is what you should be offering until its eating regularly in its new home.


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## MinteaPoison (10 mo ago)

LiasisUK said:


> You've had him a week and tried multiple times to feed it already?! No. Often snakes won't eat for the first 1 or 2 weeks after being moved due to stress. Constantly trying to get it to eat will just stress it out more.
> In future, when you buy a new snake leave it for 1 week before offering food. Then only try at around 5 day intervals.
> 
> Have you tried just leaving the food in with it over night?
> ...


I'll take this into future consideration. I had waited the full week to settle in at first before offering food the first time but wasn't sure at what intervals to attempt feeding again after so I've been waiting give or take about 2 days after between those. Makes a bit more sense now as to why that has been unsuccessful.

I have tried leaving the food in overnight but he shows no interest at all past those first 5-10 minutes when I tried to entice him to eat using the feeder tongs. I've stopped attempts as of 3 days ago to give him more time at this point to relax again. So I'll try another, hopefully less stressful attempt, in 2 more days time to bring that interval to 5 between.

When I do get him eating regularly in the future, what size rat would be analogous to a small adult mouse?


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## Malc (Oct 27, 2009)

LiasisUK said:


> mice are a terrible option in all honesty. Need to get it on rats ASAP


Have to disagree with that statement. There is more calcium in an adult mouse than a rat weaner / fuzzy of the same weight and mass. The reason people tend to switch to rats is simply prey size as even ex breeder mice don't provide an adequate size meal for adult royals. Feeding a 7mth old Royal medium / adult mice around the 20g - 25g (when frozen) once a week is less stressful for the snake than giving it a 40g weaner rat.

All my hatchlings were raised on mice until they were 12-14 months old, which was when the switch to rats was made, feeding small weaner rats, then medium, then large as they progress up to 30 months, then feeding ex-large weaners when three years old, finally moving to small rats. However I have a few royals that will take weaner rats over a small rat by choice, possibly as it's easier to manage. A mature female when building during the season will often try anything, even taking medium rats as their food drive is so strong. The other thing is that Royals are finicky, and will stick to one food type. I have one adult royal that will only take ex-breeder mice, so has two per sitting. Offer him anything else, even multies he just ain't interested. I much rather get some food inside him rather than keep offering food items that he won't take.


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## LiasisUK (Sep 30, 2019)

Malc said:


> Have to disagree with that statement. There is more calcium in an adult mouse than a rat weaner / fuzzy of the same weight and mass. The reason people tend to switch to rats is simply prey size as even ex breeder mice don't provide an adequate size meal for adult royals. Feeding a 7mth old Royal medium / adult mice around the 20g - 25g (when frozen) once a week is less stressful for the snake than giving it a 40g weaner rat.
> 
> All my hatchlings were raised on mice until they were 12-14 months old, which was when the switch to rats was made, feeding small weaner rats, then medium, then large as they progress up to 30 months, then feeding ex-large weaners when three years old, finally moving to small rats. However I have a few royals that will take weaner rats over a small rat by choice, possibly as it's easier to manage. A mature female when building during the season will often try anything, even taking medium rats as their food drive is so strong. The other thing is that Royals are finicky, and will stick to one food type. I have one adult royal that will only take ex-breeder mice, so has two per sitting. Offer him anything else, even multies he just ain't interested. I much rather get some food inside him rather than keep offering food items that he won't take.


More to do with the fact that they can be difficult to switch over, as an adult a mouse is too small of a meal. Start them on rats, never have to switch them, its much easier. Used to have a huge adult female at my old job who would only eat mice, she would eat 6 large mice at a time, that's an expensive meal in comparison.


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## Elly66 (Feb 27, 2021)

When I first got my Royal Python I had the same issue, but I never tried another feed until a week had passed. My saving was being advised to use multimanmates and warm them with a hairdryer (after they've defrosted). Once warm, I'd then walk the multi near the snake using tongs. To begin with it could take a few re-warms with another blast from the hairdryer, but he started to feed. Occasionally he would refuse. Now, a year on he's ready and waiting by the viv door and snatches the feed immediately. The only time he won't eat is leading upto shedding and for a few days after. 
He's definitely a strike feeder and a cold multi is ignored even now. Currently feeding one 30 - 40g multimanmate a week.


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## strike21 (Sep 20, 2010)

First of all since no one else has said it, you're doing a great job and if this is your first snake I'm super impressed with how thorough you are being in the way you are keeping it and keeping track of the temps and humidity. A planted viv with all those hides sounds fantastic and way way more than most offer royals.

The likelihood is that it's just in a new environment and will eventually start taking food.

Mice are definitely not a bad choice at all, although a small mouse or pinky is definitely not an appropriate sized meal for a 7 month old Royal. When I used to breed them i would start them of fuzzy rats.

An interesting side note, females that had laid and where looking thin would take jumbo mice sooner than they would take a large rat. I would sometimes give them 7 or 8 jumbo mice which compared to the weight of a large rat was still less but they would pack on size eating mice much quicker than eating rats. 

Feeding rats is much more convenient in respect of the numbers of items you have to offer per feeding so I would offer rats. I don't believe in the whole a large item is stressful on the snake thing either. A prey item that's obviously massively to big would be. I would often feed extra large food items (within reason obviosuly) to snakes, yes it would take a while to get down but it went down all the same no bother. Its a type of enrichment if you ask me. I fed mostly at random, sometimes rats, big or small, sometimes multiple, sometimes mice again one or multiple. Sometimes it might go a month before i fed, sometimes I'd feed them twice in a week. Variety is the spice of life.

After the snake has had some.time to settle, you can try the hair drier but I always defrost in hit water, as hot as the tap will go. Leave it in there until its definitely defrosted. Then refresh the hot water as it would have cooled before drying it off and offering it. Keep as still as possible and slowly offer the item. 

Good luck

Sent from my SM-G998B using Tapatalk


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## ian14 (Jan 2, 2008)

If you have them in the States, multimammate mice could be an option. Royals tend to prefer them as it is a natural prey item.


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## Lady Python (Jun 24, 2021)

I'll add my tuppenceworth in. Royals can go off feed over the winter months. I have two of them. They usually start getting hungry again round about March. By the sound of it, your Royal hasn't settled into his new home yet, My guess is he'll start eating soon once he settles in. Could be he's coming up for a shed. Some won't eat when they're coming into shed. Mine do, even if they're in the "blue". You'll get really good advice on here.


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## Solar1 (9 mo ago)

MinteaPoison said:


> Hello everyone. I got a ball python about a week and a half ago, he seems to be settled in nicely and is active and exploring the tank usually.
> I have a bit of an issue though. I can't seem to get him to eat regardless of what I try. I've tried varied sizes of prey, temping them to make sure they read as a body temperature to help entice him, using tongs to move the prey a bit to get his attention. The most he will do is strike at it, maybe a few times, and then just refuse to eat it.
> Does anyone have any tips on how to get him to eat?



Hi Ball Python owner,

yes I had similar problems many years ago with newly acquired snakes that refused to eat dead offerings,no matter how you prod it around, if it is not live, they are often disinclined to eat. 
I suggest you try offering either a small live mouse. (pet shops).

But caution as live prey can kill snakes 🐍. If the snake is not hungry enough to strike, kill & eat the offered prey, it may ignore it and dose off. As you probably know snakes do not kill for fun like foxes 🦊. But only when they are hungry. 
it has been know for a live mouse to gnaw at sleeping snakes, causing the snakes to die from infections. 
So you need to be prepared to be able to watch the snake whenever live prey is offered. 

Another alternative is to buy a box of live Day Old Chicks, which cannot harm the snake and are considerably cheaper. The snake will grab a few chicks, dispatch them and then nosh all the ones it has killed, but it will leave alone and untouched the ones remaining. Snakes are better than humans at knowing how much they can eat and never kill more than they’ll eat. 
but I was living in Africa when I obtained live day old cockerels. There was never a charge for them as the cockerels had no value. 
I guess any chicken farm would give you a box of them. 
hope that is helpful. 

Tizi Hodson


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## Malc (Oct 27, 2009)

Solar1 said:


> I suggest you try offering either a small live mouse. (pet shops).
> Another alternative is to buy a box of live Day Old Chicks


If the snake is 7 months old it has previously been eating frozen thawed food. The fact is that the snake needs to be left alone for several weeks to settle and then it will start to show interest in defrosted rodents. It's not advisable to suggest feeding live to a snake that has already started on, or made the switch to defrosted food.....In this day and age the only time you need to resort to live feeding is if the snake is showing signs of emaciation, or it was wild caught (unlikely for a hatchling royal) and won't take anything else. 

The thing is that the OP has only posted 4 times, all of which are in this thread, the last being just 4 days ago, so they are unlikely to provide any update if they have followed our suggestions as its too soon. Hopefully in the next three or four days they will post an update. If they have left the snake alone as recommended I'm confident they will have success with offering a defrosted thawed rodent.


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## Golgarth (Aug 27, 2008)

While many will tell you how long you should leave the snake, (and it depends so much snake by snake) what I thought I'd do is give you an idea on how long mine have taken in the past.

So Royal no1, my oldest guy is like clockwork. He eats once every two-three weeks, stopping only to shed, between late March and October, he NEVER eats outside of those months. He ate like a champ until he was circa 18 months old (ie becoming randy and only wanting to breed)
I've got females that just don't eat, literally stopping eating for months for no reason, and I have some that eat as much as I will throw at them. They all are kept in the same environment, same conditions, light etc etc.

The longest I've had a newbie take to eat was 4 months. While scary he didn't loose weight (significantly) and did eventually come round to eating. 

Few things I've done to help which have worked to differing degrees with different snakes over the years:

leave the food to thaw all day next to the viv, let the air be full of the smell of food
a hair dryer is king at making it nice and easy to see and smell. Blast the prey with heat aiming at the viv, more smell, easier to use heat pits to "see"
critical care in the water, seems weird, but it promotes the digestive tract to work
patience. Leave them alone, change the water every few days max. If you get a refusal, leave them until they eat, sucks, but you will have them for many many years, there's plenty of time to get them out
black out the front of the viv for a full week, barring a tiny slab of light (weird one but strangely helps to let them settle in)
If all of the above fail look at where the viv is. Are there flashing lights nearby? Are there vibrations? Smells? Anything that could be causing the animal stress? (One I had hated the TV being near him, another hated music in a room, they are weird little buggers)


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## Malc (Oct 27, 2009)

Some excellent advice there. I had a male that went 9 months without food (Feb - Oct) with very little weight loss, just part of their breeding cycle. This is the thing though, people don't do their research. Given the amount of posts, caresheets and the like it's very easy to learn that these snakes have erratic feeding patterns, which also vary from the individual snake to snake. Yet how often do we still see the "my new royal wouldn't eat" type posts.

I use the hairdryer method to warm up the food for the snake, and the moment the warm air strikes the rodent the snakes get switched on into feeding mode. If they don't then 9/10 they won't take the meal, which could be (and often is) due to the start of a shedding cycle, or they have topped up with enough calories and started to get randy. I always find that between December - May females tend to smash the food, often looking for more as they start the building process in ready for breeding. Then form June to October they tend to go off food even if not paired. The reverse tends to happen with males.

Granted offering food to a snake that has yet to feel settled and thus refuses can be wasteful, but that's all part of the hobby. Leaving it a good 14 days and then offer again, and then repeating this until the snake takes, often that is all that is required


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## lizardlover1519:) (May 17, 2021)

MinteaPoison said:


> Hello everyone. I got a ball python about a week and a half ago, he seems to be settled in nicely and is active and exploring the tank usually.
> I have a bit of an issue though. I can't seem to get him to eat regardless of what I try. I've tried varied sizes of prey, temping them to make sure they read as a body temperature to help entice him, using tongs to move the prey a bit to get his attention. The most he will do is strike at it, maybe a few times, and then just refuse to eat it.
> Does anyone have any tips on how to get him to eat?


I have the same problem with my ball python at first . When he was little i fed him live prey because it was the only thing he would take at first and then once he got used to it i moved to frozen de-thawed mice. I also remove him from his tank and put him in a different container to eat. This helps them to know when feeding time is and to not accidentally strike at your hand when trying to handle. Let me know if this helps!


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