Horribly Neglected BP

I did take his attitude as a good thing. When he first came in, he would only curl up in a ball or lay on his back. Now he's like "you come near me, I'll eat you"

I never see him on his back anymore. And he has taken to climbing the cardboard to knock it down.


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Nothing like an evil attitude to prove you are feeling better.....

I honestly think it's something about pieds too. I have a beautiful pied girl who unfortunately got a URI once, but even when I was stressing her out having to give her shots she would still pound food every week. Never misses a meal, that one. She's an even better eater than my Cali Kings!

Haven't tried feeding yet, other than when he made a break for it to the mouse bin. I doubt those mice have ever been so terrified.


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Honestly I think a small meal would help with recovery, hard for your body to fully heal and do it quickly without nutrients. But I'm glad he's making a quick recovery nonetheless. =)

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I did try to feed today. He had no interest in f/t or prekilled rodents. I offered a stunned mouse and he struck at it, but it only appeared to be a pissed off strike and not a try to grab dinner strike. Offered a stunned rat pup that I rubbed the prekilled mouse on, and he balled up.

He is too big to just eat mice, and while I'll offer him them while he is healing to avoid stretching his belly, he really should be eating at least small rats. Do you think he will ever be willing to take a rat again after his experience?


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Yes, I absolutely think he'll eat again. Don't worry about it; just keep offering once a week. Ball pythons can go for MONTHS without food, and as we've already discussed this guy has been incredibly stressed out. Just give him some time. He'll definitely eat.

That type of injury is enough to put him off food, anyway, as has been said; but getting chewed on like that can also create obstacles to feeding a specific prey item.
My first thought was that I probably wouldn't have even tried to feed, yet...then, of course, I remembered that I have no idea what the wounds look like, or even how long it has been. (My sense of the passage of time is usually skewed, and I haven't scrolled back to look.)

If he has never eaten anything other than live, you may have some struggles converting him. Forget your preferences and beliefs, for now - it isn't about what you want to feed, or what you think he should eat. When it's time, it will be about what the snake is willing to take...once it is feeding regularly again, you can think about imposing your will. Rats, especially f/t, are a convenient option for the keeper; but a bp can do just fine on mice. (Ask the people that have never fed their snakes anything other than mice)

Best of luck with him - be patient.

It's been several weeks, and I don't know how long it was before we got him that we was injured. His wound back then was red, crusted shut, and stuffed with wood shavings, so it definitely wasn't a super fresh wound. I'm not worried about him not eating ever again. I'm sure he will. I was just curious about rats.

I'm hoping the bite doesn't scar too bad either. I've seen a ball python with a nasty scar and was shocked the owner had left a live jumbo rat in her tank.



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Unfortunately, the little guy passed away this weekend. The vet said it was organ failure due to a blood infection. He said we were doing everything right and there wasn't much else that we could have done and that it was a strain of antibiotic- resistant bacteria.

At least his last weeks were the best he could have had.


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