I'm Scared.....Have I done something wrong?

I am so new at this snake stuff. I have this 7 year old ball python that we just got about half a year ago. He had been feeding weekly (3 adult mice) until the beginning of November when he just stopped eating all together. All and any attempts to get him to eat have been futile. We've isolated him in a room and he has two hides, temps are great, humidity is good at 65%. Hot end is 90deg cool end/ambient temp is 87 deg. He has a water bowl that I think he drinks out of. He doesn't look dehydrated. He's shed since he went on his fast once. His nose looks a little crackled, like his skin is dry, but his body is nice and firm and smooth, not wrinkly or dry. He has peed in the last month because I've cleaned up a a few smelly substrate piles of wet. No urate clumps tho.

So here is what I went and did at the advice of some stupid book. We (my husband and I) gently force fed him five pinky mice with forceps. We didn't cause any damage with the forceps because they didn't go down his throat or touch his mouth much. It's just that after doing a bunch of reading, I now know that this type of fasting can be normal during the winter and that snakes can go up to a year without eating. He's lost 30g of his starting weight of 500g. He's small for his age, but otherwise he was healthy up until he stopped eating. And now I've found out that I may have totally screwed everything up by force feeding him these little mice. They all went down smoothly, and he's breathing well and hiding in his cave. His jaw didn't dislocate at all because the mice were so small, so we sorta had to massage his neck a little to get each pinky to move down a bit because he was only trying a little to move it. There wasn't any bleeding, and his mouth looks nice and clean afterwards. Have I totally screwed my snake's WINTER FAST by forcing him to eat these pinkies? Will he just continue to fast and then eat on his own again, or will he get sick now. Obviously he's stressed right now after being fed 5 mice he didn't want to eat, but how long before he'll calm down enough to maybe drink some water or come out of his cave? A few days? AGHHHH!!! We paid good money for this guy and we really love him a lot. have I ruined him?

KSL.

Hmmmm... is this you, Cherylee? Your story sounds amazingly just like that of another member here, but a few minor details are different.

If this is you, and I think it is.. why would you create a different username to present the same situation with slightly different recount of the story?

If you are truly someone different, I apologize.

Glad I'm not the only person that thought that.

OMG, is there someone else with the same problem as I have? No, my name is Susan. What is her user name so I can talk to her?

KSL

I just found out about your forum today by web searching so I registered, and it had a ball python forum. My husband and I have been trying to get this guy to eat for about two weeks now and so we force fed him.......I guess big mistake......(don't get mad at me). Can you refer me to "Cherylee". Sounds like you all know her. Does he/she have ball pythons? Why would he/she make another name. Is he/she not someone to trust or something?
Any help would be appreciated.

KNL.

Sure thing, and since the weights, age, and story are amazingly close to identical, you can take the advice already given in this thread:

http://www.faunaclassifieds.com/foru...ad.php?t=94098

This one...

http://www.faunaclassifieds.com/foru...ad.php?t=92725

this one...

http://www.faunaclassifieds.com/foru...ad.php?t=91592

this one..

http://www.faunaclassifieds.com/foru...ad.php?t=91007

I think the two of you should contact Guiness for the most commonalities of any other members of the board!

KSL and KNL.. man, imagine having two different sets of initials to be able to use whenever the need arises!

Wow, lots of reading.......and yes, we would qualify for some uncanny similarities. She has a female as well. I have her username now that you posted the forum stories for me, thanks. Hopefully she reads the forums tonite. She sounds like she tries really hard to keep her snakes healthy. But boy can she type.....long stories and EVERY detail. A lot to learn from, but I couldn't possibly read all of that tonight. I did read the part about her trying to force feed with a mouse but it didn't work. We chose to use little babies and it did work, I just hope I haven't ruined his life now. Anyone have any insight on that?

One thing to remember about online forums...be very selective about whose advice you choose to follow, lol.

regarding the forcefeeding - there are several schools of thought on that subject. I am nowhere near as aggressive about forcefeeding as I used to be, but I don't think twice about it when I deem it appropriate. And I don't necessarily go small. It is largely a matter of what you are comfortable doing.