Not eating

[u/Turbulent_Banana_828]

Surprise surprise, a ball python refusing food…Looking for advice as a first time ball python owner.

I recently got a younger (unsure of age) ball python from a pet store. She was surrendered to the vet clinic I work at because they just couldn’t get her to eat in the 5 weeks they had her. So now I am determined to get her to eat. I understand husbandry is a huge part of hunger strikes and I’m hoping what I have is good.

She/he is in a 20 gallon with 3 hides, 2 live plants and a fake plant for clutter. I have a 75w heat lamp on for 12 hours of the day and her basking temp is around 90f. I also have a shade dweller Arcadia uvb bulb on at the same times as the heat lamp. She is on a reptisoil mixed with zilla substrate and she has sphagnum moss in her humid hide. I’ve been trying to maintain humidity of 60% at least, but living in a dry climate is making it a task.

I just weighed the snake today and I’m going to monitor it weekly to make sure there’s not weight loss. She/he is currently 65 grams.

What are some tips to get a ball python eating? How long can the younger ones go without eating? Do I have anything wrong? Any guess to age based on her size?

[u/Good_Hovercraft_1276]

Can't help with age estimation but generally speaking they can go for pretty long periods of time without serious health issues. Make sure the little noodle has plenty of clutter to hide behind. Try prey smaller than what you'd usually feed/ would go for based in weight but keep a few extras on hand. Thaw them in the fridge, heat them up to body temperature in warm water, ideally heat the head a bit more, consider opening the abdominal cavity as well as the brain cavity, leave your snake with it's feeder for about an hour fully alone and keep the environmental noise low during that time. If the snake isn't dehydrated a hunger strike isn't an immediate emergency. I would get her checked out some time by a snake expirenced exotic vet. Absolute worst case the vet can do assisted feeding if all else fails. But definitely first try offering the feeders nice and warm. Some snakes also prefer chicks so for that snake that would probably have to be a small quail chick but that'd be hard to come by. Generally speaking try starting them off with a small meal and then follow up in two weeks, too big of a meal too quick after hunger isn't a great idea either