wcball

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Ball Pythons
Python Reguis

Purchased a WC Ball and now it won't feed?
This is a very common experience. We're all told that WC adults are NOT a short cut~ but most of us insist on trying it ourselves~ or we fall in love with that Oh-So-Special WC BP and then discover our new treasure will not eat.


I purchased twelve WC adult female BPs for $300 on 10/9/03. That comes to only $25 each (and the seller was local so I did not pay any shipping). That's a great deal! Well~ it would be if they fed!
All 12 were immediately treated with Panacur (25mg/kg) and Flagyl (100mg/kg) on 10-13-03 and again on 10-21-03. Initial weights on these girls were as follows:

Fem # 26 ~ 686 grams	Fem # 29 ~ 1033 grams	Fem # 32 ~ 754 grams	Fem # 35 ~ 786 grams
Fem # 27 ~ 979 grams	Fem # 30 ~ 724 grams	Fem # 33 ~ 869 grams	Fem # 36 ~ 875 grams
Fem # 28 ~ 858 grams	Fem # 31 ~ 801 grams	Fem # 34 ~ 890 grams	Fem # 37 ~ 1089 grams

Good initial weights~ but only if they all began feeding. 3 began feeding fairly quickly

Fem # 28 ~ First feed on 2/6/04 (4 months non-feeding)~ continued feeding with no problems

Fem # 30 ~ First feed on 2/11/04 (4 months non-feeding)~ continued feeding with no problems

Fem # 31 ~ First feed on 2/6/04 (4 months non-feeding)~ continued feeding with no problems

Unfortunately the other 9 were not so easy! I tried Mice, Rats, Hamsters and baby chicks. (No gerbils, they are illegal in Ca) I tried all of these Live, Fresh Killed and Frozen Thawed.

Fem # 29 ~ Fed on 3/26//04 (5 months non-feeding)~ Refused to feed again until after substrate change described below	Fem # 32 ~ Fed on 3/3//04 (5 months non-feeding)~ Refused to feed again until after substrate change described below	Fem # 33 ~ Fed on 3/30//04 (5 months non-feeding)~ Refused to feed again until after substrate change described below
Fem # 35 ~ Fed on 4/21//04 (6 months non-feeding)~ Refused to feed again until after substrate change described below	Fem # 26 ~ Did not begin feeding until after substrate change described below	Fem # 27 ~ Did not begin feeding until after substrate change described below
Fem # 34 ~ Did not begin feeding until after substrate change described below	Fem # 36 ~ Did not begin feeding until after substrate change described below	Fem # 37 ~ Still has not begun to feed even with the substrate change described below

These 9 were driving me nuts~ so I tried treating them AGAIN with Flagyl, Panacur and also with a product called Nutri-bac on 4-14-04. I saw no appreciable result from that. (Only Fem #35 took a meal after that)

	In late April I was reading Ralph Davis Reptiles message boards and happened to see where Ralph Davis suggests to a poster that he should try~ burying the hide and offering a dark/natural colored prey item. I thought this sounded like a good idea~ but I kept my BPs on Newspaper so I could not bury the hide. So~ this is what I did~
On 4/30/04 I replaced the Newspaper substrate for those 9 WC BPs with Wood Chip Mulch and Potting Soil from Home Depot. (Mixed about 2 parts mulch to 1 part potting soil) I tried to bury the hide in the back of the rack near the heat. (The hide is a plastic planter bottom from Wal-Mart with a hole cut in the side) I put the water dish in the front on the cool side.
	Then I hung a towel over the front of the rack over those tubs. I did that to cut off view of people/movement outside of the rack and to cut down how much light was entering the tubs. (The towel does not cut out ALL light, just most of it) I saw immediate results. On 5/3/04 I put one small black rat crawler in each tub and left it over night. (Yes~ I do know better than to leave a rat unattended with a snake~ but these girls were not going to feed with me watching).

Fem # 29 ~
          10/9/03 ~ 1033 Grams
Fed on 5/3/04
Fed on 5/10/04
Fed on 5/17/04
Fed on 5/24/04
Fed on 5/31/04
Fed on 6/5/04
Fed on 6/12/04
Fed on 6/15/04
Fed on 6/20/04
          6/24/04 ~ 1269 Grams(??)
        (Must have been full of Rat!)
Fed on 6/26/04
Fed on 7-9-04
Fed on 7-31-04
Fed on 9-2-04
Fed on 9-10-04
             9-15-05 ~ 1033 Grams
Fed on 9-24-04
Fed on 9-29-04

Fem # 32 ~
          10/9/03 ~ 754 Grams
Fed on 5/10/04
Fed on 5/17/04
Fed on 5/24/04
Fed on 6/16/04
          6/24/04 ~ 631 Grams
Fed on 6/26/04
Fed on 7-9-04
Fed on 7-16-04
Fed on 7-26-04
Fed on 7-31-04
Fed on 8-7-04
Fed on 8-18-04
Fed on 9-2-04
Fed on 9-10-04
             9-15-05 ~ 712 Grams
Fed on 9-17-04
Fed on 9-29-04
Fed on 10-5-04

Fem # 33 ~
          10/9/03 ~ 869 Grams
Fed on 5/3/04
Fed on 5/10/04
Fed on 5/17/04
Fed on 5/24/04
Fed on 5/31/04
Fed on 6/6/04
Fed on 6/8/04
Fed on 6/12/04
Fed on 6/15/04
          6/24/04 ~ 952 Grams
Fed on 6/26/04
Fed on 7-9-04
Fed on 7-26-04
Fed on 7-31-04
Fed on 8-8-04
Fed on 8-16-04
Fed on 8-27-04
Fed on 9-10-04
           9-15-05 ~ 971 Grams

Fem # 35 ~
          10/9/03 ~ 786 Grams
Fed on 5/3/04
Fed on 5/10/04
Fed on 5/17/04
Fed on 5/24/04
Fed on 5/31/04
Fed on 6/5/04
Fed on 6/12/04
Fed on 6/15/04
          6/24/04 ~ 735 Grams
Fed on 6/26/04
Fed on 7-9-04
Fed on 7-20-04
Fed on 7-26-04
Fed on 8-6-04
Fed on 8-15-04
Fed on 8-18-04
Fed on 8-27-04
Fed on 9-10-04
             9-15-05 ~ 961 Grams
Fed on 9-24-04
Fed on 9-29-04
Fed on 10-5-04

Fem # 26 ~
          10/9/03 ~ 686 Grams
Fed on 5/10/04
Fed on 5/17/04
Fed on 5/24/04
Fed on 5/31/04
Fed on 6/5/04
Fed on 6/12/04
Fed on 6/15/04
Fed on 6/20/04
          6/24/04 ~ 870 Grams
Fed on 6/26/04
Fed on 7-9-04
Fed on 7-20-04
Fed on 7-26-04
Fed on 7-31-04
Fed on 8-6-04
Fed on 8-15-04
Fed on 8-18-04
Fed on 8-27-04
Fed on 9-10-04
             9-15-05 ~ 824 Grams
Fed on 9-17-04
Fed on 9-24-04
Fed on 9-29-04
Fed on 10-5-04

Fem # 27 ~
          10/9/03 ~ 979 Grams
Fed on 5/3/04
Fed on 5/10/04
Fed on 5/17/04
Fed on 5/24/04
Fed on 6/5/04
Fed on 6/12/04
Fed on 6/15/04
          6/24/04 ~ 1107 Grams
Fed on 6/26/04
Fed on 7-9-04
Fed on 9-2-04
Fed on 9-10-04
             9-15-05 ~ 1003 Grams
Fed on 9-17-04
Fed on 9-24-04
Fed on 10-5-04

Fem # 34 ~
          10/9/03 ~ 890 Grams
Fed on 5/17/04
Fed on 5/24/04
Fed on 5/31/04
Fed on 6/5/04
Fed on 6/12/04
Fed on 6/15/04
Fed on 6/20/04
          6/24/04 ~ 924 Grams
Fed on 8-18-04
Fed on 8-27-04
Fed on 9-10-04
             9-15-05 ~ 814 Grams
Fed on 9-17-04
Fed on 10-5-04

Fem # 36 ~
          10/9/03 ~ 875 Grams
Fed on 5/3/04
Fed on 5/10/04
Fed on 5/17/04
Fed on 5/24/04
Fed on 5/31/04
Fed on 6/5/04
Fed on 6/12/04
          6/24/04 ~ 797 Grams
Fed on 8-15-04
Fed on 8018-04
Fed on 9-10-04
             9-15-05 ~ 748 Grams
Fed on 9-17-04
Fed on 10-5-04

Fem # 37 ~
10/9/03 ~ 1089 Grams

Has not begun feeding ~

She is getting very close to a year here without feeding.
Somehow she still looks good.

6/24/04 ~ 925 Grams
9/15/04 ~ 881 Grams

I don't plan to leave these girls on this substrate forever~ just until I have them feeding regularly. ~Note~ I moved all of these girls onto shredded aspen over the summer. There were some feeding issues at that time~ but not much. A week with the towel covering replaced seemed to bring them back to feeding again. It is possible these girls would have begun feeding right now now matter what I did~ but I really think the sudden interest in feeding is due to the advice I received from Ralph Davis Reptiles.
	This information was last updated on 10/5/04. I will try to update it with current info at least once a month. I will try to get current weights on the girls once they are better established feeding on a regular basis.
I hope this info can be useful for you. Thanks to Ralph Davis Reptiles for the original idea!!

	*Female # 33*


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