• Posted 12/19/2024.
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    I am still waiting on my developer to finish up on the Classifieds Control Panel so I can use it to encourage members into becoming paying members. Google Adsense has become a real burden on the viewing of this site, but honestly it is the ONLY source of income now that keeps it afloat. I tried offering disabling the ads being viewed by paying members, but apparently that is not enough incentive. Quite frankly, Google Adsense has dropped down to where it barely brings in enough daily to match even a single paid member per day. But it still gets the bills paid. But at what cost?

    So even without the classifieds control panel being complete, I believe I am going to have to disable those Google ads completely and likely disable some options here that have been free since going to the new platform. Like classified ad bumping, member name changes, and anything else I can use to encourage this site to be supported by the members instead of the Google Adsense ads.

    But there is risk involved. I will not pay out of pocket for very long during this last ditch experimental effort. If I find that the membership does not want to support this site with memberships, then I cannot support your being able to post your classified ads here for free. No, I am not intending to start charging for your posting ads here. I will just shut the site down and that will be it. I will be done with FaunaClassifieds. I certainly don't need this, and can live the rest of my life just fine without it. If I see that no one else really wants it to survive neither, then so be it. It goes away and you all can just go elsewhere to advertise your animals and merchandise.

    Not sure when this will take place, and I don't intend to give any further warning concerning the disabling of the Google Adsense. Just as there probably won't be any warning if I decide to close down this site. You will just come here and there will be some sort of message that the site is gone, and you have a nice day.

    I have been trying to make a go of this site for a very long time. And quite frankly, I am just tired of trying. I had hoped that enough people would be willing to help me help you all have a free outlet to offer your stuff for sale. But every year I see less and less people coming to this site, much less supporting it financially. That is fine. I tried. I retired the SerpenCo business about 14 years ago, so retiring out of this business completely is not that big if a step for me, nor will it be especially painful to do. When I was in Thailand, I did not check in here for three weeks. I didn't miss it even a little bit. So if you all want it to remain, it will be in your hands. I really don't care either way.

    =====================
    Some people have indicated that finding the method to contribute is rather difficult. And I have to admit, that it is not all that obvious. So to help, here is a thread to help as a quide. How to become a contributing member of FaunaClassifieds.

    And for the record, I will be shutting down the Google Adsense ads on January 1, 2025.
  • Responding to email notices you receive.
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    In short, DON'T! Email notices are to ONLY alert you of a reply to your private message or your ad on this site. Replying to the email just wastes your time as it goes NOWHERE, and probably pisses off the person you thought you replied to when they think you just ignored them. So instead of complaining to me about your messages not being replied to from this site via email, please READ that email notice that plainly states what you need to do in order to reply to who you are trying to converse with.

Feeding problems again

B

Bright Scale

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I posted a little while back about trying to switch my young ball over to rats. Still haven't had a successful rat feeding, and now Rorschach's had one meal where he refused his hopper mice as well (presumably because he finally decided they were too small to bother with). I went to a small local pet shop the other day which sells frozen mice...but they only had dark-colored ones. Rorschach's never seen a nonwhite mouse in his life and refused to eat the adult I thawed for him.

He sniffed it and poked it and generally got very hyper when he smelled it near him, but I couldn't get a bite. I'm guessing it is indeed the color? :(

Here's what his feeding schedule looks like for the past...while. I've had him since August, but he only got wonky recently. All food is/was frozen-thawed.

11/5-shed (first shed with me)
11/6-offered two hoppers, ate one
11/10-ate one hopper (he outgrew them a while ago but wouldn't eat bigger, so I was told to feed more often to make up for it)
11/16-ate one hopper
11/19-failed feeding (small rat)
11/21-failed feeding (small rat, would have waited longer but it was refrozen from the 19th and I didn't want it to get rank. Threw it out after this)
11/22-ate two hoppers (finally)
12/4-offered three hoppers, wouldn't eat any. I'm hoping I just accidentally grabbed some of the smaller ones, and he'll still eat the big ones for now.
12/6-refused (small rat, I know I should have waited longer, but I had my hopes up from the 4th thinking he wanted bigger food)
12/9-refused adult mouse

Looking at it, I guess I do need to try way less often. But he's only eaten five hoppers total in the last month, and that's about half as much food mass as he should be getting (they're about half/three-fourths his maximum girth). He's not losing a bunch of weight, his backbone was slightly showing before he ate the two hoppers but is almost gone now. But he sure ACTS like he's hungry, roaming the tank and climbing the walls, and sniffs all over anything I offer, hopper or adult or rat. I just can't get a bite out of him.

I've left food in the tank overnight (in an open box to keep germs off the floor, he ate his two-hopper meal this way), I've closed him up with it in a smallish box for half an hour, I've even gone back to using the tongs. Tongs plus adult mouse got big interest, but not enough. :(

On the other hand, he's only pooped once since shedding, I think it was last week. He leaves urates on a more regular basis, so I know he's still drinking well at least. So is this just mid-winter madness, despite his temps and humidity being the same as always? How long should I wait before trying again, not too soon but not too long?

As if this wasn't maddening enough, next Friday or Saturday I'm loading him up in my dad's car to take him home for the holidays. I plan to put him in his plastic bowl deli cup thing (which is still big enough for an almost-snug-enough hide if I line it with paper towels) and put it in my nice warm coat when travelling to and from the properly warm car, so he's not going to feel a bit of cold air at all. He'll be back in his tank in about an hour after I set it up at dad's, but I know the drive there will probably stress the crap out of him. I was hoping to get another decent meal in him before the drive probably puts him off food for a while.
 
bbbxcursion said:
How big is he?
Click to expand...

It's always so hard to tell, but...somewhere between 1.5-2 feet? And maybe an inch or a little more than that thick/wide at the heaviest point (again, hard to tell because they like to squish and contort when moving). He's an '05 baby at any rate.
 
sounds like it has never been a particularly good feeder for you, unfortunately. You say the temps are the same as they have been - what is that? and, where and how are you measuring. What are you using as a heat source. Some ball pythons are problem feeders, no matter what you do...If Rick happens along this thread, he can vouch for that.
 
When transporting I've used a hot water bottle in a styro box with the snake in a deli cup or a bag, and a towel in there to prevent the water bottle from moving around. If you've had some success with leaving the food item in overnight... Try it without the box and don't worry about the germs on the cage floor- you can always clean it. I have a ball that will freak out at a F/T mouse hanging from the hemostats or even when I move it around on the floor, but when left in overnight it dissapears. And some ball pythons just feed on mice. Also alot of handling can inhibit their feeding until they get a little size on them and/or finally figure it out that you're not trying to eat them.
Mike Derks
 
hhmoore said:
sounds like it has never been a particularly good feeder for you, unfortunately. You say the temps are the same as they have been - what is that? and, where and how are you measuring. What are you using as a heat source. Some ball pythons are problem feeders, no matter what you do...
Click to expand...

Before his shed, he was an absolutely *fabulous* feeder, actually. Granted, he was on hoppers (albeit large hoppers, Big Cheese's mice tend to be bigger than standard from what I hear) which were only just enough when I first got him and slowly got outgrown as time passed, but he ate with no trouble. I *thought* I'd gotten him finally eating bigger meals when he took two hoppers one night, but then things got all crazy.

Temps: 80, 90-95ish. Humidity 50-60%. UTH. I measured by desperately attempting to get him to straighten out and then I guessed. Even when he's calm, he tends to be very firm about wanting to wrap around me, and gets wiggly if I don't let him. :p

Whitewater Reptiles said:
Also alot of handling can inhibit their feeding until they get a little size on them and/or finally figure it out that you're not trying to eat them.
Click to expand...

He knows I'm not going to eat him, heh. After he settled in from being shipped from the breeder (serpentpets.com), I handled him a few minutes every day except around feeding day. He got very very tame, a few times slept on my neck for hours, and never had any feeding problems until he went into his first shed a few months later (during the shed he ate once).

I've handled him much less (ie, almost never) since his feeding got messed up, until I realized he was getting skittish from too *little* handling. Now I give him a few minutes every 3-4 days just so he won't forget I'm not dangerous.

I cringe at the thought of leaving dead prey directly on his reptile carpet, but you gotta do what you gotta do. That's what I bought a backup carpet for--I'll just have to make myself wait until he's done digesting before I go in and swap out carpets and clean clean CLEAN that sucker. :toiletcla

I'm just hoping he'll eat, for now, if I get two of the biggest hoppers in the bag thawed. I hate to have to make another $30 order of mice when I just bought these rats and he hasn't eaten a single one, but I guess you gotta do what you gotta do. :( Dunno when I'll try again, no later than Tuesday or Wednesday with that road trip coming up.
 
Bright Scale said:
Temps: 80, 90-95ish. Humidity 50-60%. UTH. I measured by desperately attempting to get him to straighten out and then I guessed. Even when he's calm, he tends to be very firm about wanting to wrap around me, and gets wiggly if I don't let him. :p
Click to expand...
Are those temps the cool, warm side? night, day? low, high? (sorry, I just am not sure, and can't really comment until I know). And when I asked where and how you were measuring, I should have been more clear - I meant measuring temps...where in the enclosure, and what are you using to measure (digital thermometer with probe, stick on type, temp gun, etc)
 
hhmoore said:
Are those temps the cool, warm side? night, day? low, high? (sorry, I just am not sure, and can't really comment until I know). And when I asked where and how you were measuring, I should have been more clear - I meant measuring temps...where in the enclosure, and what are you using to measure (digital thermometer with probe, stick on type, temp gun, etc)
Click to expand...

80 would be the cooler side, 90-95 would be the warmer. :p

As for this night/day business, I don't generally bother with that. I think the house is maybe five degrees cooler at night, but I keep his tank covered with towels to preserve humidity anyway (dead of winter = monstrously dry here). It only varies on the warm end because the heating pad is warmest in the center, so as the thermometer there gets pushed around the reading changes.

I've got two dial thermometers, I don't remember the brand, but I checked their accuracy myself by setting them in the laundry room (no drafts whatsoever) and comparing the reading to what the house thermostat was set for. So they're good little things.
 
Bump.

Got him to eat two big hoppers on 12/11, which is probably about 3/4 the mass he should get, but it was something. Had him out while I changed his water today, he seems alright (if still kind of un-tame from lack of handling, god I have to retame him all over once he's eating the proper food and is fat). Backbone is still a slight ridge, no visible ribs or anything.

The Aquatic Critter in Nashville says they sell frozen white mice, that are apparently RodentPro stock. So while I'm home for a month, I'll see if I can't at least get him to accept bigger mice. He's going to be behind on meals again as it is, because I leave on Friday so he won't get fed this week to avoid travel regurge. Will give it 5-7 days after he's settled in at dad's before I try anything.

Any further advice would be great. He's my first reptile, a sweetheart when he's been socialized, and I love him to pieces. I just want him to EAT! :eatpointe
 
That is great you got him to eat. I read most of the threads and the only thing I feel you may be off a bit is the humidity?? use that much during breeding only or shed days. As for the feeding try this method...it works for me.
Have a fat rat pup standing by and when he takes the mouse and works most of it down gently stick the head in the snakes mouth (they call this power feeding) he dont know the difference and keeps on eating. After a few times they usually change over...if not they get a bigger meal. You can also do this with a larger mouse if you dont have the rat pups. Some of these guys may never change to rats...be happy that he eats. Also if you are bothered by the rats you bought maby you pet store can switch you out for mice. Just an idea.
 
good luck. My guy won't even look at the stupid things... he struck one once and that was it. :( he won't even eat mice that have been scented with a washed rat. I guess i will do the "slip in a rat as he finishes his mouse" trick once or twice when he starts eating two mice at a time, just substitue a rat for a second mouse.
Although he is an awesome eater of mice, and they are generally cheaper, so i'm just happy for that!
 
Brief update: He made the trip here alright, as the other thread mentioned. Then on the 23rd we left a thawed white adult mouse on a tupperware lid in his tank, and when I looked later in the evening... :eatpointe

It was actually a bit less thick than he is, but a good size to move from those bloody hoppers to where he should be.

Then he shed this morning, and is looking positively fat and sassy. I'm going home for New Year's, and after he's settled in I'm ordering more adult mice to hold him over until I feel like trying to switch him again.

So...woot! :D
 
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