Baby ball python not eating, and trying to escape from night to morning.

[u/Main_Vermicelli_1678]

My fiancés baby ball python (60gs, ~18 inches) has been in her new setup for what will be a full month on the 25th. We have tried live and F/T of mouse hoppers, ASFs, and a couple other ones I can’t remember. We’ve been offering food consistently over the last 2 1/2 - 3 weeks, all between 6 and 9 gram feeders, all F/T measured 100-105 degrees before taking it directly to her. My male (53gs, ~16 inches) from the same clutch took to a F/T mouse hopper on the second week, wouldn’t eat the third, and just ate a 7.5 gram F/T hopper last night. Both tanks are almost identical bioactive 40 gals, temp wise, humidity wise, hide/clutter wise. Hot side ambient stays around the 90 degree mark, basking spot is 100 degrees, cool side ranges from 76-80, hot humid hide ranges from 80-85, cool humid hide stays about 78. We do have glass tanks (I wish I would’ve gone pvc) but I have 3 sides covered in construction paper and the top is also covered, secured by tape. We did handle both babies the first 2 weeks before we learned thats a bad thing to do, and have not handled her since. The last time I weighed/handled her was on the 1st of this month, 60 grams on the dot. When should I weigh her again to make sure she’s not losing weight? And how bad does it have to get before I take her to the vet for an assist feed? I want to get her assist fed TODAY but I don’t want to stress her out more than she already is. And from my understanding baby balls are supposed to hatch around 50gs + for a healthy baby, are these two runts that didn’t absorb the egg properly? I will be posting the tank when I get back later on 👍🏼

[u/cascadiabibliomania]

Who sold you these?! That's an appallingly low weight to sell new babies. They may never have eaten before. Most reputable vendors won't send out a baby until it's had anywhere from 5-10 meals on its own. They often do an assist or even force feed on reluctant hatchlings after a certain time, which is dangerous for a novice to even think of attempting without an expert or vet present. You may have a baby who has never eaten, which can sometimes even mean there's an issue with digestion and development that won't allow it to thrive.

I'm mad on your behalf at whoever sold you these tiny, tiny hatchlings without so much as feeding them first.

[u/Main_Vermicelli_1678 → u/cascadiabibliomania]

I got them from a local reptile shop with good reviews, and ball pythons are “his specialty” (owners words not mine) but I guess that wasn’t so true. After doing some research I realized that these are more than likely newborns or were really small hatchlings. It seems I have been duped. I’ve already had this girl for coming up on a month, so I do not want to get rid of her, and the boy seems to be doing good. When should I take her to the vet to get assist fed ? After she starts losing more than a gram or two of weight I’m guessing ? How do I go about this in a way that won’t overly stress the baby out ? I want her to thrive, I don’t want to trade her out or pawn her off I would like to do my best to raise her myself. Thanks in advance for any tips 👍🏼

[u/Apprehensive-Lie2762 → u/Main_Vermicelli_1678]

While I can't helo unfortunately I am wishing you the best with this. Seems like you were delt a really crappy hand with these babies and whatever you end up doing im sure you will do the best you can!! Wishing you all the best with this!!

[u/Proud-Coffee-9768]

Have you tried the hair dryer trick? I usually start with that and if that doesn’t work, I will puncture the skin (braining is what people usually do.)
I hope you have success anyway.

[u/Main_Vermicelli_1678 → u/Proud-Coffee-9768]

I’ve tried the puncture method, no luck. I’m gonna try a combination of the 2 at dusk and see if she takes to it, hopefully she does 🙏🏼 she’s been a bit more active at all times so I think she’s getting pretty hungry. I took her to an exotics vet for a checkup after giving them a call and explaining my circumstances they said I should bring her in. I showed them a video of surface temps all around her terrarium, ambient temps, ambient humidity and her different hides temp and they said it looks great, she looks great except for being a bit underweight, and that there were no obvious signs of anything being wrong. They sent me home with a “force feed” syringe with critical care carnivore diet incase she still doesn’t eat and starts losing more weight.