I agree with Raven. I wouldn't fret too much, if your ball passes all these health check-ups and the husbandry is the way it's supposed to be, then she'll come around soon enough. I acquired a Jungle Carpet Python in early October, and she finally started eating for me just a month ago. A 1-inch thick ball python that's about 1 1/2 feet long sounds about right. Have you noticed any weight loss? I didn't notice any weight loss in my JCP in that 5 months, but actually a weight and length gain. Going for food for long periods of time is no biggie for snakes. Ball pythons are often stubborn feeders.
Do you know if she was captive-bred or wild-caught? Wild-caught ball pythons have more feeding problems in captivity. If you bought her from a pet store, it's more likely she is wild-caught. Plus, if she was wild-caught, then you're more likely to have better luck with gerbils.
A small snake like yours is probably feeling stressed in a large cage. a 50-60 gal. cage is great for an adult, but might be a bit unnerving for a small baby. Try a 10 gal. or 20 long tank for your ball, and save the 50-60 for when she outgrows the 20 long.
Are you handling the food with your hands right before feeding? Try to limit hand contact to just the tail at the most. This worked for me, because my snake smells MOUSE, and not my hand. I tried every single trick in the book with my jungle carpet for 5 months. Then, one day I picked up the mouse and prekilled it and served it to the carpet using only tongs, and she finally took it. Ever since then, I've been doing only this, and she has eaten every time. Try this on feeding day, get back to me and let me know how it worked.
One last bit of advice, lose the hot rock because they produce very hot spots and your ball can get severly burned on it. Or at least cut the cord so you can keep it in the cage for decoration.
Check this out for husbandry and care requirements.
Ball Python Venue
[addsig]
<font size=1>[ This message was edited by: Bry on 2001-04-12 06:30 ]</font>
