Ball python no longer strikes at food

[madonnaswimmer]

Hi there,

My captive-bred ball python, Orion, is around 2 years old (we got him at around 4 months old). He has always been offered frozen/thawed rats, which we dangle about in his cage to tempt him. He always used to strike the rats and consume them quickly.

But starting in the fall, he no longer strikes at them at all. We have the same rat supplier, same technique for warming them, etc. He looks like he is interested when we dangle it, but never strikes anymore. Sometimes he follows it as we dangle it around the cage, like he is interested. Other times he loses interest within a matter of minutes. Other times he backs away from the rat like he is scared by it. We end up leaving the rat on the floor of his cage, and he will always inevitably eat it, but it takes him a long time (sometimes over a half hour).

We tried spacing out the feedings to every 4 weeks (we usually fed every 2-3 weeks), but this didn't help. I also thought it may have been due to the onset of winter (which seemed odd in the first place seeing as how he didn't do this the previous winter), but as the days are getting longer and warmer, he is still not striking.

I thought about trying that "mouse maker" product by T-rex (the drops you put on the frozen mouse to entice them more) but it appears they don't make it anymore.

Any suggestions as to what to try?

[ballpythonluvr]

My male normal used to eat f/t small rats. Over time he would no longer strike and coil the rat so I used to just lay it in the tank for him. There is nothing to be concerned about as long as your snake is eating. There is no real need for him to strike and coil.

[madonnaswimmer]

Phew! Thanks!