I think my snake forgot how to eat.

[rukik]

Hello everyone,

I have a BP that will not eat. It eagerly strikes its target, constricts it but then drops it and leaves it. When I pick up the rat with my tongs and wiggle it he will attack again and constrict again then drop it. I have repeated this dance 4 times one session (rewarming) the rat but still no luck. its been 6 weeks with weekly attempts and He hasn't eaten is approx. 5 months now, not looking to thin yet, but I am getting worried. My larger Pastel male usually goes 3-4 months over the winter then goes right back to eating.

Things I have tried.

1) Different feeding times
2) Different size and colour of rats.
3) left food over night
4) Yes the temps and humidity are bang on, as well as his favorite hide.

I am trying to avoid force feeding at all costs. Any suggestions are welcome.

I have had Ball pythons for 10 - 11 years and currently have 4. I have never seen any of my others display this behaviour.

[JodanOrNoDan]

I have seen this. Mine have all resumed eating after a period of time.

[rukik]

I have seen this. Mine have all resumed eating after a period of time.

How long is a period of time? 5 months seems a little excessive to me...

[JodanOrNoDan]

I have a boy that has been off food for at least six months. I would not start to worry unless he begins to drop significant weight. I say this but I always worry when mine don't eat.

Things you can try that have worked at least once for me. If you are feeding F/T. When he constricts, continue to move the rat a little for about one minute in order to simulate death. He should constrict harder. For some reason this seems to make them want to eat.

Feed live rat.

Last resort... feed live mouse.

[John1982]

How long is a period of time? 5 months seems a little excessive to me...

As long as he's maintaining a decent body shape, I wouldn't break a sweat over a fasting male until they hit the 12 month mark. I've had males that'd consistently only eat a few months every year.

[Michelle85]

I am going through this now with my male ball python and I understand your stress... if he is otherwise healthy and not dropping weight, just keep trying, he will eat eventually. I did give mine a degu last year and he loved that, maybe try something different? ... I am finding these snakes can be really picky eaters.

[cchardwick]

Try a live rat pup with eyes closed about as big as an adult mouse, I bet he will eat that.

[maaloxkid]

My Pied female did the same thing until I tried a live weaned rat and she has ate ever since. I tried I fresh kill after and she would not eat, so i went back to live.

Sent from my C6506 using Tapatalk

[redshepherd]

Sometimes one of mine has problems finding the head/where to start eating, if the rat is a little too big... And then gives up after 20 minutes, and I have to try again. :s But if I offer him a small rat, he seems to have an easier time eating it. So you can try with a smaller rat, one that he can even eat backwards if he chooses to, and see if that helps?

If he's not becoming very skinny though, I don't think you need to sweat it!

[SnakeCharm]

My healthy male BP just got over an 11-month-long hunger strike. In those two months, he lost about 200g. Yeah, it sucked wasting all those precious rats and having to constantly worry about when he's going to resume eating.

Surprisingly, I got him eating again about a week ago, and shortly after that, he shed in one-piece. I know you may have heard this a lot, but I think it helps reassure owners with a fasting BP: Don't worry! Just keep monitoring his temps, attempt feeding him every couple weeks or so, and stay persistent. He'll snap out of it eventually whenever he feels like it. That can be tomorrow, or hell, like my male, 11 months later