My BP has stopped eating for no reason. Please help!

[Krissandra]

I'm sorry this is long! In case you're too busy to read the whole thing, the gist of the thread is in the title. But if you'd like to read on....

I have had my beautiful ball python Pandora since last summer, and not once have I experienced any sort of problem feeding her. She was a little over a year when I bought her, and never gave the previous owner any problems with feeding, either. I feed her once a week with a live mouse (she's only ever had live mice), and she's usually in the feeding container for less than two minutes before she strikes and eats (sometimes she strikes almost instantaneously).

Now it has been over two weeks. Last Saturday, over a week ago, I bought a mouse and proceeded as normal. I put the mouse in the container, and then put Pandora in. She got into her usual S-pose and seemed about ready to strike. But the mouse started crawling on her, and it seemed to freak her out. She completely lost interest in the mouse. This has happened before, so I left her in there a while, thinking it would work itself out. But after a while when Pandora was clearly trying to get me to take her out of the container, I eventually gave up and took her out, thinking that I'd get her to eat later.

The mouse died overnight, I think because it got too cold for it, and I (obviously) didn't have the proper housing for it since I'm not used to keeping the mice for longer than 10 minutes. We waited until Tuesday to buy another mouse, as I thought that maybe she just hadn't been hungry, and I knew that the mouse had freaked her out.

Well, I have had this mouse from Tuesday until today. I've been alternating the heat lamp with Pandora's terrarium and the feeding container to keep the mouse from freezing to death, and it's been a severe PITA keeping this thing. I just wish she'd eat it, but I try each day for her to feed, and each day she just slides right past the mouse and tries to get out. It's as if she doesn't view the mice as food anymore.

What should I do??? I feel so terrible, not knowing how I can make her feel okay around the mice again. Any suggestions?

[GoingPostal]

Is the temp stable for your bps cage? How cold is the room where a mouse would die? The snake may just be fasting, very common in BP's, make sure the temps are correct, hides are tight and the same and keep offering her a mouse once a week. If she starts losing weight than worry but a couple weeks without food is not a big deal. Mine just got over a 2.5 month fast.

[Kaorte]

Well, 2 weeks is nothing to bat an eye at with an adult BP. They can go many months without eating as long as they have fresh water.

The first problem I notice is that you are feeding her one mouse. One mouse is a good sized meal for a one month old snake, not an adult BP. You should be feeding her small rats at the least.

If your snake refuses a meal, just wait until the next schedules feeding day. Offering food earlier than that will just cause the animal to get more stressed.

Try feeding the snake in its home enclosure. She might just not feel secure in the other container.

If the room is so cold that a mouse would FREEZE to death, what are the temps in your BPs enclosure? How are you measuring your temps? Are you only using a heat lamp?

What kind of hides does the snake have?

[Krissandra]

Thank you for your responses! My BP's enclosure is always stable. I have an under-tank heating pad on one side of the tank, which gives her somewhere warm to hide during the night, and I keep the heat lamp on during the day on the other side of the tank. The thermometer measures between 65-72 at night (warmer over the pad), and between 84-91 during the day on the hot side of the tank (cooler on the other side).

I didn't know that I should be feeding her small rats already. The man from the pet store who sold her to me said that she wasn't big enough for rats yet. She's about 2.5 feet long, and about 1.25 inches in diameter at her thickest point.

I believe the reason the mouse died was because all I could do was leave it in a cold, dark container with the lid on during the night, without any way of heating it. The temperature probably got very cold down near the floor, which is where the container was resting. However, I don't know if that's the real reason it died. The mouse in general didn't act like the other mice that we bring home. It acted almost like it was very old, or possibly sick. My husband and I wondered if that was why Pandora wouldn't eat it. But when she didn't eat the second, younger mouse the next week, I started to think that we had a real feeding problem on our hands.

I also wasn't aware that BPs would randomly go on fasts. Thanks for sharing! She hasn't been acting agitated or anything. In fact, besides not eating at her regular intervals, she seems very normal. She still wants out of her terrarium about once a day, and she loves touching my face with hers and curling around my arm to rest. So, overall, she doesn't act like she's feeling restless or irritable. She's never once bitten me or acted nervous around me, for which I'm grateful. She's an absolutely wonderful BP and I love her to death, which is why I got so worried. I think I'm going to buy a small mouse cage just to keep a small rat on hand if she refuses it again. That way I don't feel so badly about how I'm keeping the rodent.

Again, thanks for all your advice! If she goes longer than a two months without eating, should I look into force-feeding? I really don't want to go there, but I will if it means her well-being.

Oh, and I almost forgot to answer your hides question: She has a long decorative log (not real wood) which is more than large enough to hide her completely, while being small enough that her sides can touch the walls of the hide to give her a sense of security. It's served its purpose very well, and she loves hanging out in there.

[Kaorte]

Force feeding should not be necessary for a snake that has shown that it can eat just fine on its own. I would only worry if she has started to loose considerable (more than 100-200g) amounts of weight. It might be worth your while to get s kitchen scale and weight the snake once every two weeks. Also, a scale also helps with feeding. I feed around 10-15% of the snakes body weight until the snake is about 800g and then I just feed small rats.

Your temps worry me a little bit though. You shouldn't really have a night drop. The range of your temps leads me to believe you aren't using a digital thermometer with a probe. I would definitely invest in a digital thermometer and hygrometer. The home depot, lowes, and walmart sells the accurite weather station which measures indoor temp, outdoor temp, and indoor humidity.

[singingtothewheat]

Thank you for your responses! My BP's enclosure is always stable. I have an under-tank heating pad on one side of the tank, which gives her somewhere warm to hide during the night, and I keep the heat lamp on during the day on the other side of the tank. The thermometer measures between 65-72 at night (warmer over the pad), and between 84-91 during the day on the hot side of the tank (cooler on the other side).

I didn't know that I should be feeding her small rats already. The man from the pet store who sold her to me said that she wasn't big enough for rats yet. She's about 2.5 feet long, and about 1.25 inches in diameter at her thickest point.

I believe the reason the mouse died was because all I could do was leave it in a cold, dark container with the lid on during the night, without any way of heating it. The temperature probably got very cold down near the floor, which is where the container was resting. However, I don't know if that's the real reason it died. The mouse in general didn't act like the other mice that we bring home.If it was sick in some way, there is a chance that your BP refused it because it didn't quite smell right. It acted almost like it was very old, or possibly sick. My husband and I wondered if that was why Pandora wouldn't eat it. But when she didn't eat the second, younger mouse the next week, I started to think that we had a real feeding problem on our hands.

I also wasn't aware that BPs would randomly go on fasts. Thanks for sharing! She hasn't been acting agitated or anything. In fact, besides not eating at her regular intervals, she seems very normal. She still wants out of her terrarium about once a day, and she loves touching my face with hers and curling around my arm to rest. So, overall, she doesn't act like she's feeling restless or irritable. She's never once bitten me or acted nervous around me, for which I'm grateful. She's an absolutely wonderful BP and I love her to death, which is why I got so worried. I think I'm going to buy a small mouse cage just to keep a small rat on hand if she refuses it again. That way I don't feel so badly about how I'm keeping the rodent.

Again, thanks for all your advice! If she goes longer than a two months without eating, should I look into force-feeding? I really don't want to go there, but I will if it means her well-being.

Oh, and I almost forgot to answer your hides question: She has a long decorative log (not real wood) which is more than large enough to hide her completely, while being small enough that her sides can touch the walls of the hide to give her a sense of security. It's served its purpose very well, and she loves hanging out in there.

Large is not a good thing for a B.P. You gotta remember that in the wild they would be burrowed into a nice little termite den, nice and cozy. They feel most comfortable in a dark, close hide. One on the warm side and one on the cool side is best.

[Danounet]

Also keep in mind BPs might go off feed during the winter months. Mine have been on and off these months. Specialy bad with all these cold fronts these year. I gave up trying to get them to eat regularly, the cold fronts got the best of me. If they eat they eat, if not wait till next week and try agian.

The only one eating regularly is the little baby spider.

[BallsUnlimited]

Also keep in mind BPs might go off feed during the winter months. Mine have been on and off these months. Specialy bad with all these cold fronts these year. I gave up trying to get them to eat regularly, the cold fronts got the best of me. If they eat they eat, if not wait till next week and try agian.

The only one eating regularly is the little baby spider.

Exactly. Another very good point. First make sure your hot side temps are up to par as well as the size of the enclosure and it has enough hides to feel at home. After you dial in ur temps if there all good consider this time of year the on and off feed due to the breeding season. Like i have said in threads before. I have males\females that are pounding food weekly and i have males\females who have gone off feed since breeding season started. There are so many reasons why it might not be eating that you have to tackle the basics first. Hope that helps a little. I know it gets frustrating but once you get use to it, it wont bother you as much. I always have a little bit of worry but soon as the temps outside start warming up they go back on feed. Or at least thats what ive noticed in my years of keeping the bps.

[Krissandra]

Thank you again, everybody.

Large is not a good thing for a B.P. You gotta remember that in the wild they would be burrowed into a nice little termite den, nice and cozy. They feel most comfortable in a dark, close hide. One on the warm side and one on the cool side is best.

I don't think that it's too large, but I may be wrong. I took this picture just now of her hide (she's currently lying on top, which she likes to do) to give you all an idea of how big it is. Too big? This is the same hide that I've used from the first week that I got her. She is still in a 10-gallon enclosure, which I plan on updating within the next few months to a 30-gallon with multiple hides now that she's grown a little bigger. Anyway, the left side of the fake log narrows down to a much smaller space than the opening. Does it still seem too big/open?

Force feeding should not be necessary for a snake that has shown that it can eat just fine on its own. I would only worry if she has started to loose considerable (more than 100-200g) amounts of weight. It might be worth your while to get s kitchen scale and weight the snake once every two weeks. Also, a scale also helps with feeding. I feed around 10-15% of the snakes body weight until the snake is about 800g and then I just feed small rats.

Your temps worry me a little bit though. You shouldn't really have a night drop. The range of your temps leads me to believe you aren't using a digital thermometer with a probe. I would definitely invest in a digital thermometer and hygrometer. The home depot, lowes, and walmart sells the accurite weather station which measures indoor temp, outdoor temp, and indoor humidity.

Thanks for all this information! I'll have to look into these things immediately. I had only bought the things which the man at the pet store recommended since he seemed to know what he was talking about. He told me that her terrarium temps would be stable if I used the heat pad at night, and both the heat pad and lamp during the day. I mist the tank daily to help with humidity, but I really like the idea of a hydrometer so that I know whether or not it's being adequately humidified.

[dr del]

Hi,

The thermometer measures between 65-72 at night (warmer over the pad), and between 84-91 during the day on the hot side of the tank (cooler on the other side).

Those temps are really worrying.

How are you measuring them and can you tell us the temps in the hide over his pad at night and during the day?

You should really be shooting for a warm side of 90-93f 24/7 and a cool side of 80-82f also 24/7.


dr del