Fasting question????

[EcToTh3rMiC215]

Hey all recently my female ball python has been refusing too eat her regular small rat once a week. She has been off food since 12/13/09 where I weighed her at 713g. As of 2/2/10 she weighed in at 707g and this was right after a shed. She still wont eat but i am not too worried at this point, but would like to know if I should be. So does anyone think a 8gm loss in weight in the span of 2 months is anything to worry about. And how much weight loss would be considered significant, and also how long do ball pythons usually fast for on avg. Any input would be useful. Thanks.

[Kaorte]

Nothing to worry about. 8g is nothing. If she dropped under 600g, I would be worried.

I would try manipulating her environment to see if you can get her to eat, 700g is a bit little to go off feed. It is usually boys that size and girls of breeding size that go off feed. Try giving her different hides, or more hides. Change her tub to a smaller tub, increase or decrease temperatures. Fill the tub with crumpled newspaper or something.

A few months is nothing to worry about though. some go off feed from October-November through spring.