What to do with a BP that won't strike and coil ?

[angllady2]

Ok, Here's the deal. Toki is my 900+ gram het Pied female. She's always been a great eater.

About 5 months ago, I moved all my snakes into a rack, and have had nothing but feeding troubles since then.

Toki went from F/T rats to small live rats, then from that to mice over the course of that 5 months with sporadic feeding. For the last two weeks, she will hunt and strike her prey, but then drops it immediately. She won't even glance at F/T, but a live rat or mouse is stalked eagerly, but as soon as she strikes it she drops it, only to repeat the hunt-strike-drop over again. If she weren't actively hunting the prey, I'd think she just wasn't interested. But she IS hungry, I know she is. But it seems like she has forgotten how to eat ?

I can't get ASF here, they are illegal, but I've tried mice and different sizes of rats, with the same result. I just don't know what to do for her. Any suggestions, or do I just need to wait it out and hope she'll get hungry enough one day ?

Gale

[iCandiBallPythons]

Sometimes they will go off feed around that weight/age around this time of year. The strike and drop may be more of a sign of "get that thing away from em" They dont forget how to eat so it seems more like a defense strike IMO. I would wait a coupe weeks and then offer a small rat and see how it goes. She will eat when shes ready. I had 2 females go off feed last year for 11 months and now since back on food are making up for it. I would ride it out for a bit. One other thing what is your temps in the rack, and what are you measuring them with?

[angllady2]

Thanks,

I'm not too awfully worried about her yet, since she's been eating off and on for a few months now, instead of not at all.

The only thing I wonder about the whole defense thing is that she actively hunts her prey. She's not just coiled in a corner and strikes when it comes near, she'll stretch out all the way across the tub to get it, but then turns it loose at once.

Temps in the rack are steady at 92 - 87, measured with my infrared temp gun.

Gale

[iCandiBallPythons]

have you changed prey size or type?

[guambomb832]

This time of year is usually the start of some ball pythons going off-feed. I wouldn't worry too much unless it loses a drastic amount of weight in a short period of time. To the reason why it strikes and lets go, I had the same problem.... It's a defensive strike. If they really wanted to eat, they would strike and hold on. The best thing that you can do is leave her alone for a while and try again.