ok- she is now eating again- after hunger strike since november / december- should I-

[psychoduck]

My bp went on a hunger strike that lasted since november or december. I assist fed her a pinky rat in March hoping that would get her started again, but no dice. Every time I attempted assist feeding since then she would manage to spit out the pinky so I was getting worried. Now that our weather has warmed up, and I changed out her bedding, I offered her a rat that I was sure was "too big" for her- it was close to, if not a mm bigger than the widest part of her body. Anyways, SHE STRUCK IT and it was gone in about 5 minutes. My question is, should I continue giving that size rat once a week, or should I feed her a little more often since she went so long without eating? If so, how often should I feed her now? She's about 26" long and the rat was probably 5" from nose to the base of the tail.

[Alexandra V]

Now that she's eaten once, I would maybe try feeding her prey items that are fair sized for her, but maybe a touch smaller than you would normally feed so that you don't put her off by offering too big an item and also to kind of ensure that she's a little more hungry at the next meal until she's eating steadily, then move her back up to normal size prey. I'd say try feeding every 7 days, that way it isn't too long between feedings but it isn't very often either. She seems like she's fairly young by the length you've given (though it's hard to tell just by length) so after she's started eating steadily then maybe start to offer her food every 5 days until she's regained some weight that she might have lost.

Just my $0.02

[psychoduck]

Now that she's eaten once, I would maybe try feeding her prey items that are fair sized for her, but maybe a touch smaller than you would normally feed so that you don't put her off by offering too big an item and also to kind of ensure that she's a little more hungry at the next meal until she's eating steadily, then move her back up to normal size prey.

Just my $0.02

ok, but how often? just the same once a week? It bugs me that she went so long without a meal! She ate like a champ last fall, but then quit eating when the weather cooled down- at first I figured she was just doing the winter fast thing, but after march passed, I started getting concerned. Thanks for the advice

[Alexandra V]

ok, but how often? just the same once a week? It bugs me that she went so long without a meal! She ate like a champ last fall, but then quit eating when the weather cooled down- at first I figured she was just doing the winter fast thing, but after march passed, I started getting concerned. Thanks for the advice

Haha sorry, I edited the post liast minute because I realized that I forgot to put in how often I'd say try every 7 days for now, and then once she's eating steadily bring her up to normal size prey every 7 days. If she doesn't look like she lost too much weight during her fast, then keep her on every 7 days.

[psychoduck]

That's the weird thing to me, she doesn't look like she has lost weight at all. She was appx 17" when I got her, shot up to 23" within two months, 26" or so by January. She has evidently continued to grow even while on hunger strike because she shed 3 times? Doesn't make sense to me how she could grow if she wasn't eating anything? I've looked up images, etc. to try to find out if she really "looks" starved and from what I can tell, she doesn't. I'll try to get a picture of her later tonight when she is usually active (if she doesn't just decide to sleep off her meal tonight!)

[Alexandra V]

That's the weird thing to me, she doesn't look like she has lost weight at all. She was appx 17" when I got her, shot up to 23" within two months, 26" or so by January. She has evidently continued to grow even while on hunger strike because she shed 3 times? Doesn't make sense to me how she could grow if she wasn't eating anything? I've looked up images, etc. to try to find out if she really "looks" starved and from what I can tell, she doesn't. I'll try to get a picture of her later tonight when she is usually active (if she doesn't just decide to sleep off her meal tonight!)

That's the weird thing about them. They can stop eating and get back into it months later and look completely fine! Pictures would help to tell if she's gotten thin or not. Congrats on her meal, by the way!

[psychoduck]

I decided to give her the "maybe a little too big" rat when I got to thinking about what a royal pig she was last fall- and it worked! LOL

[psychoduck]

This is a picture of Ms Scratch that I took tonite. Her cage is a bit too humid right now because I soaked her new bedding before adding it yesterday. Ambient temp in our 60+ year old house is 85 without the AC running, so that's what her cage is right now. I unplugged the UTH last night because it was heating the "hot side" to 99 degrees. Now have a ceramic heat emitter with a dimmer over the hot side set barely on, and it has hot side at 91. I'm hoping it will dry out the bedding quickly enough, or I may take drastic measures tomorrow and scoop some out and put it out in the west texas sun!

[psychoduck]

any opinions from "experts" on whether she looks healthy or not after almost 6 months without eating? Even though she shed (badly) a few weeks ago (low humidity then), I think I am seeing a slight bluish haze on her in areas that may indicate that she's about to shed again? Does anyone else see this? Also, her color pattern is just "normal" right?

Humidity is still too high at 85% so could use suggestions on what I can do to get it down. I live in west texas, so ambient humidity is very low (something I've been fighting with til I got the new bedding - jungle forest floor mixed with reptile moss to soak up moisture)

my first ball python I had 20+ years ago seemed so simple to care for compared to this one! She had a 20 gallon aquarium with "astroturf" for substrate, a heat rock (yeah, I know those are now "bad" and scratch does not have one). I fed the first ball python live rats, hamsters, mice, one of them a week, and she always took them! I finally wound up selling her because at the time I couldn't afford to travel the 80 miles to the pet store that sold mice to feed her.

Scratch, the current bp, is in a 20 gallon tank with a uth (unplugged right now because it cranked hot side up to 99), 2 identical hides, one on each end, a "climbing branch", accurite thermometers / humidity indicators, ceramic water dish, etc. I feel like I'm trying so hard to do everything right by her, and yet we just went thru this bizarre hunger strike thing for 6 months!

[Kymberli]

A six month hunger strike is not "bizarre" during breeding season. Many BPs have gone back on food this past month, it seems. My male Pinstripe hadn't eaten in ten months, lost just a bit of weight, and finally ate last week. It's not uncommon, so don't freak out and don't assist feed unless she loses a large amount of weight and has been seen by a vet to rule out illness. Assist feeding can cause more stress than what it is worth, which explains why she regurgitated the pinkies you assist fed her.

I am by no means an expert, but from what I can see she does not look alarmingly thin whatsoever. The angle of the photo makes it a bit difficult to discern, but I wouldn't panic. I'm sure she will gain weight quickly once back on a feeding schedule. Also, to my knowledge she appears to be a "Normal".

As for the husbandry issues you've encountered, if you have been using damp moss to increase the humidity, simply remove some to lower it until you reach your desired percentage (50-60%). I would also strongly suggest investing in a quality thermostat or, at the very least, a lamp dimmer to plug your under tank heater in to. That will solve your high temperature dilemma quite effectively.