feeding question

[trizzi]

hello, i bought my ball python as a baby jan. of 2011. for the 10 months i had him he hardly refused a meal going no more than 2 weeks without eating. now he hasnt ate since the 18th of october. his cage and temp didn't change other than clean carpet. I offer a small rat every week but he just straight up refuses it. I know they say balls go on fasts but i assumed adults only fast, not young growing snakes. another thing i noticed is that he is more active. normally the only time i see him is at night now he roams around during the day. he dont seem sick no mucus around his nose and when he opens its mouth to yawn its nice and clear. just tryin to figure out if this is normal. thanks in advance and happy holidays. btw i refer to my ball as him in the post but i dont know the sex

[Homegrownscales]

Well especially for young males this could be a breeding fast. Have you been tracking his weights? This will be the One thing that will save you a hell of alot of worry. If you haven't gotten a digital scale and a notebook by now..... Do so! A breeding fast the animal will lose little to no weight. An illness and they will drop weight quickly. Having an action notebook or sheet to track your bp is the single most important thing to keeping them. It will show you there's a problem way ahead of it being life threatening, you will notice the patterns and if he or she needs to go to the vet it gives you a true back ground on the animal that your memory alone cannot give.
I track sheds, feeds, defecations everytime and weigh in monthly. If the animal stops eating I weigh bimonthly. If the animals losing weight it's time for a vet visit.
Personally it sounds like you have a little boy that is ready to go find a girl this year. But at the same time without watching weights you won't be sure.
The only thing that bothers me is his active roaming during the day.
What's the hide situation like?

What I would do is track his actions starting now, weigh in bi weekly, that will give you a decent baseline. From there just keep offering on his normal feed day and keep things as normal as possible.



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[trizzi]

thanks! I will be getting a scale very soon, just going by eye, it doesnt seem hes losing weight but i know i cant go by that. he has 2 nice size identical hides one on each side. i would post a pic but cant figure out how to

[Homegrownscales]

Go to photobucket and upload from there. Put the link to the picture in the pic URL spot. I'm pretty sure that's how it works. I have tap a talk so it's a little different for me to upload. Honestly I don't know how much a pic would help bc we won't be able to tell if he's losing anything. We could see his enclosure. But without that scale you won't be able to tell much.
Honestly this sounds like a very normal breeding fast. He's about a year now and thats when most males are coming into their first seasons.


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[trizzi]

thanks hgs for all your info!