Tapered off feeding?

[Pyrate81]

I noticed over the last year my snakes have begun refusing larger prey and are eating less frequently. I have 5 colubrids and 1 ball python. The breakdown is like this:


Ball Python: was eating 2 medium rats every 2 weeks, now eats 1 small rat every 2-3 weeks
Cali king: was eating 2 small rats every 2 weeks, now eats 3 mice every 2 weeks
House snake: was eating 4-5 fuzzies every 2 weeks, now eats 3-4/month

Milk snake: was eating 1 small rat every 2 weeks, now eats 2-3 mice every 2 weeks
(I voluntarily reduced his prey size cause I wanted to see if he would like small rats, but decided they seemed amed a little hard to swallow so I switched him back to something easier)
Rat snake: was eating 2 medium rats every 2 weeks, now eats 1 small rat every 3 weeks to a month(this guy is sick and getting better so I can see that as a variable)


The ball python is 3-4 years old; the colubrids are 12+ years old.

So my questions are: has anyone ever experienced this? Could it be an age thing? Are they no longer going through growth spurts so they don't need to eat as much?

Everyone looks and sounds healthy aside from the rat snake and is acting normally. The rat snake is QT'd to the living room away from everyone else; all others are living in the bedroom with me. I feed every 10-14 days.

The only snake I have ever checked weight on was the ball python which I can check if anyone would care to know. Last time I checked his weight he was 1500+ grams. Don't have a date on the weigh in but it was within the last 6 months.


Comments, questions, concerns are welcome.

[Pyrate81]

:Bump:


Anyone have a thought?

[Rickys_Reptiles]

I can't speak for all of them, but 2 medium rats every 2 weeks is a lot for a full grown male. Mine only eat 3 smalls a month. I'm not saying that it's wrong, just in my opinion it's a lot.

Not sure why they are refusing. It's weird. Have you made sure all your husbandry is correct? Are they loosing weight?

[Pyrate81]

I changed the cool side hide for the BP and will probably change it back as I think it's too big, but he is using it more than the other one so I'll give him more time with it. Hot spot is always 90-92, cool side is always 76-82 and ambient ranges from 75-83.* I gave him 2 mediums cause he would take and like them and he was growing at the time, sometimes he would go 3 weeks between meals.

Some history on the BP- I got him 2 years ago and the previous owner was feeding him 1-2 mice a week when he was big enough to take small rats. They said he was 2-3 years old at the time. I left him on mice for the first month then tried him on a small rat which he went right after. Gave him 1-2 small rats a week for the first month then tapered off to 1-2 smalls every 2 weeks. Then a 4 month feed strike. Found out I was doing some things wrong(thank you bp.net), got things right and bam! back to feeding regularly. Last spring I bumped him up to medium rats cause he looked big enough to take them which he did take them and he's been eating that way since a 1 1 1/2 month feed strike this past January/February. Now he eats 2 smalls every 2-3 weeks.

This spring I changed both hides for the cali king and gave him a UTH, but the feeding changes started last summer/fall.
No changes for the milk or house snakes in husbandry.


One thing I am wondering for this year is that I have not been using my A/C on really warm and humid days so the ambients/cool sides have been easily staying above 80 degrees and the humidity has been staying in the 60s without spraying the tanks. I could be looking into it a little too much but animals are usually more in tune with the weather and planet so might it be an overall change in weather for my area. Could be a far-fetched possibilty, but ya never know.

I'll have to check weight on the BP when I get home tonight but he feels like there isn't a weight difference.


I'm not worried about their health as there is no noticed abnormal activity and they are all eating, I am just curious if anyone experienced anything like this and if there was a possible cause for it. Actually, my cali king is a garbage disposal and for him to refuse anything unless he isn't hungry is kind of odd.


*Some may say the range is too broad, but it's working for me and the only times they go that low is when there is an unexpeted cold front comes through the area at night and I have the windows open.

[Rickys_Reptiles]

The weird thing for me is that he's only taking smaller food. Perhaps thats his way of saying "Mediums are too much for me". I'd try feeding him 1 small a week and no more. If he takes that, then you're fine.

I doubt the A/C issue is causing an issue, but I could be wrong. (Talking only about the BP - I don't know enough about the others snakes to comment)

[Pyrate81]

"Perhaps thats his way of saying 'Mediums are too much for me'."


This is part of my thinking as well. If he is regulating his own food size, that's fine and don't have an issue with it. I'll give them whatever they are happy with.


Thanks for your responses and input.