Striking response and eating

[Greengirl]

My ball python went on a bit of a hunger strike for a while. This is the dead of summer so I usually expect him to be ravenous, but I couldn't get him to eat F/T or live. But he still seemed happy and wasn't loosing weight fast. When almost two months went by though, he started looking skinny. A friend said to drop an F/t rat in his enclosure or a small dark box and leave him in there till he eats it. I did just that two weeks ago and he did eat it. I tried feeding him again last night but he wasn't striking. So I dropped the rat in last night and he had eaten it overnight, so I am happy about that, but now I have a few questions: Have any of you experienced your pythons not interested in attacking and striking their food? Do snakes get lazy? Is the strike response important or is it more important that he eats in general?

Hi enclosure has perfect parameters and he is still gentle and sweet. I used to feed him in the middle of the day, but then he just started refusing even live food. I switched him to f/t after the long winter since I knew he would be hungry enough to eat anything. After a month and a half, he took a f/t rat in Feb and struck and wrapped. He did it again at the middle of March. But then he stopped eating until two weeks ago and I had to resort to leaving him stuck with his food. But I tried getting him to strike. I would dangle and move the f/t rat around, but he would just turn away, and he did the same with live. Now that he has eaten at night in his enclosure without striking from me I wonder is the strike response is important, or the fact that he is domesticated can make him lazy and it's ok.

Thoughts?

[JoshSloane]

From my experiences striking at a food item isn't always a sure sign the snake will eat. I know many people on here have found that especially young BPs will strike and coil a food item, but then rapidly lose interest and not eat. To me, definitely doesn't matter if the snake strikes or not, the important thing is that the snake is eating regularly.

I've shared this a few times, but some of my most prolific eaters seem to be pretty 'lazy' during the process.

[Smitty33]

Are you sure the f/t rats are heated up properly? I take mine and put in hot water and let it soak for about an hour and a half. Never use boiling water as this will cook the rat. Then about 5-10 minutes with a blow dryer and like last night mine almost comes out of his tank after it and he hits and coils like a freight train. I'll then grab a leg or tail with my forceps and just shake it a little bit a couple times to simulate it struggling.
I think the biggest mistake some make with f/t is not letting them thaw out long enough, you have to get that core of the rat thawed out as well.

[Greengirl]

Are you sure the f/t rats are heated up properly? I take mine and put in hot water and let it soak for about an hour and a half. Never use boiling water as this will cook the rat. Then about 5-10 minutes with a blow dryer and like last night mine almost comes out of his tank after it and he hits and coils like a freight train. I'll then grab a leg or tail with my forceps and just shake it a little bit a couple times to simulate it struggling.
I think the biggest mistake some make with f/t is not letting them thaw out long enough, you have to get that core of the rat thawed out as well.

You must be spying on me because that is exactly how I thaw my rats. Even down to the blow dryer for that nice fresh-from-the-hair-salon look my snake used to find so appetizing.

But that would not explain why, if he was hungry, would he ignore a live rat too...

[Smitty33]

Well I tried to help anyway😄 mine had a spell only eating if I left it in his tank and now he's the exact opposite. They are goofy critters sometimes.

[mainer12]

I personally think it's a sign of intelligence/laziness. One of my boys won't eat unless I drop the rat in there at which point he immediately starts eating it without coiling or anything. I think that they can sometimes understand that it's already dead so there's no need to kill it more.

[JoshSloane]

I personally think it's a sign of intelligence/laziness. One of my boys won't eat unless I drop the rat in there at which point he immediately starts eating it without coiling or anything. I think that they can sometimes understand that it's already dead so there's no need to kill it more.

Totally agree! My oldest and biggest boa does the same thing. When I bring in a rat she just looks at me like, "well go ahead and drop it already." Once I do she slithers over and slowly eats it. No strike, nothing.

[KitaCat]

About half of my snakes eat this way, including my three juvenile boas (they're hit or miss - occasionally they strike). I also have a ball python who is a garbage disposal.

They're all special little weirdos in their own ways.

[scalrtn]

My bp lost his strike enthusiasm late winter and early this Spring, but he also would take F/T rats if left in the tank. I've recently been using a temp gun to make sure f/t prey are warmed to about 100 degrees F before offering. He's also graduated to and is taking rat weanlings/smalls now. Someone else in a related thread I posted suggested strike vigor is a function of prey size/prey temperature, and my snake seems to have confirmed that observation. (The "strike" is back in force)

[tembii]

This is actually super informative I'm going to try blow drying the mouse I just soak it in warm water in a baggie to heat it after it has been thawed and Louie strikes and coils it but won't eat it. Thanks for the tips fellas