BP Has not eaten in months, when to worry?

[Viper0hr]

My 8-9 year old BP has not eaten in about 4 months now, he is still active, friendly, and looks to be ok, but just straight ignores food, FT live and even "stabbed/bloodied".

I know they sometimes do this for a long period of time, but when should I start to worry?

[SDA]

Well seeing how they can go over a year without eating (not saying that is typical but it happens), so long as you ball python is not losing too much weight it is not a problem. 4-6 month fasts are not unheard of.

Keep tabs on their weight and I would say (don't quote me on that I don't know for sure the precise level to start worrying) if your snake loses more than 25% of their total weight rapidly (like within a month), make a vet appointment just to rule out illness (as in take a culture and check for parasites). However if they are simply fasting or brumating then there is nothing to worry about.

This is actually the first year I have not yet had any fast and I am still waiting to see if it happens.

[cchardwick]

How much does he weigh? I'd get a weight on him and watch it closely. I had one fast for almost eight months and didn't lose hardly any weight, she was at about 2500 grams. I'd only worry if your snake is real skinny, you may want to post a photo of him. At that age he should be filled out nicely and you shouldn't have to worry, they can fast for up to a year and lose hardly any weight. I have a couple 8 year olds and they are about 3000 - 4000 grams, plenty of weight to fast for a very long time.

I have a snake that decided to stop eating for a long time, she decided that she only wants fresh killed adult mice! (I use CO2 to gas them). You may give that a try, especially if it's a really filled out thick snake. My fresh killed mouse eater won't eat a live rat, frozen thawed rat, or fresh killed rat, only a fresh killed mouse! You can also try a smaller live rat, I find that the reason most snakes don't eat live is because the rat is too big, you may try something in the 70-100 gram range. I prefer not to leave a live rat in the tub for more than five minutes and if not eaten I move it to the next tub. For me it works best to feed later in the evening and feed so the snake can't see you, just pop it in and walk away and come back in five minutes.

[Viper0hr]

Well seeing how they can go over a year without eating (not saying that is typical but it happens), so long as you ball python is not losing too much weight it is not a problem. 4-6 month fasts are not unheard of.

How much does he weigh?

Thanks for the replies.

He actually looks exactly the same. I have not weighed him in a long time, I will do that tonight. He is pretty beefy, and to my eye has not changed any in the past months, which is why I have not really stressed it too much.