Strikes but wont feed???

[Hellix2494]

Well I have a 2000g+ WC yellow belly female that I have had for about 1 or 2 months. She has yet to feed for me. I have been leaving her alone and offering her food once or twice a week. I haven't been handeling her. She has a hide - might be a little on the small side but she seems to like it. She is in a 41qt Tub rack with a 12"x11" piece of flexwatt for heat on one side. The only thing I haven't done is check the temperatures cause all the other snakes in the rack are doing fine including the male WC yellow belly (600g) that I bought at the same time as the female.

She hasn't been breed as far as I know. What could be keeping her off feed?

[Nate]

is it just strikes? or is she constricting as well?

Typically, multiple strikes with no attempt to coil is a sign that she's stressed out. It is that time of year where some females are still off feed.

How long have you had her? [edit] just re-read..1-2 months [/edit]

You can also try balled up newspaper to make her space a little tighter and secure.

[Hellix2494]

yeah she strikes but doesn't constrict.

I will try the balled up newspaper and see what happens. I may try constructing a larger hide for her too.

[Gloryhound]

We had a girl that did that for a while, but she got over it eventually. You just have to keep stress to a minimum. No handling (except to clean), Try lengthening out times between feeding attempts to possibly 10 days (Yes I know this is hard as you say she hasn't eaten anything for so long, but the less feeding attempts the less stress she will have), make sure the prey is proper size or just slightly smaller, and reduce traffic in the room she is kept to a bare minimum!

[Hellix2494]

She is a 2000g+ female. I could feed her a horse and it wouldn't be big enough. LOL

I have been offering her Med sized live rats, small rats, mice, weaned rats, small children and the neighbors anoying dog and no takes yet. (JK on the last two) She is a big girl.

I will give thoes a try Glory.

[tigerlily]

I am in agreement, that it sounds like she is stressed. Offer her additional hides and try the crumpled up newspaper.

You can also find a few more tips in this thread as well... http://www.ball-pythons.net/forums/s...ad.php?t=25195

[littleindiangirl]

Here's what we did for our WC girl.

We left her completely and utterly alone for as much as possible. She was in a very quiet, dim place.

We would prescent for an hour before feeding, and would offer a small live rat pup. (before weaned) We would offer it very late at night, and walk away from the room.

We covered her tub to make it completely dark, and we did this for a month before she ate.

Before this method, we had tried anything we could think of, but always focusing on leaving her alone as much as possible.

She must have been off feed for 4-5 months. But she only lost 90 grams the entire time.

Keep trying, lengthen the time in between feedings, and try to minimize all the stress you can. Prescent, prescent prescent! Good luck