Constricting but not eating?

[Ivyna J Spyder]

I gave my BP a mouse tonight, which he eagerly grabbed and constricted... I checked back ~10 min or so later, he's just laying next to it. Do BPs ever not eat what they constrict? Could that mean there's something wrong with it? (It IS a larger mouse than usual, 40 grams instead of 20 because the smaller ones weren't filling him up at all. There seems to exist no in-between sizes of mice so it's a bit of a jump but he has eaten 2 smalls in the past with no problem. I just haven't been able to get him to take 2 again!)

[sg1trogdor]

My pastel sometimes constricts his food then just leaves it there for a while after an hour or soo when I check on him he will have it half way down.

[Ivyna J Spyder]

Haha nevermind, false alarm. He ate it eventually, I was just being a paranoid owner! Looks fat and happy now. Can't seem to delete this thread SO I will simply change the topic somewhat.


Once these ~40 gram adult mice no longer satisfy his voracious appetite, would the next step be small rats at around 50-60? Should I maybe get weanlings to start transitioning in the meantime?

And man I still have like 20 or so frozen small mice left... I wonder if I could sell them in local classifieds...

[sg1trogdor]

Just stick to no larger than the widest part of your animal. I dont go by weight I just get whatever is smaller that their largest girth.

[rishnack]

my buddys female did that and then went off feed for a month
after a shed she went right back to feeding
my JP once didnt strike he just snugled up to the rat and started huggin him , freaked me out thought he would get bit for sure

[crystal]

my JP once didnt strike he just snugled up to the rat and started huggin him , freaked me out thought he would get bit for sure

my boy kenyan snuggles his rats alot. it scares me cause i always think hes going to get a bite too.

[Peter Williams]

I have a het albino male that used to do this alot. And he didnt just leave it for a while, I'd wake up to the smell of rotting rat sitting over top of his heat. My solution was to feed him very last, and right as soon as he hit it, I left the room and turneed the lights off right away. All he needed was a little privacy. He quickly got over it once I did that a few times.

[pythontricker]

Happens to me all the time w/ my spider bp. I just wiggle it around again and he eats it.

[Gloryhound]

On a side note we try to get our ball pythons on rats as soon as possible. We have one girl that we purchased as a sub adult and she is very reluctant to feed on rats even fuzzies. Before we got her all she ate was mice. She now is a slow grower as she only eats every second or third feeding with rats, but the second you drop a mouse in she pounds it! She is around 700 grams and should be eating weaned rats regularly, but for some reason likes her mice. On the other hand we have a pair of Mojaves that have never tasted a mouse! The started off with freshly born pinky rats and haven't looked back!