Feeding Help

[RobbinRN]

I thought I was lucky that neither Alice (my male) nor Charger (my female) had ever refused a meal. I had been feeding weekly and they had both been eating approximately 100g rats. They both weigh over 1100g. That changed four weeks ago when Alice refused. Charger ended up with two rats that night. I decided to wait two weeks. Alice again refused, and Charger again got two . Now, two weeks later, they have both refused!

I feed each in his/her enclosure. Husbandry had always been perfect, but lately I've had trouble with humidity only. It's dry in the house with the heater on. Thankfully, this is Texas and winter is so short here if you blink you miss it. I have read that cooler temperatures sometimes cause snakes to go off feed and am hoping this is the simple explanation.

Any ideas? I feed F/T and hate to waste them. So far, their weights have not dropped drastically and they don't look malnourished. How long have some of y'all's snakes gone without eating? How frequently should I try? Can I refreeze the rats (they're from Big Cheese)?

Thanks,
Robbin

8 DAYS UNTIL NARBC

[tigerlily]

I thought I was lucky that neither Alice (my male) nor Charger (my female) had ever refused a meal. I had been feeding weekly and they had both been eating approximately 100g rats. They both weigh over 1100g. That changed four weeks ago when Alice refused. Charger ended up with two rats that night. I decided to wait two weeks. Alice again refused, and Charger again got two . Now, two weeks later, they have both refused!

I feed each in his/her enclosure. Husbandry had always been perfect, but lately I've had trouble with humidity only. It's dry in the house with the heater on. Thankfully, this is Texas and winter is so short here if you blink you miss it. I have read that cooler temperatures sometimes cause snakes to go off feed and am hoping this is the simple explanation.

Any ideas? I feed F/T and hate to waste them. So far, their weights have not dropped drastically and they don't look malnourished. How long have some of y'all's snakes gone without eating? How frequently should I try? Can I refreeze the rats (they're from Big Cheese)?

Thanks,
Robbin

8 DAYS UNTIL NARBC

Well it's not big suprise the male refused after two such big meals. As for the female, it's not too suprising either. Any change in the environment can cause the fasting. I have had a couple girls stall out, so to speak, on their eating once they hit that size.

I'd work to try and get the humidity up, since that can cause problems like bad sheds. Try a bigger water bowl or just moving the current water bowl over the heat source.

On refreezing the rats, I will refreeze ONCE. If after the following week it get's trashed no matter what.

[RichsBallPythons]

Exactly Too big of prey being offered too frequently for ball pythons. the max i ever feed my adults wean rats. my adult bps get 65 grams total whether rat or mice. this keeps them consistent more often with less refusals.

Of course you will have a picky eater no matter how much you feed. This can be cut to a minimum with proper prey size.
My picky eater right now in winter months eats 1-2 mice every other month. hes gonna be started on ASF this summer