Feeding Question

[Domina_Isadora]

I have a male BP that since he was small will only eat mice. I have tried and tried everything, but after a 4 month fasting (offered rats the entire time), I broke down and gave him mice....right back to eating.

I also have a female BP that has always eaten rats, nothing else. Although he went back to eating, she is now up to a 5 month fast. I have consistantly offered her a rat. Still nothing.

Both of my snakes are in excellent health. When my son went off to college they became my new kids, lol

Now my question(s)......would it be a bad idea to offer her mice to entice her to eat? Would it change her eating habits, like never wanting rats again?

Any suggestions would be wonderful!!!

And thanks in advance to those that respond!!!

[Kaorte]

If she has eaten mice before I don't think it would hurt to switch.

Can you give us some info on your setup? Temps, humidity, heating etc.
A 4-5 month fast seems like a long time.

[SatanicIntention]

Mice are perfectly fine to feed Ball Pythons for their entire lives. I do it and I know a few others who do as well.

If your snakes readily eat the mice and you can easily obtain the mice, then just feed them that. There is no significant nutritional difference between the two when compared by weight.

[ARamos8]

Mice all the way for me. Snakes are opportunistic feeders and as such tend to fast for long periods as well. Maybe there might be something causing some form of stress? Maybe its around the time of year that some snakes, even in captivity, tend to go on a feeding strike. A lot of variables here. Give us some history and maybe the folks here can point a few things out.

[Toronto Python Gurus]

I have 14 all together, i offer them all food the same time every week(5-7days babies, 7-10days sub adults/adults) if they eat they eat, as of right now all my 08's and 07's are eating might miss a feed or two but they are right back at it the next time, my big female(2000grams) hasnt eaten since the end of November but she just ovulated my other big female hasnt eaten since mid december but she is also breeding, and my two proven males have eaten maybe once or twice since december,

"remember, if you have selected a healthy ball python, it will be able to fast for several months without any ill effects. Reports of ball pythons fasting for up to a year before they begin feeding are fairly common. There are even two records of ball pythons that fasted for 22 months before feeding, so don't panic."

its not an issue if they arn't eating its only an issue if they arn't eating and they are losing weight, if your snakes are losing weight then i would worry about it

**the paragraph with the quotations was from The Ball Python Manual**

now if you really do want to switch ur snakes from mice to rats a good way to do it is to throw a rat in with a few live mice the rat will pick up a little bit of the mice's smell and your snake should be tricked! lol, i have heard people doin this when tryin to switch their snakes from mice to rats and vice versa, but like a few people mention in this thread your snakes are fine with mice. Your snakes can eat food that is as thick as the thickest part of their body, but alot of breeders including myself beleive that smaller prey more often is better than huge meals further apart

hopew this help!! good luck!!