feeding attempt

[sum182]

So i have a snake that is bound to not eat for me anymore. He took 2 mice for me but now he just doesnt want them. I thought it was cause the mouse was to big for him so i bought him a hopper and am trying again today. i put him in his feeding tank with it away from all other distractions of anything and am going to leave them be for 10-20min, (of course checking to make sure the mouse doesnt eat the snake) Wish me luck!!!! its been 3 weeks since his last meal...not bad but....i dont like to worry!!!

[mikedahitman87]

3 weeks isn't too bad if the snake is already well established. I had one of my snakes go about 6 weeks without eating. He tends to have months of eating everything then skip a few meals. I found out I was feeding him larger meals than what was needed. Now I feed him small meals and he eats every week. I weighed him last week at 1550 grams which is big for an 07 male.

[Slim]

When they go off feed, it's time to check each aspect of your husbandry. Tell us a little about your tank, substrate, humidity, temps, types of hides, where the tank is in your house, and what size tank you use. What time of the day do you try to feed? How often do you try to feed? How large is your BP, and how long have you had it?

I can already tell you that feeding in a seperate enclousure might be causing it to stress, but would like to hear about the other aspects off your BP's situation.

[ScottyDsntKnow]

Agreed about feeding in separate tanks being stressful for the snake. Was one of the things that probably caused my girl to go off feed for over a month. I feed in tank and never have problems with her thinking my hand is food.

[sum182]

yeah, she didnt take it. I'll try again in a couple days. My tank (as i just learned) is to big for my snake. Its about 2ft...maybe a little more and its a 20 gallon tank. I didnt wanna switch it all around on her tho incase it might stress her out by moving her tank completely. Substrate is shreaded aspen, temps are right where they should be according to mr. digital thermometer. I have a rock hide on the cool side and a tree with enough room to hide under if wanted (she likes to) on the warm side. I tried morning feeding today but i usually do night since its more active then, and i try every couple days. I've only had him for about a month.

Do you think i should not worry about him over stressing and just downsize his cage and move it to my bedroom (most secluded part of the house, and warmest thanks to the computer heating the room lol)

[Pyth0nParalyze]

yeah, she didnt take it. I'll try again in a couple days. My tank (as i just learned) is to big for my snake. Its about 2ft...maybe a little more and its a 20 gallon tank. I didnt wanna switch it all around on her tho incase it might stress her out by moving her tank completely. Substrate is shreaded aspen, temps are right where they should be according to mr. digital thermometer. I have a rock hide on the cool side and a tree with enough room to hide under if wanted (she likes to) on the warm side. I tried morning feeding today but i usually do night since its more active then, and i try every couple days. I've only had him for about a month.

Do you think i should not worry about him over stressing and just downsize his cage and move it to my bedroom (most secluded part of the house, and warmest thanks to the computer heating the room lol)

I don't see why your BP would have a problem with a large tank, unless its just a personal preference of your own. How old is your BP, if you know by any chance? If it's still considerably young and has time for growing, I would say just keep it in the tank it's in. Since the tank is so roomy, it would be great for your BP to slither around and stretch out from its hide every now and then.

I would say when your BP starts looking pretty skinny, I would be concerned. Were the previous 2 mice you fed it big ones? Your BP might be fine still from those previous mice you fed it if they were of big size.

I've never fed my BP in a separate enclosure, always in its tank, and like ScottyDsntKnow said, mine doesn't try to bite at us when our hands come in. I would suggest trying that out, just feeding it in its regular tank, where its in a comfortable environment.

[Neal]

I wouldn't try every couple of days, if you attempt to feed your snake and she has no attempt to eat, wait atleast 5 days. I feed my snakes in a seperate enclosure, and it works out fine for them, but like they said, every snake is different. What you should try, is to pre-kill the mouse(or hopper) whichever you are using, try to wiggle it in front of her face, if she shows no interest within a minute or 2, just hold it still in front of her face. Reason I say this is because of my 2 snakes, I have a White Lip Python & A Yellow Anaconda, my annie I have to wiggle it in front of her, as for my Python, if I wiggle it in front of her she goes up to sense it then she hits her nose on it and goes away, so what I do with her is i hold it completely still and she takes it then goes to the bottom of the tank and lets it go, then does whatever she does and goes back and eats it.

*EDIT*
Also, what I do is I skip every 6th meal on my snakes, so they clean their system out, because lets face it, in the wild they don't eat every week.

[Toronto Python Gurus]

ball pythons are known for goin of feeding, even upto a year is not uncommon especially during winter/breeding season, there were even 2 cases of ball pytons goin off food for 22 months which is almost 2 years now im sure they were adults and not babies, now i stick to a stict feedin schedule:
babies/yearlings - offer food every 5-7 days
1 year olds and up - offer food every 7-10 days

now i say offer food becuase if they dont eat they dont eat and get food offered the next scheduled day, if you have a snake who didnt eat and u keep tryin everyday this will stress him out, another thing is you should weigh your snakes i weigh my snakes before every food offering that way i can see if they are losing weight, if your snake isnt eating and losing weight then you have something to worry about


last thing is i wouldnt suggest leaving a rat/mouse with ur snake unattended . . . you said you leave the mouse in there for 20-30 mins but check every so often, thats a bad idea if you have a live mouse in there you should watch the whole time it only takes about 3 seconds for a mouse to bit a snake . . . prekilled no problem live feeders must be watched at all times

hope this helps!!!

[scales owner]

3 weeks isn't too bad if the snake is already well established. I had one of my snakes go about 6 weeks without eating. He tends to have months of eating everything then skip a few meals. I found out I was feeding him larger meals than what was needed. Now I feed him small meals and he eats every week. I weighed him last week at 1550 grams which is big for an 07 male.

Very true mine must be going on about 3 months now! Nothing to worry about but still would love to have em eat for me.

[scales owner]

I don't see why your BP would have a problem with a large tank, unless its just a personal preference of your own. How old is your BP, if you know by any chance? If it's still considerably young and has time for growing, I would say just keep it in the tank it's in. Since the tank is so roomy, it would be great for your BP to slither around and stretch out from its hide every now and then.

I would say when your BP starts looking pretty skinny, I would be concerned. Were the previous 2 mice you fed it big ones? Your BP might be fine still from those previous mice you fed it if they were of big size.

I've never fed my BP in a separate enclosure, always in its tank, and like ScottyDsntKnow said, mine doesn't try to bite at us when our hands come in. I would suggest trying that out, just feeding it in its regular tank, where its in a comfortable environment.

Although alot of people on here will disagree with me but this is why I am getting mine into a 125 gal so he has pleanty of room to streach and move about. It is a good size too. Last I wieghed was about 2700 g.