BP Not Eating for almost 3 weeks

Ara loves to eat, usually i put her in her feeding box, drop a live rat in and she doesnt hesitate to grab it right away. i fed her a rat that was too lbig for her to ingest. so i took it away from her and got her a medium sized rat, she didnt take it. i waited a few days and tried again, then i waited a week and tried again. now my girlfriend is keeping the darn rat as a pet. now look what ive done!!! hahaha someone know why she might not be eating

The size of the prey may have spooked the snake. I have seen snakes do this if they are interrupted while eating also. Just keep offering food on the regular schedule. And as far as the 3 weeks go, my snakes can do 3 at any given moment, nothing to worry about IMO.

i dont think she was spooked, because she grabbed the big rat and killed it then tried for like half an hour to ingest it, she got it half way down then spit it back out, and now im back to mediums, which is what shes always had

Hi,

What weight is this rat?

I ask because a lot of us never feed anything bigger than a small rat to our snakes.


dr del

Try feeding her in her home enclosure. As soon as she strikes and kills the rat, turn off the lights and leave the room.

I think what Derek is trying to get at is that if a ball python is feed a larger prey item week after week, it can become "full" and go on a fast for a few weeks or months. This is why we recommend feeding slightly smaller meals when the snake becomes an adult so that it keeps eating consistently and doesn't feel the need to fast.