Ball python being more picky than usual

Good Evening Forum


My ball python, as of this writing, has a rat in its cage because dangling it isn't good enough for it. This is my third failed attempt (i.e. third week) at trying to feed it, but to no avail. I know its pretty hungry for sure because today it struck at the air while I was preparing the rat. I started receiving frozen rats from a friend, and they're in really good condition - my snake has been liking them for a month when it suddenly stopped taking them. Now, at this point I have two (probably three in about 10 minutes) re-frozen rats. Here is my question to you:

Should I try feeding re-thawed, or is that just out of the question? If it doesn't take one re-thawed rat, should I get rid of all of them or should I be vigilant?

I know snakes can go for a long time without food, but how long is too long? Is there a set time period (e.g. 3 months) or is it just until my snake starts showing signs of being skinny?

I have had my ball python for approximately a year and a couple months. It is ~600g(? [I need to do a weighing soon...]) and 3 ft long.

Sometimes ball pythons and other snakes can grow tired of f/t. Try live if he keeps refusing meals.

I only re-thaw once, and after that they get thrown away if they are refused.

Skip a week and try f/t again.

How are you heating them up, maybe they aren't warm enough?

It's interesting; the first time it refused I let the rat warm up a little more than usual. So maybe it's too warm? I think I'll try another set of rats, and see what happens.

There are soooo many factors to a snake not eating. Go through this checklist and see if it's right...

Humidity?
Hot spot temp?
Ambient temp?
Enclosure size?
Type of enclosure?
Thermostat?
Rat size?
Rat warm to the touch?
How often have you been trying to feed?
What's changed since it went off feed?
Could it be starting a shed cycle?


It's that time of year, could be off food for the winter.
There's a few questions for yeah.

One thing we've found with ours, which makes the myth true on our end, is that if the rats are white, they refuse them. I know it sounds goofy, but maybe try a different colored rat.

Sometimes if I squeeze the thawed rat until blood drips out of its nose and then try to feed the snake it seems to make them more likely to feed, the scent of the blood makes them just a little more interested in the rodent...

Also I recently had my male Ball Python go off food and he just paced for about 2 and half months straight, I am almost positive he thinks it was time to breed and this is why he was pacing, I waited until he seemed to lose weight and then resorted to feeding a live rat, he immediately took it and then started feeding on his normal frozen thawed rodents after that.

Humidity? about 55%
Hot spot temp? 90.1 F
Ambient temp? 83.4 F
Enclosure size? 20g long
Type of enclosure? ...glass?
Thermostat? Rheostat.
Rat size? Small. (30 days)
Rat warm to the touch? Just barely.
How often have you been trying to feed? once a week.
What's changed since it went off feed? The date on the calendar.
Could it be starting a shed cycle? No.

Hm. Maybe I have a male, as it hasn't gotten any bigger. But the thing is I get a feeding response, it just doesn't like the rat. Maybe I should try the live then f/t. I'm afraid it might give up f/t for good though. At this point I'll try a different set of rats.

Also, if it misses one feeding, do I have to wait a week, or can I just wait 3 days or something?

My BP went off of feed for a month for seemingly no reason. I monitored his weght, and he was fine during that time. However, it was only after he went through another shed cycle and I upgraded his hide size to allow him room to strike from within (feeding live and when the rat sticks his head into the hide) that he went back on feed. I tried feeding him every week while he was off...My snake is about a year old and 700g. I know that when they are around 3 years, males can go off feed for up to 3 months.

If my snake refuses I usually attempt to feed again in 4-5 days, but it is not set in stone, you can try again sooner but you may end up wasting more rodents that way... maybe make the hot spot 92, not that it should make much difference...