Bp not feeding

Hello all new to the forum and wanted some help. My ball feeds every 2 weeks and usually has a juvie rat but this week the local ps didn't have any rats so I got him three mice but he won't even look at them twice. My question is after u switch ur ball to rats will they generally not eat mice again? Thanks in advance for any answers


One beardie. Four corns. One ball python. One Costa Rican boa.

Welcome to the site!

Ball pythons can be very picky eaters. It is very possible that he only wants to eat rats. Another possibility is that the mice are so small that he doesn't consider them worth the effort. No matter what I wouldn't worry too much, BP's can go a long time without eating. Hopefully you will be able to get a rat next feeding day.

Thanks for the speedy reply and the welcome.Yea I hope they have a rat next week when I can get one and as for the three mice maybe I can get a couple litters of pinkies out of them for my corns. ; ) that would be great.


One beardie. Four corns. One ball python. One Costa Rican boa.

A Ball Python that only want to eat rats is a great problem to have! I have a mouser female that is a complete PiA.

Definitely no reason to worry though. I've had snakes take 3-4 months off and barely lose any weight to speak of. Other have reported food strikes of a year or more without problem. Hopefully yours will pickup next week with another rat.

Some will go back and forth but many will not. They do imprint on prey and switching maybe difficult. Sometimes they will switch back to original prey items and resist a switch to something different. A missed meal here and there isn't a big issue.

Depends! My Spider is such a pig that he doesn't care what the food is: mouse, rat, too small, way too small, right size, a little too big. Goes after it all like a crazy thing.

Thanks for all the input guys. Think I'm just gonna let him go for a week and see if he will eat a rat next week if not at least now I know he could go for months without eating and not be a problem. Glad to be on the forum and ready to post all the great pics and build logs I will be doing for some feedback


One beardie. Four corns. One ball python. One Costa Rican boa.