Ball python attacks, squeezes, but doesn't eat

2 or 3 times recently, when I've been feeding my ball python, he'll attack the food, squeeze it, look around a bit, then wander off. Right now I'm feeding him twice each time with a smaller food item, and often after he "rejects" the first food item, he'll immediately take the second one and eat it.

What's the deal? Is it normal for a ball python to abandon food they've killed?

Are you feeding f/t or live? Is the prey appropriately sized? How are you introducing the prey item to your snake? Are you feeding in the enclosure or a separate container? Sorry to ask so many questions but the smallest thing can set a BP off food.

Recently my male went off feed for about a month. He was eating medium rats and like yours would strike and coil, but then lost interest and slithered off. I tried feeding an adult mouse last night and he eagerly gobbled it up. No idea why he suddenly dislikes nice fat rats!

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Originally Posted by shadowsnakes

Are you feeding f/t or live? Is the prey appropriately sized? How are you introducing the prey item to your snake? Are you feeding in the enclosure or a separate container? Sorry to ask so many questions but the smallest thing can set a BP off food.

Recently my male went off feed for about a month. He was eating medium rats and like yours would strike and coil, but then lost interest and slithered off. I tried feeding an adult mouse last night and he eagerly gobbled it up. No idea why he suddenly dislikes nice fat rats!

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f/t
probably smaller than what he needs (I have larger mice in the freezer that I'm going to try after letting him get hungry over a week)
I hold it in the tank using long tongs
In the enclosure

I'm hoping it's just that the prey is too small. Was just trying to exhaust his old food supply before moving to the new one :P

Sometimes if the prey item gets too cold they won't consume it. Maybe try to offer the F/Ts a little bit hotter so they maintain their temperature after he coils it. I just had this happen yesterday with one of our Volta hatchlings, she striked, coiled, and then dunked the rodent in the water before putting it on the paper towels. This cooled the F/T down too far and she just wasnt interested afterwards.

I've have a BP that constricts and starts eating. Sometimes he just gives up swallowing because he keep trying to swallow the rat awkwardly. I think its the spider in him that's messing him up. While cute to see, I hate it when he wastes his food :-(

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Notmyfault, my spider used to do that when he was younger. He finally figured it out, but I had to show him a couple times because he'd go from the side or the back and get frustrated or tired and give up. Once I rearranged it a time or two, he figured it out and it's pretty rare that he tries to do it wrong.

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Originally Posted by runeasgar

2 or 3 times recently, when I've been feeding my ball python, he'll attack the food, squeeze it, look around a bit, then wander off. Right now I'm feeding him twice each time with a smaller food item, and often after he "rejects" the first food item, he'll immediately take the second one and eat it.

What's the deal? Is it normal for a ball python to abandon food they've killed?

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Every once in awhile I have to reheat the rat and offer it again for this reason. Usually it's because they struck at a different part of the rats body other than the head and then they have a hard time finding it when they're ready to consume. If it's not easy for them to locate, sometimes they give up or by the time they are close to it, the head is cooled off too much. It helps to make the head of the rodent hotter than the rest of the body. That way, when they strike, it's usually at the head to begin with and it's easier for them to get it positioned right.

Is it suitable to run it directly under hot water? I've always put it in a plastic bag and put that in the water, but I feel like that isn't as effective at heating it up.

I use a blow dryer to heat my rats once they're thawed. It keeps the rats dry so substrate doesn't stick to them and I have more control over the heat to concentrate on the head of the rat longer. I'm not sure how the water heater uppers do it but surely someone will chime in.

Another thing to consider is that after he strikes and coils, wiggle the mouse by grabbing the tail and gently shaking it. It will make the mouse appear to be "fighting" for it's life. I have to do this for my baby bumblebee. I tried just letting her strike and coil but she wouldn't eat it. So a little tugging on the tail after she coils and now she eats like a champ.