When should I switch to live?

I purchased a ball python baby about 2 months ago and he ate FT right off the bat 3 times. Now he has been off food for 3 weeks now (today is his 3rd week of not eating).. Should I offer him live? I don't get it. Humidity 50-60 Ambient 82 basking 95-98 2 hides, nothing has changed. He does a whole lot of sniffing but doesn't seem to want to take it.

edit: I DONT want to switch but when is it a GOOD time to? He hasn't eat 3 times so far I don't want him to die lol

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Originally Posted by Adamrhh

I purchased a ball python baby about 2 months ago and he ate FT right off the bat 3 times. Now he has been off food for 3 weeks now (today is his 3rd week of not eating).. Should I offer him live? I don't get it. Humidity 50-60 Ambient 82 basking 95-98 2 hides, nothing has changed. He does a whole lot of sniffing but doesn't seem to want to take it.

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. It sounds like your husbandry is on point. Imo, I think the hot spot can come down about 5 or 6 degrees. What is your feeding schedule frequency? Third week not eating but how many feedings has he missed? Actually three weeks is not that long since you said he has had 3 feedings prior. Personally , I would wait another week to 10 days. Depending on what happens at that feeding I would go to plan b. Relax for now and monitor his weight.

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Originally Posted by Albert Clark

. It sounds like your husbandry is on point. Imo, I think the hot spot can come down about 5 or 6 degrees. What is your feeding schedule frequency? Third week not eating but how many feedings has he missed? Actually three weeks is not that long since you said he has had 3 feedings prior. Personally , I would wait another week to 10 days. Depending on what happens at that feeding I would go to plan b. Relax for now and monitor his weight.

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he hasn't missed any feedings prior to these 3. I feed once a week on Thursdays. The very first 3 times of me ever feeding him he took them no problem. So is it okay and I should just wait again another week?

Hot spot needs to come down but 3 weeks isn't anything to worry about.
What was the last weight taken, how long ago, and what is the current weight?

He was 199 grams the day after his meal, I took him out to weigh him since I wanted to spot clean, he ate Thursday morning and I weighed in Friday night. I weighed him yesterday at 160~ I'm assuming he just had a mouse to as his higher grams? He acts normal.

Hmm I've run into this too. Monitor his weight carefully to keep track of what he loses. You can always try deep cleaning your tank, it always works for me with my girl. Has he shed yet?

Three weeks is NOTHING to a Royal is it really ... As I recall the record for a snake not eating is 21 MONTHS and that was a Royal as well . It could be simply down to breeding season or something....

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Originally Posted by Zincubus

Three weeks is NOTHING to a Royal is it really ... As I recall the record for a snake not eating is 21 MONTHS and that was a Royal as well . It could be simply down to breeding season or something....

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Babies don't last 21 months, or even a year without food, nor do babies quit eating due to breeding season.

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Originally Posted by 200xth

Babies don't last 21 months, or even a year without food, nor do babies quit eating due to breeding season.

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. Yeah, I think Zincubus missed some of the original information. Keep fresh water to drink and make sure you take him out for little soaking sessions. As long as he remains hydrated that is a big part solved. Instead of weekly feedings consider switching to every 10 days. Consider adding another hide and make sure it's smaller than the two he already has. :gj:

If he has been a consistent FT eater then I wouldn't be concerned about making a switch just yet. Sometimes they do that. Now if in a couple more weeks you get really worried, by all means try it. But he may just stick to live feedings after that. Sometimes they're picky.