Bp Not Eating and Curious Behavior (advice please)

Hello all,

I know there are a lot of threads about problem feeders but I have read dozens of them and tried a lot of different things and after everything I thought I'd try getting some counsel on my particular situation.

Here are the details: Sarah is a little over 1 year old. For the first 6 months she was a fantastic eater and as far as I remember, never rejected a meal. She was growing and shedding a lot which is nice because I like larger snakes (though I love them all equally). Right at about 6 months though she started rejecting meals occasionally and then at about 7 months completely stopped eating. Since April she has eaten maybe 4 or 5 or 6 times, scattered throughout the time. As a result she has hardly grown and is becoming thin, though not dangerously so, yet.

I've tried a few things to get her eating again, from changing substrate to complete tank cleanings and even moving her to a new enclosure. At most these changes have sometimes gotten her to eat one meal, the first one I try, but she goes off feed again immediately after.

Her conditions are all fine, temperatures and humidity are all good and consistent with what they were when she was eating regularly. I keep her tank clean and she has a lot of privacy. I feed live rats.

Now about the curious behavior. It might be normal, but here's what she's doing: She hides during the day, and in the evenings she comes out and very actively crawls around, very interested in the ceiling/lid of the tank, as if she wants to get out. I mean, she probably does, that's why she's doing it. She does not do this after eating or when shedding, she'll just stay in her hide and poke her head out to chill or get water, but she now gets out and explores around the lid every single night. While she's doing this, she is completely uninterested in any juicy, tender rats that I give to her. It's not that she just won't take the rats either, she doesn't even so much as glance at them.

I moved her into a brand new, clean tub and gave her a day to adjust and that evening she was doing the same thing, checking out the lid, trying to get out. She later rejected food again in the new tub.

At this point I've tried so many things and nothing has helped to get her eating again, so I'm wondering if any of you have good advice for me or if your snakes have ever behaved in a similar way and what you've done. Thanks in advance! I'm looking forward to your tips.

Pics of your setup would be good. you sure it is a girl? what is the weight?

One reason for apparently relentlessly trying to escape is that the enclosure is just too warm and its trying to get out to cool down ... what kind of thermometer are you using to get the warm / cool side side ?

Years ago , one of my Royals was behaving like yours and one of my stats had failed and the heat rose dangerously , luckily I'm a bit obsessive and check on all the snake vivs many times a day and I notice any slight changes in behaviour . One of the bonuses of Aspergers [emoji4]

Hopefully NOT one of these useless things ...



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Live rats!

That right there could be the culprit.

Your BP may have internal parasites, such as hookworms. They won't eat, loose condition, don't "feel good" (odd behaviors).

When I used to do "rescue" I've come across all kinds of issues, and worms (as well as giardia and coccidia) happen a lot more often then one would think.

A vet visit is in order. They can sometimes extract enough material or make a swab to check, some will just give you some meds to treat "in case" since the meds don't cause harm.

The medications for internal parasites are different then for protozoans like Giardia and Coccidia. But all are given orally (well, back then they would be).

Here is my setup:
https://imgur.com/bWRTat3

Sorry I tried to embed that but it wouldn't show.

Also I weighed her at 800 grams. She was just over 700 at 6 months.
https://ball-pythons.net/forums/cach...ur.com/bWRTat3https://ball-pythons.net/forums/cach...ur.com/a/a5opd
https://ball-pythons.net/forums/cach...ur.com/bWRTat3

My setup is pretty good...I've got thermometers (nice digital ones) on either side above the substrate and thermostats against each heating pad on the bottom. I check the surface temps with a gun. They are good. Like I mentioned before, her conditions are all the same as before she went off feed.

Your tank could probably stand to be more cluttered. Try adding fake plants to reduce the openness of the tank.

Here's Bob's bin for comparison. You can see how much it's cluttered. She does explore, but it's not frantic. The larger branch and fake fern combine to make a hide for her, in addition to the one she's sitting on in this picture. The log-fern is her favorite.

https://ball-pythons.net/forums/cach...924/6blBL6.jpg

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Connah

My setup is pretty good...I've got thermometers (nice digital ones) on either side above the substrate and thermostats against each heating pad on the bottom. I check the surface temps with a gun. They are good. Like I mentioned before, her conditions are all the same as before she went off feed.

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Sounds fine , temp-wise :)


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Looking at the setup .... wondering if the hides are possibly just a tad small ? Only you can answer that - they like a close fit of course .


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Looking at the setup .... straight off I'd add a few branches from the local woods / park and plenty of fake plastic / silk plants from the local pound/dollar shop . Also with having Aspen and a mesh lid it maybe a tad dry ??

I use orchid bark for all mine for what it's worth ..