Feeding

I feed my ball python weekly and the past 3 weeks I haven’t gotten her to eat. I was wondering if someone could give me some answers. She hasn’t been eating for the past 3 weeks I’ve probably tried to feed her around 6 times in those 3 weeks. I’ve used the same rat and I was wondering if she wasn’t eating it because it has been freezed and dethawed so many times? Another reason i think why she may not be feeding is because 4 weeks ago I changed hides. When she was in her old hides she would lift it up off the ground because she was big. I put in the hides and she ate the first week with the new it, but has net eaten since so I don’t know if that’s the reason. When she gets hungry she usually comes out of her hide at night and she has been doing that, but she ignores the food. I even put my finger in front of her just to see if she reacted to the heat but she didnt. My tempatures and humtity are fine. Is this just a feeding strike and if so how long do they last or is it one of the reasons I listed?

I believe you should toss the mouse/ rat once thawed. I have never froze and reheated after thaw. I know at $8.00 a piece it sucks to toss. I tossed medium rat this weekend when my adult male refused to eat.


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I would not refreeze a thawed rat personally. Also if a snake refuses to eat you should not offer food until at least a week after the first attempt and 2 weeks can even be beneficial.

I would wait 1-2 weeks and offer a smaller prey item than normal.

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You can re-freeze prey once. After that its garbage. Also trying to feed 6 times in 3 weeks is part of the problem. They can go off feed for months and you never keep offering food every few days or refusing becomes habit forming. When they refuse you try again in 2 weeks. If it happens again they are probably off. Check your temps also and make sure your dialed in. This is the time of year a healthy snake can go off for 2/4/6 months. Mine was off for 8 months last winter only loosing 15 grams.


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Originally Posted by ben463

I feed my ball python weekly and the past 3 weeks I haven’t gotten her to eat. I was wondering if someone could give me some answers. She hasn’t been eating for the past 3 weeks I’ve probably tried to feed her around 6 times in those 3 weeks. I’ve used the same rat and I was wondering if she wasn’t eating it because it has been freezed and dethawed so many times? Another reason i think why she may not be feeding is because 4 weeks ago I changed hides. When she was in her old hides she would lift it up off the ground because she was big. I put in the hides and she ate the first week with the new it, but has net eaten since so I don’t know if that’s the reason. When she gets hungry she usually comes out of her hide at night and she has been doing that, but she ignores the food. I even put my finger in front of her just to see if she reacted to the heat but she didnt. My tempatures and humtity are fine. Is this just a feeding strike and if so how long do they last or is it one of the reasons I listed?

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How old is your BP? (or how big if you don't know the age?) Adult BPs are more likely to skip meals in winter than young ones...

I'm also not a fan of refreezing prey...it spoils & BPs are not carrion-eaters....their nose knows. (gag!)

Stress is also a factor: how long have you had this snake? how much handling have you been doing? (sticking your finger in her face didn't help any) As already noted,
when a snake refuses, leave them alone for a week or 2 before retrying. Trying too often = stress & more likely another refusal.

Most BPs like to ambush their prey while peeking out of a hide at night (dim light preferable); they don't usually feel as brave to feed when they're cruising their cage.