When to try feeding again after noninterest in eating?
I have a Juvinile Ball Pythone. Female born in October of 2005. She is fed fuzzy rats that are prekilled and frozen/thawed. She is GREAT:D !!! My son, 5, is her daddy :rolleyes: but I make sure all her needs are met. Anyway, I feed her every Friday after I get home from work. All of her temps and humidity are fine so I know that's not the reason for her refusing food. Anyway, last Friday she refused her little fuzzy meal. And the question is... when do I offer her food again:confused: ? Do I wait until the next feeding time, Friday? This has happened once before and I must have waisted 3 fuzzies worrying about her :worry:. She isn't in shed, her eyes aren't grey and she is acting as normal as always.
Thanks for the help. I'm just tired of waisting the fuzzies on my picky little girl.
Re: When to try feeding again after noninterest in eating?
It sounds like she is doing very well and you are caring for her. You could try again in a few days but she can definitely wait until her next scheduled feeding. Good luck!
Re: When to try feeding again after noninterest in eating?
Who knows why they decide to skip a meal now and then? Sometimes its shed...sometimes they're more interested in finding a mate....sometimes its husbandry issues...or stress.....or just plain being difficult. ;)
It certainly won't hurt her to wait until next Friday to try and eat again. Stay consistent and persistent. It's a pain to waste the food, but it's really not any different than when we throw away half a plate of uneaten dinner. :)
If you're really concerned, you can offer some details on your husbandry, such as temps and humdity levels, and describe her home and environment. Maybe someone here will see something you haven't noticed.
Re: When to try feeding again after noninterest in eating?
You know I do have a question about the "husbandry" environment she is in. I have her in the living room where the TV and most of the playing occurs. Should she be in my son's room where there is more peace and quiet? Or can she get used to the noise? She has been in the living room for as long as I've had her... 3 months.
Quote:
Originally Posted by JLC
Who knows why they decide to skip a meal now and then? Sometimes its shed...sometimes they're more interested in finding a mate....sometimes its husbandry issues...or stress.....or just plain being difficult. ;)
It certainly won't hurt her to wait until next Friday to try and eat again. Stay consistent and persistent. It's a pain to waste the food, but it's really not any different than when we throw away half a plate of uneaten dinner. :)
If you're really concerned, you can offer some details on your husbandry, such as temps and humdity levels, and describe her home and environment. Maybe someone here will see something you haven't noticed.
Re: When to try feeding again after noninterest in eating?
Ball Pythons are fairly timid and are sensitive to loud surroundings. That said, if she was that stressed out she would have stopped eating long before now. Does she have plenty of hides? I assume the volume in the room is at a normal level?
Re: When to try feeding again after noninterest in eating?
Quote:
Originally Posted by kenzie
You know I do have a question about the "husbandry" environment she is in. I have her in the living room where the TV and most of the playing occurs. Should she be in my son's room where there is more peace and quiet? Or can she get used to the noise? She has been in the living room for as long as I've had her... 3 months.
You would be the best judge of the chaos in the living room. I know I could not keep a BP in our "Kids Room" (they get the den...us grownups get the living room...lol). It can get pretty chaotic and noisy with wrestling and rough-housing and such and sometimes the TV is competing with the computer volume.
But like Jamie said...if she's been eating regularly all this time that she's been there, then it may not be bothering her too much. If she starts to skip multiple meals, then you might investigate possible stress levels and how to alleviate them.
QUICK EDIT: Normal TV volume shouldn't bother a snake since they don't hear the same way we do...they're more into the vibrations of things. So...as long as her tank isn't sitting on the same piece of furniture that holds the speakers, and so long as the volume is kept at a reasonable level...the TV by itself shoudln't be a problem.
Re: When to try feeding again after noninterest in eating?
She has two hides... one on the cooler side and one on the warmer side. She stays in the warmer one mostly. I've switeched them to see if it was the hides or the tems and it was the hides she is preferential to.
Quote:
Originally Posted by jglass38
Ball Pythons are fairly timid and are sensitive to loud surroundings. That said, if she was that stressed out she would have stopped eating long before now. Does she have plenty of hides? I assume the volume in the room is at a normal level?
Re: When to try feeding again after noninterest in eating?
Thank you so much! My son is an only child, so far. So he doesn't spend much time in his room. I just fear that if I put her in his room he would get her out when I'm not around and well... that's not allowed until he's older:evileye:! So I need to somehow get a lock on the cage and then I will move her up there. Much less vibrations up there.
You all are awsome! Thanks for the advise.
Quote:
Originally Posted by JLC
You would be the best judge of the chaos in the living room. I know I could not keep a BP in our "Kids Room" (they get the den...us grownups get the living room...lol). It can get pretty chaotic and noisy with wrestling and rough-housing and such and sometimes the TV is competing with the computer volume.
But like Jamie said...if she's been eating regularly all this time that she's been there, then it may not be bothering her too much. If she starts to skip multiple meals, then you might investigate possible stress levels and how to alleviate them.
QUICK EDIT: Normal TV volume shouldn't bother a snake since they don't hear the same way we do...they're more into the vibrations of things. So...as long as her tank isn't sitting on the same piece of furniture that holds the speakers, and so long as the volume is kept at a reasonable level...the TV by itself shoudln't be a problem.
Re: When to try feeding again after noninterest in eating?
I think it's wonderful you are teaching your son so young to appreciate the natural world of snakes but in a caring, captive situation. Good for you! I do understand the need to keep the snake safe though having a young and inquisitive almost 5 year old myself whose not allowed access to our snake w/o close supervision.
Just a few quick questions about your feeding routine. Do you have a standard routine on Friday evenings that you do over and over each Friday? Ball pythons are really sensitive to routine and habits and seem to do best when they kind of know what's coming. Do you offer late in the day/early evening? Nocturnal and shy snakes like BP's seem to eat best when it's their normal time to be awake and the environment in the area is fairly quiet (must be nerve wracking to be swallowing prey and unable to defend oneself).
An occasional skipped meal is no biggie in a healthy, fit snake - adult bp's have been known to go months w/o eating and not suffer for it. We generally just don't worry and offer at the next scheduled feeding day (every Thursday evening at our house). If they keep skipping and the snake appears unwell or starts losing rapid/large amounts of weight....vet visit time asap.
~~Jo~~
