Male BP 9 months still hasn't eaten

Thank you to everyone who has replied and will reply. I'm already starting to feel better.

I have had a male go 13 months without eating, then he ate 5 meals and started a new fast. Males will not (generally) eat with vigor their entire lives as females do. My females all fast, but not for nearly as long and usually while bread is in the oven.

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Originally Posted by PitOnTheProwl

For what its worth my male spider only eats 4 medium rats a year.

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That's amazing to me... then again, I guess they don't really do much... lol... but wow.

I would try the get a rat pup with eyes closed or just barely opened and leave it in overnight, you may find a local rat breeder that has a constant supply. My snakes are shy when it comes to eating, I have been using young weanling mice and putting them in the tub with the snake and checking after an hour, most have eaten by then. If they haven't eaten I move the mouse closer. Usually they have been watching that mouse for an hour and will strike once I move it closer. I often thought about putting a remote camera in there so I can watch without my snake knowing I'm watching LOL.

I don't know how long it takes an otherwise healthy adult BP to starve to death, but I'd guess that it takes a really pretty long time. In any case, your snake does not look starving. If he was eating regularly and was well fed before this, he may just have packed in enough to last him for awhile. Pythons are highly adapted for going long periods of time without eating.

If he's really not showing any interest in any food you offer at all, i'd be inclined to try occasionally scenting the air with rodent smell and scritching at the sides of the cage with a fingernail first before offering the next thing. If he doesn't show any signs of being even slightly excited, you can then save yourself the trouble of offering an actual rodent. If he starts to respond to that sort of thing, or starts to show more hunting/prowling behavior, try offering something again. But it really just sounds like he's just not hungry yet.

For vets in the area, there is Dr Maas who travels the area and I believe he does certain days at the Tacoma Exotic vet place. Have to look him up. There is also Dr Kamaka up in Mountlake Terrace. There is Dr Bennett in Seattle who I have taken my beardie too and she did great. Those are the 3 of I have heard or used and had good results with.

I can't tell if that's a little bit of spine protruding in your photos, but by no means does he look sickly. Here are my helps:

1.) Are you POSITIVE he is a he? I had one that went off feed for 7-8 months and one day she laid eggs! They were all infertile, but still. Explained her lack of interest in food.

2.) I know it sounds weird, but try a live gerbil. Just get one from your local trusted pet store and put it in his tank and supervise as long as you can. Gerbils are BP's main staple in Africa, and when my girl went on her hunger strike, even with all those eggs in her, she went nuts for a gerbil within seconds. I used a black one and she was used to white F/T rats.

Good luck!

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Originally Posted by O'Mathghamhna

Gerbils are BP's main staple in Africa

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:confusd::confusd: and here I thought it would be ASFs.......
Whom shed this light on you?

Yes, try an African Soft Fur rat.

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Originally Posted by O'Mathghamhna

2.) I know it sounds weird, but try a live gerbil. Just get one from your local trusted pet store and put it in his tank and supervise as long as you can. Gerbils are BP's main staple in Africa, and when my girl went on her hunger strike, even with all those eggs in her, she went nuts for a gerbil within seconds. I used a black one and she was used to white F/T rats.

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Actually the gerbils that are sold in the pet industry are native to Mongolia and are not natural prey for ball pythons. There are several dozen species of rodent that are native to the same areas of Africa that ball pythons come from, but as Rob mentioned the only feeders that we typically have access to are the ASF's (also known as the multimammate rat until someone in the pet industry decided that 'African soft furred rats' were a more marketable name)