Not eating...any suggestions?

When are you feeding him day night? i usually feed at night time.

My bonez wouldnt eat this one rat i got him a while ago, tride for 2 or 3 weeks i think and he just didnt show any interest..sometimes i think they are just picky and say nah i dont like that one. try feeding him 2 mice that would equal the amount of 1 rat, one at a time. first let the mouse sit in a box with holes ontop of the tank for a couple min, then drop him in and see if he goes after it. sometimes they get iffy when switching food.

its hard to diagnose because you dont want to further stress out the snake if thats the problem..i also read somewhere, its kinda cruel, but pokeing the mouse once to draw a lil blood will help the snake get a smell of it. just some option, i would try the first one first though see if that works.

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Originally Posted by bonez

its hard to diagnose because you dont want to further stress out the snake if thats the problem..i also read somewhere, its kinda cruel, but pokeing the mouse once to draw a lil blood will help the snake get a smell of it. just some option, i would try the first one first though see if that works.

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Please don't do this!

I'll second Robin's comment. Please do not do that to a living mouse. Not only is it cruel for the mouse but you are putting a stressed living rodent in with the snake and that is a recipe for a bite if ever I saw one.

I'm a bit confused on the whole mouse/rat thing. Can you clarify what your snake had been eating before the refusals as far as mouse or rat and what size the snake was taking? If you had recently switched prey type how many weeks had the snake been accepting the new prey before the refusals began?

Thanks for the replies guys:

As to your questions, he has been eating rats for more than a month and one day he struck at a rat, missed and never touched rats ever again. This was back on March 9th. I waited a week, tried to feed him again and still nothing....1 wk turned into 2, 3, and now we're closing in on the 2 month mark real soon.

I measured his last shed, and he is a healthy 38 inches long....dont know his exact age cuz I got him from a petstore like 6 months ago, but he has grown a lot and is extremely healthy. Right now is very active because he is hungry...he always comes out at night looking for food. Also, I try feeding at dusk/night, never during the day. I would say I'm knowledgable in what I am doing, I'm always trolling these forums reading what everyone writes and problems, etc.

Here is a pic of my set up:
http://i27.photobucket.com/albums/c1...x/IMG_1710.jpg

It is a 20 gal tank, I'm using aspen as the bedding and measuring the hot side with a probe thermometer (youll see it). The cool side, I'm using a thermo/hygro-meter combo I bought from Rona (cost about $25). It's pretty accurate too. The paper on the left(cool side) is to keep the humidity up and under control. The waterbowl I have right now is just a temporary one because the current one cracked and has a leak.

I find it strange that he is being this picky because he has never been a picky eater even when I 1st got him. After the initial shyness, he would eat mice like theres no tomorrow, when I switched him to rats, he didn't even care it was different, he struck and ate right away.

One thing that you could try for now is to fill his enclosure with loosely crumbled newspaper, and I mean fill it. Leave it in there. It will make the entire enclosure feel much more secure to him.


After a week, drop in a 2 week old rat pup and walk away. Check back in about 30 minutes and see if it's gone.

Have you tried offering him mice again?

My very first ball python, Kashmire was kept in a 20 gallon tank, and went on an 8 month fast. It wasn't until I moved him into a tub set-up that he started to feed for me, and he's not missed a meal since. Some do well in display type enclosures, others prefer a lower ceiling and the secure feeling of a tub set-up.

Lights tend to really dry out the enclosure as well, and with tubs, you don't need lights.

I'll give that a try but don't you find it strange for a snake to take such a step BACK? His set up has been identical since I got him, except for minor differences and never had a prob eating. Now, all of a sudden he doesn't want to eat and I gotta treat him as if he was a new snake?

I just find that really odd??

It does seem odd, but Kashmire was eating pretty reliably for me before he went into his extended fast. He's still my most sensitive one, most likely to refuse one week, but he's never gone back into a fast - and he'll only eat mice, and only one a week.

just stick to plan and keep offering food once a week he'll pick back up. Balls are like the stock market when it comes to feeding sometimes there up and sometimes there down but over time they gradually move upwards.

UPDATE: Larry you were absolutely right along with everyone that offered similar ideas....he started eating again 3 days ago after almost a 2 month hunger strike! I fed him a small rat pup (about 2 wks old) and watched...within 10 secs he snatched it up, tried again with another one, same, plus a 3rd and same! I'm so happy right now and relieved!

Yea it may be normal to THEM to not eat for months at a time but to an owner, its the most stressful time ever! So yea, he's back to normal, thanks a lot to everyone that gave me ideas on how to possibly fix the problem. Oh and one last thing, I recently got it sexed and it's a male!

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Originally Posted by cubano07x

UPDATE: Larry you were absolutely right along with everyone that offered similar ideas....he started eating again 3 days ago after almost a 2 month hunger strike! I fed him a small rat pup (about 2 wks old) and watched...within 10 secs he snatched it up, tried again with another one, same, plus a 3rd and same! I'm so happy right now and relieved!

Yea it may be normal to THEM to not eat for months at a time but to an owner, its the most stressful time ever! So yea, he's back to normal, thanks a lot to everyone that gave me ideas on how to possibly fix the problem. Oh and one last thing, I recently got it sexed and it's a male!

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Oh congrats good to hear he is doing well! I have 1 thats been on strike since 10.03.06 *sighs* I know how stressful these times can be...good to hear he is doing great! Here's to eating each and every time :D