HELP I think my snakes sick plz msg promptly

I said she was ALMOST 4 foot, last I measured her, she was like 3 foot 6 inches... = 42"...yes, she is only as big as a golf ball, a little bigger, but that's b/c she hasn't eaten in like nearly a month and a half now... I NEED to know if it's a seasonal thing or what... I got her last december (2003) and she was about 6-7 inches long... I know that still sounds funny, but she's really THAT long, no pics yet, but I'll take some tomorrow..OH..she just started to shed again, so she's gonna look funny...this time she's got a real metallicky look to her...I dunno..get pics on here shortly... Ashli

I was feeding her once a week, rats bigger than mice but smaller than adult rats...keeping her cage well cleaned out..I don't understand what I've done wrong?

I'm not sure, but a ball python that's the width or the same size around as a golf ball is quite small for a ball python over 3 feet. My baby ball python, who's only 5 months old, is the thickness of a banana and capable of eating weanling rats. The only thing I can think of is to try and fatten her up. Maybe feed her every 4-5 days instead of every 7, and/or give her more than one prey item and see if she'll take it. If she really is as thin as a golf ball and the length you say she is, then yeah it's pretty underweight. I'd love to see pics as soon as possible. :)

well, she quit eating about a month and a half ago...I cant get her to eat, I've tried moving her eating environments, and nothing works. My aunt said her red tail boa quits eating for like 3 months during our winter..so could that have to do with it? I can't get her to eat, dead or alive..so...what do I do? the vet couldn't help me, said he had NO idea, she don't LOOK sick.

If she's 3+ feet long, she's most likely old enough for reproducing, so her having no appetite could easily be because of breeding season. It should pass within the coming months. As long as she looks healthy and thick, and doesn't lose a lot of weight, it should be fine.

okay, so I got some pics on here, not good ones, but general ideas I guess..she wasn't in too good of a mood. She just started shedding but wasn't doin too well, so I was trying to moisten her a bit, and mom started taking pics.. A NOTE of CONCERN: when I got her out of her cage, she was a real brassy color all over, really metallicky on her underside. When I put her in the tub, the parts that submurged turned so bright metallicy it was really wierd and looked almost transluscent. unfortunatly, the pictures don't do her any justice, mom's digi. camera SUCKS. but, I'm in the gallery, look me up. Thanks!

Just for kicks ..how are you measuring your BP, shed length? the snake in the pictures you have looks to be somewhere in the 25-30 inch range between 350-450 . The likely cause of going off food is your temps .
also hatchling ball pythons usually start out in the range of 12-14 inches or so

I recommend you weigh her a.s.a.p. and then again every week or so to monitor her weight. As long as she's not losing too much, there's no need to worry too much about it.

I would definitely work on both your temperatures and humidity though. I'm guessing you're using a glass tank, and in conjunction with multiple heat lamps I would bet that your humidity is too low. If you were to intentially cool her, I wouldn't worry too much about the cool end being 70 at night time, but it should definitely be higher during the day and definitely higher if you're not intentionally cooling. The other thing that concerns me is that you're still getting this temperature despite the heat lamps, which leads me to believe the ambient air temperature is significantly lower. Keep in mind that the air circulating in the room is the air that circulates into the enclosure and that your ball python breathes.

Personally, I would find a warmer room and get rid of the heat lamps. And if you are using an aquarium, no matter what I would find something to cover most of the top to lock in humidity.

well, this last shed wasn't whole, but I think that's because of her getting into the duct tape. The problem with moving her into a warmer environment is that she's in the warmest part of the house, the living room. I live in Texas, and when it gets cold in the winter, it's impossible to keep the entire house warm, so I've got a little mini heater pointed in her direction. It's a plexyglass cage, and I've got a few holes drilled into it for air circulation, and other than that, it stays real humid in the cages..enough to form a dew type thing when I open her cage in the mornings to check on her... so, using the heat lamp and the heating pad and the heater is just now bumping the other side of the cage to around 80...I'm workin on it guys..she's looking a lot better now..she's not brassy anymore since her shed..she still hasn't eaten though.