Switching from frozen to live

First you need to know that if you switch she might never go back to F/T so you need to think about this carefully

Second a month for a 4 year old BP is NOTHING, I would assume she is proper weight and she could go MONTHS without eating (I have individuals that have fasted from as little to 3 months to as long as 9 months)

Make sure your husbandry is optimal and know that sexually mature individuals can go of feed at this time of the year.

Husbandry can also be the cause even if nothing has changed, they can become stress overtime and go off feed.

Again as long as your BP is healthy and not losing weight there is nothing to worry about (it will only be frustrating for you)

If you want to feed live just offer live mice than once your BP eats again with consistency you can switch to rats if this is what you want to do, a small rat once a week will be sufficient.

VERY IMPORTANT Do not guess your temps, KNOW your temps.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by zackw419

Ok, my ball python hasn't been eating for about a month and a half now so i decided to try live. She was eating frozen jumbo mice(and started refusing them) and is now big enough to eat small rats. So i bough a live small rat (about the size of a jumbo mouse) for her and she wouldn't eat it, in fact she was running away from it because it was crawling on her. Is she afraid of the small rat or is she just not hungry? Is there a better way to transition from frozen to live like mabye feeding her a smaller live rodent? She has never ate rats before. I know ball pythons go off feed in the winter and i have come to terms with that but i want to make sure that is the reason she is not eating and its not because of a mistake im making. I would like to begin feeding her live, she is 4, but i don't want to scare her. Im pretty sure I have all her husbandry down so im pretty confident its not that.


If I could get some help I would really appreciate it! :D


P.S. I have an 100w infrared light that i usualy keep on only in the day, should i keep this on 24/7

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I finally got mine to eat today by feeding her in her tank for the first time. I've been switching her to a big rubbermaid container and feeding her in there but it hasn't been working at all lately. She didn't strike at the food I offered her today but I just left the mouse right in front of her hide. Checked back an hour later and no mouse!

Try leaving the mouse in with your snake for awhile and see what happens.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by ScottyDsntKnow

I finally got mine to eat today by feeding her in her tank for the first time. I've been switching her to a big rubbermaid container and feeding her in there but it hasn't been working at all lately. She didn't strike at the food I offered her today but I just left the mouse right in front of her hide. Checked back an hour later and no mouse!

Try leaving the mouse in with your snake for awhile and see what happens.

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sometimes they hide it so take a look :P

Last night she ate :) in her new tub


thank you for your help everyone

once a bp starts eating again she will eat for a while right?

Maybe, maybe not. Depends on the setup and how comfortable she is.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by zackw419

Last night she ate :) in her new tub


thank you for your help everyone

once a bp starts eating again she will eat for a while right?

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if your lucky sometimes you just get lucky.

youll know they are well acclimated and have become accustomed to your routine when they start hitting the food item like a bus. My BP does this thankfully.

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Originally Posted by JeffJ

if your lucky sometimes you just get lucky.

youll know they are well acclimated and have become accustomed to your routine when they start hitting the food item like a bus. My BP does this thankfully.

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i have a feeling shes back in it, things are back to being warm here, squirls coming out...insect coming out...it seem right :)

Quote:

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Originally Posted by zackw419

i have a feeling shes back in it, things are back to being warm here, squirls coming out...insect coming out...it seem right :)

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Outside temps should not be effecting a properly housed snake though... I really hope everything works out for you but just make sure your snake's temps and humidity are in the right area no matter what season it is.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by ScottyDsntKnow

Outside temps should not be effecting a properly housed snake though... I really hope everything works out for you but just make sure your snake's temps and humidity are in the right area no matter what season it is.

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Agreed, the only thing about the weather I can't control in my snake room is the barometric pressure, which may be detected by my BPs.

for the most part they arn't

but seasonal change must affect them to a certain extent since some ball pythons fast during the winter months