Should i try live?

Here's me situation, I have a picky normal female who i want to breed this coming season. During the winter she rarely eats ( once every month and a half maybe to once every two months). However during the summer for about a month she eats like a champ. This was the month of august and i fed her as much as she wanted about 8 small rats for the month. Now she has stopped eating, but is still only 1150 grams. Shes going on her third winter and i really want to put some weight on her for the breeding season. Shes completely uninterested in f/t so I was thinking of trying live, but i dont want her to only take live from now on, i just want to get her feeding until she reaches about 1500 grams and then get her back on the f/t. Do you think this is a good idea or should i just stick to f/t?

Thanks alot

If you have to feed her live, then do so. You can always keep trying F/T, or even do prekilled. I've noticed on a few different occasions, that in the winter, if you raise the temperature a bit, not much, but to where it doesn't exactly resemble winter, she may stay on feeding for you.

Well if you plan to breed your female, she certainly needs a lot more weight, and therefore needs to eat more.

If she accepts live on a more regular basis, I say go for it.

Ya ive tried keeping the temps a little higher but she always seems to know when winters coming.

Its not really that i need to feed live, the past two winters she barely ate for about 6 months at a time never really losing any significant weight, but just not growing.
I could just keep with the f/t, but i know she wont grow for breeding season
thats why im not sure if i should just get her live so she could keep eating for the winter or just do like usual and let her fast for winter and feed her again in the summer. I just really want to fatten her up for breeding. Or else i may not breed her.

I would keep feeding her whatever she likes. I wish all my snakes ate F/T. I feel like a waiter during feeding time some want live, others want Pre-killed, others want F/T, some will only take jumbo mice, etc........

If she is over 1000 grams and if she is willing, maybe try feeding her medium instead of small... it may give her a more filling meal whenever she does eat....

Do whatever it takes to get her to eat! If live works in the winter months then use it!

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Originally Posted by seeya205

Do whatever it takes to get her to eat! If live works in the winter months then use it!

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Totally agree.

alright well i just got a live rat size about between small and medium i left it in a box over the cage for about 30 mins then tried feeding but she wants nothing to do with it she sees it but takes no interest at all in the rat. Is this normal or do most snakes usually go for anything live?

Did you try leaving the room for about 10 mins? Maybe she's shy?

alright ill try that right now get back to u in 10 mins

still nothing :(

wait, is she used to eating rats or mice? it can make a huge difference.

when she has a strong feeding response she feeds on rats, when shes feeling picky she prefers mice so i think im gonna try a live mouse soon

I tried a f/t mouse yesterday... no go
so i just bought a live mouse and shes still not interested
and i dont know where to get asf's but for some reason i dont even think that would work. I dont know what to do

Is it a possibility that shes looking for a male seeing as its breeding season, ive been cooling for about a week, the male is in the same room as her and ive already introduced them?

and shes roaming the cage alot more than she normally does

Hi,

Your stressing her out more than likely.

You have offered her food on the 23rd, 24th and 25th.

It is possible that her eating pattern could be caused by the amount of food she eats in the short time she will accept it making her feel satiated and triggering a fast.

Breaking that cycle could be a bit tricky to say the least.

I would leave her completely alone for 7-14 days then offering a small F/T rat about 30-60g.

If she takes it do not offer any more till 7 days later then offer another one.

The idea is to try and get her used to a schedule of regular prey that never makes her feel so completely full it triggers a fast.


dr del

I agree. Offering food too frequently can cause them to stress.

Also, ball pythons typically go off feed during the winter months (and as you've stated, your has in the past), so there may not be anything you can do to get her to feed again until spring arrives. Ball pythons can be the most stubborn feeders. My normal male eats between April-June, then refuses food the rest of the year, even during the hot months of July and August. But he's not nippy--just not hungry.

Also, I noticed that you've cooled her tank already, which is good for breeding, and good for snakes that have gone off feed on their own--when they stop feeding and you cool, they tend to lose less weight--but very bad when trying to convince your snake to eat. She may be thinking that the cooler tank may not allow her to digest properly, and is refusing food because of that.

But of course, she may just not be hungry. I'm in the same boat as you with my het albino female. She is only 2 years old and just above 1200 grams, but I'd love to breed her this season. However, she has refused meals for the past 3 weeks. If she continues to refuse, then obviously she won't make it to 1500 grams before breeding season begins. If she doesn't, then I won't breed her. Don't get ahead of yourself--or your snake, as the case may be. If she feeds for you and gains proper weight, then great: breed her. If not, though, just give her another year. ;)

Best of luck! :)