Feeding Question?

I have a 2010 Female Fire Ball Python who hasn't eatin for about two weeks. I know BP's are famous for going off food but usually not until full grown. This girl is currently 268 grams. When should I become seriously concerned and what can i do to entice her to eat....Thanks

What have you tried feeding?

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Originally Posted by TheWinWizard

What have you tried feeding?

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First a f/t weaned rat....then a live weaned rat....then a fresh killed/stunned weaned rat....then a live adult mouse....then a fresh killed/stunned adult mouse. The only thing I haven't tried yet are african soft furred....any suggestions?

anybody?

what did you she before the fast? the same thing won't work?

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Originally Posted by nor_cal1980

anybody?

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Hey there. What I have noticed in my own collection, is that some bp's are VERY picky about not only the temperature of their food, but also how long the thawing process took. My greatest success rate has been to take however many rats I need to heat up, toss em in a large ziplock bag, and put them in my empty incubator set at 100* (while the 'bator is cool and starting to work to get to temp). I leave them in there until they are warm. This isn't so much an instructional on what you should do for your particular situation, but to bring some variables to your attention so that you can narrow down the cause.

Also any time they refuse to feed, it's good to double check your husbandry; temps, humidity, etc. and make sure everything is copasetic.

How long have you had em? What is the enclosure like?

As for when to worry about a lil guy not eating, I couldn't really tell you. All of my snakes I have purchased as sub-adults. You are right, it is perfectly normal for them to go off of food for quite a long time. It happens to us all, the important thing is that your baby doesn't drop a lot of weight. As long as she is healthy and your husbandry is on spot, I would not worry yet. :)

Bah, there is so much. Last tidbit: my one girl refuses to eat anything that is not pure white. I've heard that's not too uncommon.

Anyways, I hope this was able to help you, or at least get the conversation flowing in a way that will provide some results for ya.

2 weeks wouldn't worry me to much, if she isn't loosing much weight. It seems that you have tried a lot of food types in a very short period of time though. Did you try all of these different types of food in the 2 weeks, or was I reading this wrong. When my bp's go off food I try to leave them completely alone until their next feeding day the following week. If you try to feed to often the bp my become stressed and then continue to refuse food..

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Originally Posted by dragonboy4578

2 weeks wouldn't worry me to much, if she isn't loosing much weight. It seems that you have tried a lot of food types in a very short period of time though. Did you try all of these different types of food in the 2 weeks, or was I reading this wrong. When my bp's go off food I try to leave them completely alone until their next feeding day the following week. If you try to feed to often the bp my become stressed and then continue to refuse food..

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Yeah i was definitely worried about that because of heard that before. When she refused food the first time I left her alone for about four day's then I offered her the live weaned rat. She seemed interested at first but then she kinda got scared of the rat moving around. She's been on frozen thawed most of her life. So i stunned the rat and she still didn't want it. Next day tried the same process with a mouse. So yeah, now im gonna leave her be for a few day's again. I keep my bp's on unprinted news paper. I put her on repti bark since i last tried to feed her...hope that might make a difference...She hasn't lost weight yet but the only reason im concerned is she's still very much a growing girl. I know bp's go off food but i thought not until they're grown. Just worried this might be linked to another health problem

Generally you'll see especially girls
Go feed at a year or so. I have some
Picky ones and sometimes to figure them out it's a process.Start with husbandry, and work your way out to different feeders and lastly could be illness. But if your husbandry is
On time it is probably just stress or her Just being picky. If you give her some time alone and just try offering what she was on before I'm sure she will resume feeding.

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Originally Posted by Homegrownscales

Generally you'll see especially girls
Go feed at a year or so. I have some
Picky ones and sometimes to figure them out it's a process.Start with husbandry, and work your way out to different feeders and lastly could be illness. But if your husbandry is
On time it is probably just stress or her Just being picky. If you give her some time alone and just try offering what she was on before I'm sure she will resume feeding.

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my husbandry seems to be right on target...about 92 inside her hot hide and about 82 inside her cool hide w/ an ambient at about 80. Humidity stays right around 55%. I don't know her exact age but she's a 2010 and judging by her size i think she's around 8 or 9 months. I keep trying to think of changes i've made. The only thing i've changed is i moved all the water bowls inside my bp's tubs to about the middle of the tub to keep humidity up without misting. I also have a normal girl.. Same age and size who is starting to be real hard to get to eat for me also...i really have to entise her to get her to eat...i dunno

Bp's can just be picky. My het. Pied female will get fussy ever other month for one or two feeding, but then she is right back at it. With her she seems to get this way when I have handled her to much. I just need to leave her alone for a week, and she goes back to eating.

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Originally Posted by dragonboy4578

Bp's can just be picky. My het. Pied female will get fussy ever other month for one or two feeding, but then she is right back at it. With her she seems to get this way when I have handled her to much. I just need to leave her alone for a week, and she goes back to eating.

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Yeah....thats what im wishing for

My pastel wasn't eating, "when she normally crushes", I have her in a rack system with clear bins, she has a hide but i guess it wasn't good enough. I put a black sheet over the front of the rack to "black it out", and she ate first try. Just a thought sometimes they will be comfortable in there set up and then just suddenly change their minds lol with out even making any changes.

What size is her enclosure? I have a 6 month old 400+ gram female that went off feed for 2 months and just recently ate this week. Just like you, I tried feeding her all types of rats. I even brought her to the vet and everything was fine with her.

The husbandry was perfect, everything was the same. So I tried putting crumpled newspaper inside her tub to let her feel secure (she has two hides by the way). I gave her a thawed weaned rat and left it for the night. After 2 hours, she ate it.

I was monitoring her weight and she just lost like 20 grams in the 2 month fast. She's beginning to shed right now so I haven't offered her food yet. Just be patient and hope this helps. Give it a week before you offer food again.

I was also very concerned but now that I experienced the "ball python fast", I can say that if she's not losing weight, don't worry about it. She'll eat when she's ready.

Good Luck!

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Originally Posted by rexrem

What size is her enclosure? I have a 6 month old 400+ gram female that went off feed for 2 months and just recently ate this week. Just like you, I tried feeding her all types of rats. I even brought her to the vet and everything was fine with her.

The husbandry was perfect, everything was the same. So I tried putting crumpled newspaper inside her tub to let her feel secure (she has two hides by the way). I gave her a thawed weaned rat and left it for the night. After 2 hours, she ate it.

I was monitoring her weight and she just lost like 20 grams in the 2 month fast. She's beginning to shed right now so I haven't offered her food yet. Just be patient and hope this helps. Give it a week before you offer food again.

I was also very concerned but now that I experienced the "ball python fast", I can say that if she's not losing weight, don't worry about it. She'll eat when she's ready.

Good Luck!

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Thank you very much...you just put my mind at ease. I know adult bp's go off food but wasn't sure about the young ones.....thanks for the info bud!!

My 09 female hadn't eaten since Dec 15 and I kept offering small live rats each week. Just no interest, and she even went into hide to avoid them. Then Thursday, bang she attacked it like normal. I just think she went off for the winter. I'll have to see what happens this week.

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Originally Posted by bivman

My 09 female hadn't eaten since Dec 15 and I kept offering small live rats each week. Just no interest, and she even went into hide to avoid them. Then Thursday, bang she attacked it like normal. I just think she went off for the winter. I'll have to see what happens this week.

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Yeah....let me know how she does on feeding day...