another "my bp wont eat" thread.... please look

Ok, heres the deal. I bought this albino bp from the repticon show in tampa. she did not eat for me until the third week in my possesion. she ate a small small rat. well on the 4th week i tried feeding her and she did not take it. the breeder said she would only eat a pk rat in a box by herself noone watching and in the dark. i did not follow that the first 2 times and the third i did and she took it. well i tried that today again and she did not eat. i let her be in the box with a prekilled rat as the breeder said and she did not eat it. i even did the "zombie dance" after a while of her being in there and nothing. i gave up and when i went to take her out she thru a hissy fit and was hissing at me. I have never had a bp hiss at me. my boas dont even hiss at me. can anyone give any advise?

she is 526 grams. has shed once since i have had her. she does not get handled alot. shes in a 20gal long with the three sides covered. a hide on the cool and hot sides. uth on both ends 1 at 91 and the other at 81. che in the middle over the water dish keeping ambients at 82 durring the day and high 78s almost 79 at night. top screen covered with aluminum with holes for ventilation. humidity is at 59 to 64 all the time unless in shed. i have 2 accurite therms messuring all the temps.

Yeah, that's tough.

So, once upon a time back in 2009 I bought a pair of 2007 hets from a guy in Florida. I was so excited to get into breeding, I figured they were already two years old, maybe I could breed them that autumn. No way--- when they arrived the female was 650 grams and the male was maybe 450 grams, and they would. Not. Eat.

I tried everything: mice, rats, live, thawed, zombie dance, tuna fish juice, braining, gerbil bedding. I took them for rides in the car because somebody said that sometimes fresh air triggered appetite. Whatever!

After four weeks I noticed the female poking her head out when I microwaved some leftover curry from the Indian restaurant down the street. OKAY. So I went to the reptile store and bought a live hopper and dabbed curry sauce on its head, and I'll be darned if she didn't take it. So then I got a f/t mouse and dabbed curry on it, and she took that, too.

OKAY.

And she kept on taking f/t mice every week after that. As long as I brought home Indian take out and shared some of it with her. She kept this up for about 3 months. Whatever, as long as she was eating.

Because Mr. Neurotic wasn't. Nope. I've never had such a neurotic ball python---he was scared of everything. I finally got him to take a live hopper after EIGHT WEEKS. And then he went back on hunger strike for another 3 weeks. It took me months to work him up to large mice, months to get him on f/t, and then of course he regressed and went back on hunger strike and it took another year to get him back on f/t adult mice.

So I'm real sorry your new albino is pulling this on you. She's probably neurotic and doesn't like the change of surroundings. Plus she's at 500 grams, which is the magic weight when they just stop eating, sometimes. She's going to stress you out, but you gotta just keep trying everything every week until she finally settles in and decides she's hungry after all. I really think live hopper mice are the best bet for picky eaters, because they skitter around. But sometimes a snake really likes rats. And sometimes a snake just doesn't care about you, or your rodents, and they're just not going to eat.

And this is what happened with my two hets:

http://ball-pythons.net/forums/showt...st-clutch-ever)

Picky Lois and her neurotic boyfriend were still my first successful breeders! Neither one of them will look at a rat twice, though, even today...

Feed her curry! Lol
Her hissy fit was probably due to the fact that she was in a feeding mood. I would p/k then leave it in her cage right outside the hide overnight so if she chooses she can pull it in and if nothing in the am toss it.
My Colombian was a shy eater but now a terror for her prey (live, p/k, or f/t)
I like live for the fact that movement gets most attention. If you try, start out with a adult mouse or Asf and move up in size but don't leave it in and pay close attention if she doesn't take it try again in a few days

i dont know what to do. im just so frustrated and at that moment i was so mad i would have gave her away. i know not the right way to act, but its just frustrationg.it feels like if one of my kids was not happy with me and refused to do anything. i think ill wait again till next saturday and feed at night with a rat. if not then ill try a live mouse.

i still dont get the hissing. if she was in feed mode, dont you think she would have bit me or atleast try to eat the rat?

anymore advise??? I really need some input on this. Thx!

for my BP i feed him F/T mice what I do is take the hides out of the cage. Thaw the mouse in warm water right next to the cage so they can smell it and hopefully get an appetite. for my BP once the mouse starts to thaw he starts roaming around the cage, not 100% is thats related or just cause the hides are gone. I check the mouse make sure its completly thawed and the take a blow dryer and on the hot setting blow dry the mouse until its nice and toasty, again right next to the cage. if the mouse doesnt feel warm to my hand he wont take it. i dont bump the mouse into his face or anything like that but this method has worked for me for my BP. you can also get a thermometer to check the mouse temp and make sure its like 100 but I have never had to do that

Give it time. They go off feed and there's little you can do about it. My girl went off feed for 3 months last winter. Any time I tried to feed her, she'd freak out and try to escape. I dropped down to one attempt a week, and eventually she ate.

Don't keep trying to feed if they aren't eating. The dancing zombie mouse becomes a "threat" to them if it's not "food" so the more you try to do this, the worse you're going to be.

When you put her in the box how long did you leave her alone? You might want to leave her alone overnight with the prey. She probably became more frightened when you opened the box and made her meal come "back to life".
My female pastel stopped eating for a month, I had to feed her at night with no lights on except a small flashlight so I could see what I was doing. She's eating like a champ now.Oh, I also ended up braining her first few meals back which seemed to help stimulate her feeding response. Good luck, but don't get too frustrated, she'll eat when she's ready.

Have you tried feeding "Live" yet? Didn't see any mention of Live in your post. Or like one of the above posters had mentioned offer P/K or F/T and leave it just outside of their hide overnight.

Anytime I have a new addition that is a finicky eater offering live prey usually does the trick. Patience is the key here, she will eat... eventually. Don't offer too often (1 week between each attempt) and I'm sure she will be striking soon for you.

About the hissing, it's just one of those things. One of my females will hiss at you when you walk by. Different snakes = Different temperments, that's all.

Hope you can get her eating!

Ok Ill post what worked for me and my stuborn eater and I got the advice from several here. Check you hide size and husbandry very well I made a smaller hide mine would not easily fit in and bam next feed cycle great feed response and ate 2 hoppers. Also thaw the mose close to the cage the smell drove him nuts but it worked. I think you may have the same problem I did new enviroment moved to a larger area now the snake is not sure it is safe to eat. Hope this help as I am a little new to the BP world but mine is back to eating so I thought I would share what worked for me.

Robbie

1.0 het for now:)

Mine is very picky. Will only eat rats and only the ones that my buddy Dave breeds. He loves it. I defrost them overnight in the fridge. Let them warm to room temp for about 3 hours. Warm it with a hair dryer and wham. At 500 grams you may want to try small rats.

im gonna try a small live rat on saturday and see what happens. should i leave her in her cage or try it in the box like she's use to?

I would feed In the cage. But I IMO think that it's far less stressful for an animal to not be moved around at feeding time.


Check out what's new on my website... www.Homegrownscales.com

My almost 19 year old Ball named Martha went almost a year without feedind at one time. Especialy after changes in habitat they sometimes don't eat. I just moved across country with her and she went on a 4 month hunger strike. Missing a few feeding will not harm your new baby just watch her weight and make sure she does not drop too much.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by martha1992

My almost 19 year old Ball named Martha went almost a year without feedind at one time. Especialy after changes in habitat they sometimes don't eat. I just moved across country with her and she went on a 4 month hunger strike. Missing a few feeding will not harm your new baby just watch her weight and make sure she does not drop too much.

---

I agree, also a 20 long is a little big for some 500 gram ball pythons. clutter it up might help if you have nothing smaller. I would feed in tank, at night, live and don't make too much noise, with the lights off.

well.... i left her in the tank heated up a f/t small rat and put it right in front of her hide and within seconds she pulled it into her hide and a few minutes later it disappered into her belly. :banana:

the only reason i did not try live was because she has not come out of her hide at all since last week and i figured she was in shed or stressed so i did not want to waste another rat. then i thought well let me try a f/t and just leave it overnight.

i feel a little bit better now. shes eating, which means its a good thing and means shes healthy and not stressing alot.

do you think shes an every 2 week eater and is that normal if she is?

Try a 10 day schedule

I may have missed it but is this a young snake or an older one? I feed little ones every 5 days or so and sub adults every 7. Adults well are all over the board. If they seem super interested during the weekly feedings they sometimes get a 'snack' something quite small (weanling or hopper) and then something larger every 2 weeks. Some seem to want the extra some don't. It is not always the same ones either. Basically adults every 7 days.

I am glad you got yours feeding. Hissing is a stress and fear response in royal. It is warning you off. I have one hisser and one occasional hisser he only hisses in shed. The other always hisses, he stresses easily I try not to mess with him too much. I only have him out when it is quite and I can sit with him. I return him when her gets really adigitated. He is also the pee one whom almost always pees when out. I think he knows I almost always put him bac after he pees on me... how smart are they supposed to be again?? :D

shes is 500 grams. i forgot to ask the breeder what year she was born. im guessing she was born in 2010 due to her weight, but if shes this picky to eat she could be older. i tried feeding her every 7 days but no luck. she has eaten 2 times for me and its been every 2 weeks.

i dunno if its just my luck or what but every albino bp ive had was a picky eater at first. After a few months of being here and left alone other than cleaning there tub and fresh water they started to eat live. After a few live feedings I was able to get them to eat f\t and they will go on a strike here and there but they seem to be doing much better the longer they are here

At 500 gms I'd call her sub adult and try weekly feedings. Ages doesn't seem to be as important as size for maturity. Males seem to produce sperm at 1000-1400 gms if it takes a year or two doesn't seem to matter. This is my observation I could be mistaken but that is what I have noticed.