stopped eating :confused:

i have a female wild type she was born in may of this year. she wieghs 1.18lb and she has been eating small/med live rats (45gr-60gr) twice a week. my female rat had 9 pups i started feeding them off when they got 3.5 weeks old after two week she stopped eating them won't even look at them.i know that some BP's go through the winter without eating but thats when they reach sexual maturity. At night she is ver active and looking for a rat . nothing has changed in her tank the temp is 90 hot side day and 82 cool side day , night it 75 with humidty at 60% and 12hrs of dark and light, and she seems to be drinking plenty of water.maybe thinking ofstarting off with smaller rats, just had another litter of 5 from a different female maybe styart off with a 2.5 week old pup. or if anyone can give me any ideas .

thanks everyone.

Try a smaller one and try at night if she seems more interested then. :gj:

Sometimes they just don't feel like eating, and part of owning BPs is not getting nervous when they fast - LOL. ;) But it would help to see your setup, as there could be something making her unhappy... she was eating previously, though, so that's probably not the case. Any signs of illness, like wheezing/popping, breathing with her mouth open, or mucus?

P.S. Ball Pythons only need to eat once a week (if that), so maybe she's just full? I also noticed you said she was eating small/med rats, then pups, and now you're thinking of going even smaller? I would recommend going bigger instead, back to the original size she was eating.

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Originally Posted by Lolo76

Sometimes they just don't feel like eating, and part of owning BPs is not getting nervous when they fast - LOL. ;) But it would help to see your setup, as there could be something making her unhappy... she was eating previously, though, so that's probably not the case. Any signs of illness, like wheezing/popping, breathing with her mouth open, or mucus?

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no changes in the setup and no wheezing or breathing problems

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Originally Posted by Lolo76

P.S. Ball Pythons only need to eat once a week (if that), so maybe she's just full? I also noticed you said she was eating small/med rats, then pups, and now you're thinking of going even smaller? I would recommend going bigger instead, back to the original size she was eating.

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ok i just thought a little bite of something to kick start the eating again

Sorry man, that's just what juvenile ball pythons do. It's not just ball pythons at sexual maturity: they usually do it first when they hit 500-800 grams. Every single one of my guys and gals has done it. And sometimes the juvenile fast can be a pretty extreme.

So, it's the normal thing. She might only eat one rat every other week until spring, or she just might not eat at all for a few months... it's perfectly normal. If she continues to refuse food, I'd drop to offering every 10 days, or even every 14 days, just to save your sanity. Don't sweat it if she doesn't eat even then.

Sounds like she's throwing your rat breeding plans for a loop, though.

Keep an eye on her weight--if she drops more than 25-30% of her current weight, then you can begin worrying.

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Originally Posted by Ezekiel285

Try a smaller one and try at night if she seems more interested then. :gj:

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i'll try anything to get her back to eating

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Originally Posted by loonunit

Sorry man, that's just what juvenile ball pythons do. It's not just ball pythons at sexual maturity: they usually do it first when they hit 500-800 grams. Every single one of my guys and gals has done it. And sometimes the juvenile fast can be a pretty extreme.

So, it's the normal thing. She might only eat one rat every other week until spring, or she just might not eat at all for a few months... it's perfectly normal. If she continues to refuse food, I'd drop to offering every 10 days, or even every 14 days, just to save your sanity. Don't sweat it if she doesn't eat even then.

Sounds like she's throwing your rat breeding plans for a loop, though.

Keep an eye on her weight--if she drops more than 25-30% of her current weight, then you can begin worrying.

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i was going to give another week and then take her to my vets to get her weight 3 week ago she was over 1lb. and
thanks

It'll take several months of not eating for her to lose 25% of her current weight. She'll be fine. Don't do anything extreme until then....

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Originally Posted by loonunit

It'll take several months of not eating for her to lose 25% of her current weight. She'll be fine. Don't do anything extreme until then....

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it going on 3 week now but only 10 days since the last offering, and she's very activeduring the night and afternoons so she not getting sluggish.

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Originally Posted by sniper

i was going to give another week and then take her to my vets to get her weight 3 week ago she was over 1lb. and
thanks

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Does your vet charge you for a weight? You can save a lot of time and energy purchasing a digital food processing scale at Wal-Mart (or any department store for that matter) for less than $20. Most will have a gram setting and weight up to 5,000g which will be enough for 99.9% of ball pythons. They are very handy to have around.

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Originally Posted by AK907

Does your vet charge you for a weight? You can save a lot of time and energy purchasing a digital food processing scale at Wal-Mart (or any department store for that matter) for less than $20. Most will have a gram setting and weight up to 5,000g which will be enough for 99.9% of ball pythons. They are very handy to have around.

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no my vet does not charge for a weight check

Have you tried to offer at night? Our adult female we saved from a pet store and she's a horror eating... when she isn't shedding shell strike a medium rat any time of the day, she just wont take it. We've had her 7 months and she's only ate twice. You shouldn't have anything to worry about with yours going on this little strike. And I agree, purchase a digital scale. You know, unless you vet lives next door. Lol good luck getting her to eat!

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Originally Posted by zeion97

Have you tried to offer at night? Our adult female we saved from a pet store and she's a horror eating... when she isn't shedding shell strike a medium rat any time of the day, she just wont take it. We've had her 7 months and she's only ate twice. You shouldn't have anything to worry about with yours going on this little strike. And I agree, purchase a digital scale. You know, unless you vet lives next door. Lol good luck getting her to eat!

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yea we feed her at night only she seems to eat better in low light, and yes i realy need to get a scale cause winter is setting in up here

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Originally Posted by sniper

it going on 3 week now but only 10 days since the last offering, and she's very activeduring the night and afternoons so she not getting sluggish.

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Three weeks is nothing for a Ball Python, so don't stress out... I have one (adult) girl who went 9 MONTHS without feeding, ate for a few months, and then fasted for another 6 months. She's still fine, in fact she gave me a beautiful clutch of 5 babies in September - and now she is eating like a pig. :D

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Originally Posted by Lolo76

Three weeks is nothing for a Ball Python, so don't stress out... I have one (adult) girl who went 9 MONTHS without feeding, ate for a few months, and then fasted for another 6 months. She's still fine, in fact she gave me a beautiful clutch of 5 babies in September - and now she is eating like a pig. :D

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thanks everyone for the support, she had a mouse last night took her 3 hours to get it , norarl time for a rat in under 5 minutes but this is a start

she just went on a diet for 3 week and now she's back to normal , but now she's into the blueing of the shed so about 10 days from now she'll eat again.

and thanks to everyone for their input and help

i put her little and i do mran little she can't hardly fit into it but when she does its off the ground and sh's hanging out of both sides, she went on a hunger strike until she got her fav hide back. she now eats two 85gr to 125gr rat a week, she weighs 1.45lb and she's 6 1/2 months old.when she get hungery she goes on the prowl during the day and night then we wait a day the feel, the last rat took less then two minutes. :)

weell i want to thank everyone for there input and help
Sniper