BP wont eat wet rats?

Do your ball pythons not eat wet thawed rats? I never think it would be a problem till I found out that the original owner of my snake never fed wet f/t rats.

I've never had a problem with that. I feed f/t to mine. How long are you thawing them for? Depending on size of rat, they need to be in hot (almost boiling in my case) water for 15-30 minutes. My ball takes them wet and hot every time with that method. What did the original owner do to defrost? A hair dryer? :D

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Originally Posted by snakesonaplane

I've never had a problem with that. I feed f/t to mine. How long are you thawing them for? Depending on size of rat, they need to be in hot (almost boiling in my case) water for 15-30 minutes. My ball takes them wet and hot every time with that method. What did the original owner do to defrost? A hair dryer? :D

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Nice avatar. :P and to add to your post, maybe it was never fed F/T.

To the OP. Can you clarify this? Was the ball eating live, pre-killed, or F/T?

it was a f/t thawed eater and he thawed it by having leaving it out of the freezer in the morning to thaw and than heating it in hot water for 1 hour. ALL the time dry.

I thaw mine by simply putting the rat in hot water for about 30-35 minutes and then dump the water and put hot water in it again. let the rat soak for like 30 seconds, dry it off a bit and offer it to my adult female, but she never takes it. THe rat had blood dripping a bit and sometimes i leave it over night, but she never takes. I even put a hide in her tub.

Have you tried zombie dance, gerbil bedding and splitting the skull open as the regular enticing methods? I've also heard that ball pythons are almost mesmerized by the smell of gerbil urine, though I've not tried it myself as a method of enticing. Also, she could be going off feed this time of the year. From what I've seen on these forums, some balls started going off feed as early as October. Mine just started this week and I know it can get frustrating...keep trying weekly/bi-weekly until she takes, as there doesn't seem anything wrong with your method. When she's hungry enough, she will eat :P

yea thats what i thought too, but heres the thing, the snake is supposed to be a good feeder and never missed a meal, or thats what the breeder said. The other two bps that I have live in the same condition and eat really well, so I dont think its the the conditions that the snake is living in. And I tried the zombie dance, and I have had the rat bleed in order to entice the snake. The bleeding rat worked for my albino and he was off feed for almost 3 weeks.

AND all my ball pythons eat in shed and I do the same feeding techniques and thawing method. Sometimes i dont need to do the zombie dance and let them eat it if i just put it in the tub.

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Originally Posted by Maddumpling

AND all my ball pythons eat in shed and I do the same feeding techniques and thawing method. Sometimes i dont need to do the zombie dance and let them eat it if i just put it in the tub.

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So maybe I missed it, but is the one you are having the problem with a female? If it is then maybe she simply took herself off of feed, tis the season. But then again, if you really wanna try just one more time to see if she will eat, you can always try an ASF, or a f/t that you rolled around in shavings from a gerbil thats always a gotcha :) its a lil trick that works allot. But it IS that time of year. Just watch her and if she isn't looking sickly or losing weight maybe it's just her wanting to breed. :P

My female went off feed last year for over 3 months by herself, I was losing it, she wasnt the greatest of eaters anyway so when she did that I thought I was gonna die. So I resorted to the oldest trick in the book and offered her a gerbil, I almost lost a limb, she hit that gerbil so fast she shot it out of the tub then she lunged for it and coiled it and well she was stuck on those for awhile. Took me forever and a day to break her of them, but she was a rescue and I was trying to put some meat on her bones and they did so it worked. :gj:

ASFs are illegal in Cali i think and the only reason why i think its weird she is off feed is that the breeder said she was a great eater.

How long have you had this particular snake, and how old is she? It's possible that she's stressed from the move and just going on a hunger strike for that. I would wait a week, then try again.

had her little over a month. She is 7 years old. She is a 2004 het albino female.

I would just watch her weight and let her settle in some more. If she has lived with the same keeper for 7 years and just changed homes about a month ago I imagine she's still getting used to things, I know I would be.

My female bp is off feed too but i try f/t every 7 days still. Just curious if she doesnt eat the mouse could i refreeze it and use it again or would i have to just get rid of it?

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Originally Posted by Jor23dan

My female bp is off feed too but i try f/t every 7 days still. Just curious if she doesnt eat the mouse could i refreeze it and use it again or would i have to just get rid of it?

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I've done it with success. I just put the mouse back in the zip loc bag and back in the freezer. Last time I did that, I think my ball took the mouse more readily. There's something about that pungent re-thawed smell that entices them quickly. I wouldn't feed that particular mouse after the second re-thawing, though. If all the nutrients are decomposed and rotten, no point in giving your snake bad food.

Re-thawing issue I actually smell test them if they smell anything even slightly of anything thing other then rodent I will not. One is my rule never twice.

Adults can take quite a while to adjust to a new location it is funny I had a large male decide to stop eating for 6 months after a meal (only lost 7% weight) and one day he was like a train and has been a food hound ever since.

I'd like to re-point out that many BPs go off feed around this time of year. My female which is usually an eating champ acts bored when I put rats near her in exactly the same manner as I do any other time. Or she will act annoyed that "something" is in her way and just scoot around it.

Mine's been off feed for perhaps just over 2 months. I just keep offering. These animals can go many months and be fine, just watch the weight. If it starts losing serious weight it may become time for a forced feeding -- something I've never done and hope I never have to have someone do for me.