My baby bp is a jerk!!!!

I bought my baby bp a rat last week he didnt eat it!! I bought him one today and again he didnt eat it!!!!! What should i do with it if my other bp doesnt eat it?

Well my other bp got it lol

Welcome to the world of BP's... them refusing to eat is part of the game. IF you have a leftover rodent you have 2 options (i'm assuming that it is live)

1. keep the rodent until next feeding day/new pet rodent lol

2. kill and discard the rodent. (keep it humane)

If frozen, then you can safely refreeze it 1 time after that it is trash.

I'm assuming this is a live rat?
I would say get a little 10 gal tank or critter keeper and all the supplies for keeping a rat for a while.
Ball Pythons can be very picky eaters and sometimes will go on fasts. Your snake will most likely not eat EVERY time you offer it a meal. This will happen again.
Just offer it again when the next feeding day comes around.
Dont try and offer it to the snake too often, this can "turn the snake off" and stress it.
Dont worry she can go without food for a long period of time, just offer it to her in a few days and see what happens.

You can always convert her to frozen/thawed, then you dont have to go buy a live rat every week, you dont have to keep the live rat if she doesnt eat it. And you prevent your snake from sustaining fatal injuries from rodent bites.

Another thing is did you change anything around in the cage in between when she ate and now?
I find that if I just did a cage cleaning, or moved hides some of my snakes will be to busy exploring their cage than to eat that day.

I just gave it to my adult bp lol i kept the last one and it stunk up the snake room really bad then died so never again will i keep the nasty thing

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Originally Posted by Snake.chick09

I just gave it to my adult bp lol i kept the last one and it stunk up the snake room really bad then died so never again will i keep the nasty thing

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Then I guess you'll have to rely on the other bp eating it, or killing it and freezing it until next feeding day and hope one of them eat f/t.

Well both bps will eat either or so if he doesnt eat one next week ill kill an free that one an try giving it the week after i just hate having dead rodents in my freezer

I meant freeze not free stupid iphone

How old/big is your baby BP and what size food are you trying to feed it that would also be appropriate for an adult? If the food is too large, the baby will continue to refuse.

Small rat pups and hes about 2 feet as of 2 weeks ago hes almost not a baby anymore i feed him the same size food weekly if not bigger so its not that i think hes just fasting

An hes around 9months old or so

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Originally Posted by Snake.chick09

Well both bps will eat either or so if he doesnt eat one next week ill kill an free that one an try giving it the week after i just hate having dead rodents in my freezer

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Just be sure your ok with your snakes possibility of getting fatally bit one day. They can loose eyes, get very scarred from open wounds, get an infection that can be bad enough to kill them.

I have a few snakes that no matter what will not take f/t or prekilled, feeding them live stresses me out so bad. I'm always worried about feeding them. I've only had one snake get bit once, but it was bad enough to draw quite a bit of blood, the cage looked like a disaster. The bite just cleared her eye. I've been lucky.

IMO if your snakes will take f/t willingly then you should take advantage of that. Not wanting to keep frozen meat (which is what a rodent is) in your freezer is a poor excuse for feeding live. But thats just my opinion.
I do understand keeping rodents in a freezer with your own food is sometimes unappetizing but its all sealed packages, I'm sure it would not effect your quality of food.

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Originally Posted by Snake.chick09

Small rat pups and hes about 2 feet as of 2 weeks ago hes almost not a baby anymore i feed him the same size food weekly if not bigger so its not that i think hes just fasting

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As a general rule, young BPs don't go on fasts unless something in the husbandry is off. Have you double checked all the enclosure conditions? If you can give us a run down of your set up, we might be able to pinpoint the problem.

Temps are 80-85 warm side 75-80 cool side cypress substrate humidity stays around 55% red light for light heat pad stays on around 80 degrees 2 hides a climbing tree and a big water bowl he shed a nice shed last week and substrate isnt wet or to dry its just right

And there is the problem, your temps are too low. You need to get the hot side 88-92 degrees, and cool side 78-82 degrees.
I have found that my BP's don't like to eat unless the ambient temperature is at least 80 degrees.

Hmmmmm cuz it was eating just fine before with the same temps ill try upping the temps more to see cause he didnt seem to like the hot side when it was hotter at all an i had the cool side about the same temps the hot side is now

I've been feeding live for a few months and Perry hasn't had a problem. Mind you she has a BIG attitude when it comes to feeding. She is a sweetheart until it comes time to feed. If it was a random 'fasting' i would say your snake just needs to deficate and 'make space' for more food. Perry was doing that earlier this week until she had a 70 gram defication. I just fed her tonight and she took it like i hadn't fed her in weeks which is a very typical response for her. Like i said, the girl can put the food down. I live in a house with non snake lovers, snake haters is the better description, and they won't let me keep f/t in the freezer because it grosses the boys in the house out :mad: The place where I get my rats told me that baby rats and small rats don't tend to fight as much as the medium and large rats so it's up to you. IMO, they were made to kill and to take a fight from a rat so they are perfectly equipped to take one on. I'm no pro but I've done both live and f/t and there's not a huge difference from what I've seen other than your snake gets to act on instinct and pretend he/she is the Hulk for a few minutes. Start small and don't leave the cage until the food is COMPLETELY dead. Hope this helps some.

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Originally Posted by Snake.chick09

Hmmmmm cuz it was eating just fine before with the same temps ill try upping the temps more to see cause he didnt seem to like the hot side when it was hotter at all an i had the cool side about the same temps the hot side is now

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Are your hot and cold hides identical?

Not even close ones a huge tree like one the other is a rock type one

I dont leave till their completely done because i feed them out of tank im not new to this just frustrated lol

They're probably stressed because you're feeding outside of the enclosure.

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Originally Posted by Snake.chick09

I dont leave till their completely done because i feed them out of tank im not new to this just frustrated lol

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Most people on this board will recommend feeding them inside their enclosures, myself included. It will not make them aggressive and you'll probably get better feeding results if you feed them where they're most comfortable.

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Originally Posted by Snake.chick09

Not even close ones a huge tree like one the other is a rock type one

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He could be favoring the cold side because he feels more secure in whatever hide is on that side. I would recommend getting two identical hides so he is more inclined to thermoregulate. Also make sure your temps arn't hotter than what you think on the hot side: if it's too hot that could be another reason why he's not going over there. If your UTH regulated and how are you measuring temps?

I feed outside of the tank to avoid them ingesting any substrate the tree hide was his very first hide and its on his cool side he goes in both but favors the rock looking one now i need to upgrade his tank and i have the tank just cant find a top for it and as for feeding outside the tank and feeling unsecure ive done it since i got him and never had an issue with him not eating

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Originally Posted by Snake.chick09

I feed outside of the tank to avoid them ingesting any substrate the tree hide was his very first hide and its on his cool side he goes in both but favors the rock looking one now i need to upgrade his tank and i have the tank just cant find a top for it and as for feeding outside the tank and feeling unsecure ive done it since i got him and never had an issue with him not eating

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That doesn't mean he hasn't changed his mind about where he feels secure. If you are worried about substrate ingestion, lay down paper towels over the substrate and feed on that (though I'm not sure anyone does this in the wild so I bet if he gets a couple pieces in him, it won't be a big deal)

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Well im pretty sure they dont just up and change their mind either

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Originally Posted by Snake.chick09

Well im pretty sure they dont just up and change their mind either

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You'd be surprised. I had a female that was in the same set up for a year (in a rack, 1 hide, 1 waterbowl) that decided to go off feed for 11mos, didn't eat again until I crammed another hide in her tub. She has absolutely NO place on the floor she can fit other than inside her hides and now shes eating lije the garbage disposal she was before the hissy-fit.

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Odd for sure

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Originally Posted by mues155

Just be sure your ok with your snakes possibility of getting fatally bit one day. They can loose eyes, get very scarred from open wounds, get an infection that can be bad enough to kill them.

I have a few snakes that no matter what will not take f/t or prekilled, feeding them live stresses me out so bad. I'm always worried about feeding them. I've only had one snake get bit once, but it was bad enough to draw quite a bit of blood, the cage looked like a disaster. The bite just cleared her eye. I've been lucky.

IMO if your snakes will take f/t willingly then you should take advantage of that. Not wanting to keep frozen meat (which is what a rodent is) in your freezer is a poor excuse for feeding live. But thats just my opinion.
I do understand keeping rodents in a freezer with your own food is sometimes unappetizing but its all sealed packages, I'm sure it would not effect your quality of food.

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The odds of being fatally bit and even scratched are less are extremely small. In own collection of over 20k live feedings, I've had zero fatal injuries and zero wounds.

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