So who's gone off feed?

I know one of the frustrating things with our beautiful bps is their tendency to go off feed and how scary it can be for new owners. I thought it might be nice to see how many bps are not eating now and for how long they've been off feed - just to show how 'normal' it is.

I think it's official that my Aragorn (a little over 1 year old) is now off feed. He last ate about 9/10 and before that around 8/7. He's still refusing and at this point shows more interest in getting out of the tank to look for a girlfriend than he does in the food - acts as if the food is invisible and doesn't even sniff.

How about everyone else?

Benny and Suki - both these boys are decidedly uninterested in eating - been over a month for both of them.

Mine is still eating but he's not sexualy mature so that might have a lot to do with it

Andy and Sphinx are into three meals each now, but were off for 11 weeks prior.

Well, I don't think Kitty is off feed, but I do think maybe he is on a slow down. I will know for sure tomorrow, when I try to feed him, if he refuses I will know

Well Link didn't eat this week. I hope he gets back on soon cause' I'm really nervous for some reason.

didn't Link have some problems before?

Monty Joe has not had a meal since July 16th. I try every 7 days just in case, but he acts like its not even there, no interest at all in food at this time. Oh well, maybe next week.

Rexx has been fasting for 3 1/2 weeks. So long that the last batch of mice gave birth yesterday!

I hope he get's hungey in time to eat the offspring, or I'll become a mouse farmer againts my better judgment. :shock:

K

Yeah, Link wouldn't eat the first time I tried to feed him. But then two days after he ate it. So I'll try doin' that.

My little guy Cypher is on his winter fast again. he fasted for three months last winter so I have become used to him doing it now and I no longer freak out anymore. As long as your Ball Python holds a decent weight and shows normal behavior I would assure new Ball Python owners to relax and not worry - it is normal behavior for these snakes to go off feed from time to time. Just maintain optimum temps and humidity and everything will be allright.....

EyeLashViper

I have had problems with Bob on and off but a while back I switched him to a eating every 2 weeks and he has been consistently eating well since then.

Now Jay on the other hand is my little piggy he doen't fool around lol.

One of my males is off feed right now, but he did this last year as well. I have my female off feed that i am breeding but all my others are eating just fine.

i havent gotten Apollo to eat yet.... its only been 3 weeks since his last meal, but the breeder fed live and i havent tried that yet. i'm sure it'd work... but im not fond of feeding live and i dont want to kill the poor mousie. :? i'm trying ONE MORE TIME to feed him tomorrow with f/t... if it doesnt work, you'll find a post of me sniffin and crying cuz i killed a mouse. :(

Edit: Pandora's starting to eat like a pro. :) she even eats the leftovers that Apollo doesnt want.... fatty!!

Pfft, the first mouse you kill is hard and makes you feel bad, but after that, it's like nothing. You just gotta not think about it when you're doing it. Drop the mouse in a bag or sock so you can't see inside, and whack! It's over before you know it.

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Just wondering, when your bps are off feed how often do you guys try offering food? Do you still try weekly, move it to every other week, monthly, etc?

I still offered on my weekly schedule. Granted i probably lost a couple of rats to the re-freeze, but it was no big deal.

I was trying weekly until I took Monty Joe to the vet and she said that he was doing fine, not losing weight etc. and she said to try about every 2 weeks.

Betty has been off feed since Aug 13. She has done this before, so I am not worried. I do however offer food to her every 10-14 days, but she does not take it. Oh well, she will eat again, when she is ready!

I actually feed Kitty at pretty irregular intervals. I find he does better this way, some times it is 7 days sometimes 8 somtimes 1.5 weeks, sometimes 2 weeks. It really depends on how long I gave him between the previous feed. I have fed him 2 food items in one feed before, rat and mouse. He hadn's eaten in a while, then I let him go for a little over a week before I fed again. It is pretty varied. I talked to the vet and he said this was actually not a bad idea as it would ensure that my snake did not mature too fast, was more likely to eat, and generally do better. Something about varying food availability and size in the wild makes for longer lived healther snakes, especially in conjunction with our loving control of enviroment, food and water quality

i just keep trying apollo every friday, when Pandora eats. hopefully he'll get hungry enough and eat the frozen micers

.:raises hand:. Eleanor hasn't eaten since September 10th. She did this last year... stops eating and becomes super active. She's a weirdo. I try bi-weekly and she always looks interested, but every morning I just find a snake sleeping on top of a very warm rat.

Sounds like someone wants some lovin :D

If Link dosn't want his food he'l plow over his mouse back and forth. Right now it seems like he's in hunt mode though. Crusin' around his enclosure and bumpin' thje sides and stuff.

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stops eating and becomes super active.

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Crusin' around his enclosure and bumpin' the sides and stuff.

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Monty Joe is doing this. He is going as far as redecorating his own inclosure, lol.

He is constantly on the move like he is in hunt mode at night, and has been doing some day time romping around also. He has been so active lately that he has been moving his hides and his water dish around inside the tank. Got up this morning and his water dish was about 8 inches from where it started at. But when food is introduced he just snub's it.

have to say Ozzy is on the same kick as Ironheads and Invadertoast's
Super active running around day and night bumping and climbing and fallin all over the place. Been for about 3 weeks now. Has not eaten in about 3 wks
I have been trying every 7 days Oz sniffs and looks like for about a second he is interested then nothing. I am gonna wait 10 days this time before offering prey .

Ours are eating right now, but when we first got Smitty he didn't eat for us for 3 months. Now that I think about it, he was much more active when he wasn't eating. Hmmm, I wonder why that is?? Anyway, we offered weekly, just to keep a routine (and Sophie would eat his leftovers as well). Now he eats great, and Soph, well, she's always been a pig--wonder if/when she'll go off feed for the first time. As has been mentioned several time before, as long as they are not losing a vast amount of weight and otherwise appear normal, there shouldn't be anything to worry about.

I'm probably gonna end up waiting 2-3 weeks before trying a rat on Eleanor again. I can't afford to keep throwing feeders away (starving student) and she'll be moving to a new cage. I can't wait 'til my cage is finished :-D I'm waiting on sliding doors from my uncle. I think this is gonna be the cheapest cage build in the history of herpetoculture, I wish I'd realized I have great connections long time ago, lol :) Soooo I'm waiting 'til she's settled in to her new pad. Good luck to everyone else who's pulling their hair out over non-feeders!

All three of my Bps are, gladly, not off feed. But Goblin was off for several months last year, and I am just waiting for him to refuse a meal... :( But so far he has not showed any signs at all of going off feed. he sits in his hide with his head poking out, seeming to say, "come on, I know I just ate three days ago, but feed me!"

Offered Link another mouse today, its not eaten. So now he's two weeks off feed.

I think my 3 sand boas are now off feed in addition to my bp. I think I'll stop offering food weekly to save on wasted rodents. I think I'll try every 2-3 weeks for awhile. Silly snakes!

I think I'll do that to Tiger, leave Link some time to get hungry.

Well, looks like I need to add Cheetah to the list of off feed. He passed up another meal last night. He has now not ate since 10-14.

Isis hasn't eaten in 2 weeks

Ozzy is now going on week 5
He didn't even give it a second look this time.
Thank God Osiris is eating no problem.

Could the time of the year be why mine hasn't eaten?

Yes Nomad, it's basically breeding season for ball pythons :)

My little girl is also off feed. She is only, at least from what the guy who lied through his teeth about her told me, a little over a year old give or take a couple of months. This is the first time since i have had her that she has given me any problems with eating. I know that it is breeding season but she isn't sexual mature enough for that to effect her is she? She hasn't eaten anything (other than a tiny little mouse that i put in praying she would eat something) in over a month now. It stinks too cuz I had gotten her switched over to rats and even made the jump from small rats to medium! Hopefully I am just being paranoid new owner guy. I figure that there are still a lot of nuances that i haven't experienced yet because i still have not owned her for a year yet.

alfy's still eating like a champ.

Attempting to trick mine into thinking it's still summer, neither have gone off feed yet, but they're eating a little less each day. I'm not too worried though. They've been perfectly healthy, giving only perfect sheds in all the month's I've owned them, and the male was off feed for quite awhile last winter. We'll see how it goes, though, I'm going to start being careful how many ratties I buy them so I'm not left over with useless dead rodents.

Tried again last night - don't know why I bothered! Going on 2 months now for my bp. All my boids are off feed now - except my little rosy boa. He's just being a little booger - he'll only eat f/t every other meal and wants live in between. Crazy snakes! But I love em!

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Well, looks like I need to add Cheetah to the list of off feed. He passed up another meal last night. He has now not ate since 10-14.

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Well good news here.....Cheetah finally ate the rat that Monty refused (geez I wish he would eat). I really thought Cheetah was'nt going to eat it either. I got tired of the rat laying in Cheetah's tank so I reached in and grabbed the rat by the tail and just as I started lifting the rat up, Cheetahs head come flying out of his hide and tagged it. Guess he didnt want me taking his supper... so his 20 day fast is over. Now if Monty would eat....errrrr

Cruci is starting to slow down, I'm hoping he doesn't totally go off feed, tried to keep temps normal. Took about forty-five minutes of jiggling to get him to eat, usually now I just have to get him angry enough to nip at it so he can taste it -_- not sure how much longer I want him to be antagonized by the rat.