Fasting?

I've had my BP for about a year and things have gone well. The PO fed him live mice once a week and I moved him to F/T mice and then rats, and he has eaten well, weekly, for the past 10 months or so. He's also grown a lot and would shed monthly. He has been quick to grab them the f/t and get them down. But starting about 2 months ago he stopped grabbing them so I'd lay them in his cage and he'd eventually eat them. He stopped eating a month ago. I'll now dangle the F/T rat and he'll just move away, instead of hitting it like he used to do. The past 4 weeks I've been removing the f/t rat after leaving it in the cage for an hour while hoping he'll eat it. Should I be worried? Do BPs go on a fast? And for how long? He seems to be healthy. Nothing has changed in his environment.

Was he in shed? Clean is cage a water dish regularly? Any large poop in there when trying to feed him?

They fast all the time males more often...you could be a the 1000g wall.... Do you know How much he weighs? İf not buy a scale and make sure he not loseing weight and u will be fine. My longest was 7 months

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Originally Posted by midnightLeo

Was he in shed? Clean is cage a water dish regularly? Any large poop in there when trying to feed him?

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He's not shed now for two months. Cage is clean, and cleaned regularly.

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Originally Posted by frostysBP

They fast all the time males more often...you could be a the 1000g wall.... Do you know How much he weighs? İf not buy a scale and make sure he not loseing weight and u will be fine. My longest was 7 months

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He's now about 4.5 feet, and probably full grown. He's at 1360g.

Yup he is fine. Just keep a track of his weight and keep offering every 7 to 14 days and try offering a live rat. That might get him back to eating.

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Originally Posted by frostysBP

Yup he is fine. Just keep a track of his weight and keep offering every 7 to 14 days and try offering a live rat. That might get him back to eating.

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Just seemed odd that he seemed to love to eat for so long and now he's stopped. He was growing pretty fast all that time. Guess I'll try something live in 14 days.

Anywhere I can read up on this 1000g wall?

The 1000G wall is more of a thing that has been noticed threw the years of people owning and breedi g balls.. It kinda like bp puberty. Some will stop eating around that size some won't....just something that seams to happen Around that size.

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Is he in the vicinity of any female bp's? Maybe he wants to breed? And just triple check your temps and humidity. Try using a little bit of 100% cypress mulch in his hide if you aren't already using any. Hope this helped. :salute:

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Originally Posted by Albert Clark

Is he in the vicinity of any female bp's? Maybe he wants to breed? And just triple check your temps and humidity. Try using a little bit of 100% cypress mulch in his hide if you aren't already using any. Hope this helped. :salute:

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He's the on BP I have, so not females are around. Temps and humidity are the same they've been since I've had him, and when he's eaten well. I've been using aspen mulch throughout the cage. He's been a bit more active the past month while not eating.

Today he ate the F/T rat! Came out of the cage for it. Guess he was finally very hungry.

Again he ate quickly today. One thing I noticed is that since the summer weather is here, and the basement where he resides has warmed up, his cage temps were in the low 80's. He'd been eating well with cage temps in the upper 70's over last winter. Two weeks ago I turned off the cage heat and it settled into the upper 70's, and he's eaten twice since.

I'm frustrated again. He's not eaten for 7+ weeks. I'll hold the warm F/T rat in the cage. He'll come out of his hide and sniff it, and that's it. He used to hit these things hard. I've now wasted many frozen rats. :(

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Originally Posted by hlh1

I'm frustrated again. He's not eaten for 7+ weeks. I'll hold the warm F/T rat in the cage. He'll come out of his hide and sniff it, and that's it. He used to hit these things hard. I've now wasted many frozen rats. :(

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I wouldn't worry .. My Albino Royal went without food for nearly 9 months ... perfectly fine ... I just offer her food every 10 to 14 days now and she eats most times .

Coming from corn snakes, that is the most frustrating thing ever. Not to mention the most anxiety-inducing part of owning a ball python. It makes you worry that there's something wrong. When I had corn snakes years ago I'm pretty sure I could have fed them saggy balls of newspaper and they would have eaten them.

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Originally Posted by hlh1

Just seemed odd that he seemed to love to eat for so long and now he's stopped. He was growing pretty fast all that time. Guess I'll try something live in 14 days.

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Had an awesome girl that'd eat any f/t you'd give her and never refused for the first 1.5 years I had her. She went off feed for about two months when she was around 1100g. She wouldn't even eat a live small rat, but eventually ate a live rat pup when left alone with it for 30 minutes or so. I put her in a smaller tub shortly after she ate the rat pup and she started eating again from then on. Could have been her fast ended, she needed a change of scenery, she needed that live rat pup to get her started again, or a combination, who knows.

As an experiment I fed him a live mouse yesterday and he ate it within two minutes of putting it in the cage. Interesting that he ate this quite well but is having issues with my F/T rats. Can F/T go bad? Is he just getting picky now that he's full grown?

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Originally Posted by hlh1

As an experiment I fed him a live mouse yesterday and he ate it within two minutes of putting it in the cage. Interesting that he ate this quite well but is having issues with my F/T rats. Can F/T go bad? Is he just getting picky now that he's full grown?

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My male has gone on a fast every winter since I've had him. It doesn't matter what the temps are- I think it's just the time of year. Maybe that's what yours is doing.

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Originally Posted by hlh1

As an experiment I fed him a live mouse yesterday and he ate it within two minutes of putting it in the cage. Interesting that he ate this quite well but is having issues with my F/T rats. Can F/T go bad? Is he just getting picky now that he's full grown?

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Actually very common for them to begin refusing ft and only want live.

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Originally Posted by Galaxygirl

Actually very common for them to begin refusing ft and only want live.

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That's a bummer. Where am I to get medium sized live rats for him?

Barometric pressure is changing he could have breeding on his mind and since it's a male with a great size, there is nothing I would worry about, it could last months.

Now on your end it will be frustrating but the only thing that can and need to be done is to make sure that your husbandry is on spot, make sure your animal is well hydrated and most importantly be patient.

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Originally Posted by hlh1

That's a bummer. Where am I to get medium sized live rats for him?

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I get smalls from petco for my 1300g males. Other smaller pet stores have them for cheaper but unfortunately it's a far drive for me

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Originally Posted by Galaxygirl

I get smalls from petco for my 1300g males. Other smaller pet stores have them for cheaper but unfortunately it's a far drive for me

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My local pet store only has mice. May have to buy several mice to make up for one rat.