Still not eating!

I posted over a month ago, concerned that my ball python (about 2 years old) hadn't eaten in almost 2 weeks. Several of you more experienced folks assured me it was normal for a female her age. But she STILL hasn't eaten and it's been over a month. Is this normal? She seems to be perfectly fine every other way but I'm concerned.

She had just graduated from mice to small rats and had eaten a few before going on her hunger strike. Today I bought an adult mouse, thinking maybe the rats were too big. But she still won't eat.

Lots of BPs go off feed this time of year, and some will go off at any time of the year just because they like to mess with us.

Do you have a digital scale so you can track her weight? It's pretty important to be able to do that.

If you could post a pic or a detailed description of your setup, we might be able to pick out any husbandry issues.

Adults do go of feed and it can last as long as a year, it is normal and if the animal has a good body weight there is nothing to worry about.

You need to make sure that the animal is well hydrated and see if there is anything you can do to help the animal resume feeding (smaller enclosure, less handling, making sure the temps are optimal etc), and if this has been addressed it's all about PATIENCE.

Hi Slim,

I'm not sure what a good weight would be for an almost 2 year old female, but Willow weighed 2 lb., 5.8 oz in January. Today she weighs 2 lb 4.2 oz... so a little loss.

I'm not able to get a good picture of her enclosure, but she's in a glass tank about 30"Lx12"Wx18"H, aspen shavings with some sphagnum peat moss that I try to keep moist; I have a hide on each end of the tank. The cool side is about 82 degrees and the warm about 85, although this tends to fluctuate a bit. I struggle to keep the humidity level right. I spray the sides of the tank and the peat moss to try and keep humidity up, but I don't do it as often as I should. I have a 75 watt red heat bulb on the top and have a good portion of the top covered to try and keep heat and humidity in. About 1/3 of the tank bottom has a heat pad.

If you think there's anything wrong with the set up, please let me know, but I will say these are the same conditions she's had since I got her at about 8 months and I've never had any feeding issues before now.

Hi Deborah ~

I'm not sure what a good body weight is for Willow... she's almost 2 years old and weighs 2 lb., 4.2 oz. She seems very healthy, has decent sheds... although I struggle with keeping my humidity level up so sometimes her sheds aren't complete so I soak her a bit to get the loose scales off.

How do I know if she is properly hydrated?

I understand her conditions have been constant, but you never, what didn't throw them off yesterday, may throw them off tomorrow. Your temp gradient between warm and cool is a bit narrow by most standards. Bumping the warm side up to around 90 degrees could help. If a snake is too cool to accomplish proper digestion, nature would most likely take over and keep her from eating as a safety measure. Just a thought.

How do you measure your temps? Ambient air temp or spot temp on the floor of the tank where she's at? Do you use an analog gauge or a digital thermometer?

I have a digital gauge that sits on one side and measures the ambient temp. It has a probe I put on the warm side to measure just under the bedding. I have the heat mat hooked up to a thermostat, but I'm not sure it's working properly. It's maxed out at 108 degrees, but the temp never gets higher than 90.

Ok, that's a good set up. To bump up the temp, you could consider changing to a thinner substrate, or (I don't want to start a thing here LoL) you could set her up in a tub. That would help both the temp and the humidity swing issues.

I'm not sure what you mean by setting her up in a tub... bathtub??

No Ma'am, this kind of tub:

http://ball-pythons.net/forums/showt...e-Basics-*DUW*

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Elisa616

I'm not sure what you mean by setting her up in a tub... bathtub??

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http://www.boaphileplastics.com/rhin...swsweaters.jpg


This is what people mean when they refer to a "tub". The tub can either be by itself or in a rack system as seen above. For my first BP, I had her in just a plain old sterilite tub. The rack system for Ball Python is widely used because it's much easier to control humidity and temperature than in a tank, and its just convenient, takes up less room, and easier to clean. I'm sure there are many other reasons besides those listed.

Anyway - a dehydrated snake will have wrinkles. As long as humidity and temperature is good and clean water is accessible, she shouldn't be dehydrated.

Currently most of my females are off feed either due to breeding or because of the season. If your girl is over 4lbs, that means she is over 1800g, and that's nice and big. I wouldn't worry about weight unless her spine begins to stick out very prominently. Over a year ago my 2200/2300g female went off feed for 10 months and was fine.

Sometimes I have to use live mice or rats to jumpstart them back into feeding. Sometimes putting them in a smaller enclosure works, sometimes using dirty gerbil bedding to scent their cage before feeding works.

Thanks. By your description, I can safely say she's not dehydrated. :taz:

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Elisa616

Thanks. By your description, I can safely say she's not dehydrated. :taz:

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You can also google dehydrated ball python to see what they look like.

http://i8.tinypic.com/5xh5rnp.jpg

The inside of an Iris MCB-L Sweater Box tub.

http://i364.photobucket.com/albums/o...965/Rack_2.jpg

Sweet... no bedding needed?

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Elisa616

Sweet... no bedding needed?

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A substrate like newpaper or paper towels works fine. Sometimes people use reptichip, aspen, cypress mulch etc as they believe it can help with making the BP feel more secure and therefore increase feeding response. I personally haven't noticed a difference.

I like to use indented kraft paper. Easy to maintain constant temps over the heat tape.

I am going thru the same thing. Jimmy whose 8 months old only ate once on Dec , and once last night. He normally eats every week 3 large mice. I was worried as well. I have been weighing him and no drastic weight lose. Just keep offering food on normal days and when its hungry it will eat.

Thanks for the reassurance! I'm just curious... you said Jimmy usually eats 3 mice a week. Is that on the same day? Willow graduated from large mice to small rats and seemed to be doing okay the first couple but some of the rats seem too big - especially since they've been hanging out a couple months now! :P I never thought about giving her several large mice instead.