Exploring instead of eating

I've been having some trouble feeding my 6 month old ball. For the last 3 feedings she's been more interested in escaping her enclosure than the rat I'm trying to feed her. It's almost as if she's looking for a better one.

• I'd guess she's around 300-350 grams. She's grown since I last weighed her at 296 about a month ago.
• I've been feeding her small rats since she was about 230g
• 2/3 times she ate the rat after me leaving it there overnight. The last time she didn't take it at all. I plan to feed her on Sunday when her feeding time comes around again.
• I was feeding her every 5 days, then 6 days, now every 7
• She's in a 12''x12''x30'' "critter cage" with "plantation soil" substrate, a big water dish, a couple live plants and a nice drift wood log that she basically lives on

How are you heating the cage, how are you memasuring temps, pic of the enclosure if possible?

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Originally Posted by M.P.C

How are you heating the cage, how are you memasuring temps, pic of the enclosure if possible?

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I have a big heat pad on the bottom, a small heat pad on the side and a heat emitter on the top. When the weather gets warmer I will turn one or two sources off but for now Canada and winter and stuff

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That's an awfully big enclosure for such a tiny baby. Also those thermometers are positioned too high up to be giving you useful information about the temps your snake is experiencing lower down on its level. The behavior you're describing is that of a snake that finds its environment uncomfortable in some way. I would suggest moving the thermometers down a bit closer to your substrate, and also get a read of the temps with an infrared thermometer- one of the point a shoot kinds. Secondly, try to add more tank decor. An enclosure that big can be used for your kid to grow into, but your snake is a prey animal in the wild and right now it's far too open and exposed. Your snake should have a path that allows it be able to travel from one side of the enclosure to the other without being seen. Try to clutter it up with more branches and some fake plants.

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Originally Posted by Lizardlicks

That's an awfully big enclosure for such a tiny baby. Also those thermometers are positioned too high up to be giving you useful information about the temps your snake is experiencing lower down on its level. The behavior you're describing is that of a snake that finds its environment uncomfortable in some way. I would suggest moving the thermometers down a bit closer to your substrate, and also get a read of the temps with an infrared thermometer- one of the point a shoot kinds. Secondly, try to add more tank decor. An enclosure that big can be used for your kid to grow into, but your snake is a prey animal in the wild and right now it's far too open and exposed. Your snake should have a path that allows it be able to travel from one side of the enclosure to the other without being seen. Try to clutter it up with more branches and some fake plants.

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It's a pretty small tank compared to the snake, thanks

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http://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/2016...153ba03997.jpg

This is the best/most recent size comparison I can offer

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For further information she's acting the way she always does when she's hungry. The only exception was last Monday when I left the dead rat in the tank for way too long (I was out longer than I expected) and I after I removed it I went to pick her up and she hissed at me for the first time ever. After that she was just like before; super friendly, active, doing the hungry dance, etc. No signs of stress.

My current running theory is she wants a bigger rat since she's getting a lot bigger and now the same sized rats are smaller in
comparison to her. Maybe she wants to eat less often or she just wants a live one.

I'm also thinking it could be the gloves. I switched from latex to nitrile just cuz the nitrile gloves fit better. She's seemed a bit confused about feeding since then. The gloves do smell a bit different so there's that..

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Can she get all the way into her hides? It looks like a lot of tank space is used up by deep substrate and her hides are shallow. . .but maybe there are little caves/tunnels in the substrate. They like to hide most of the time---in the wild they live in termite mounds. So they like tight dark areas they can completely fit into, with a small space to look out of. If the opening is too large they get kind of nervous.

Why do you wear gloves? The smell of the gloves might be making a difference, hard to tell. Tongs might be a better solution, if you're wearing gloves because you don't want to touch the rat. Tongs don't have a smell :).

Most ball pythons can stay on small rats for life. A large female may need a medium, but not until she's really big. So if she's already on smalls there's no reason to upgrade. They might be too big for her so she's trying to self-regulate by eating less often, or maybe she's just not in the mood. BPs aren't the most consistent eaters. You don't have to worry about it unless she loses too much weight. It can take a long time for that to happen though. For now just keep offering her usual meal on her usual meal days.

My smaller guy recently was on a 5-week eating strike. He didn't lose any weight but I was still concerned. I stuffed half his hide with a paper towel, because it's a bit large for him still, and the next time he ate. So maybe that had something to do with it, maybe it didn't. . .but they do like a tight-fitting hide.

I figured by "small rats" you meant that they were mislabeled rat pups, not rat smalls. If your girl is really only 350-ish g you should be feeding either large pups or small weans. Something in the 35-45 g range. An actual rat small is in the 50 - 90 g range and much too big for a baby that size.

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Originally Posted by Lizardlicks

I figured by "small rats" you meant that they were mislabeled rat pups, not rat smalls. If your girl is really only 350-ish g you should be feeding either large pups or small weans. Something in the 35-45 g range. An actual rat small is in the 50 - 90 g range and much too big for a baby that size.

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Small rats. They were the same size around as she was when I got her and the pet store didn't have anything smaller the first time I fed her so that's what she got and she took it happily with no problems, so that's what I've been feeding her since.
She might be larger now. She's growing reeally fast.

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You sure they aren't just mislabeling? I had to buy a rat small for my 1000g girl from Petco a couple weeks ago because hubby forgot to get it at the locally run reptile place and they were closed by the time I got off of work, and the rats Petco was selling as "mediums" were definitely what everyone else sells as smalls. It was sevens bucks too, double what I usually paid I was so mad :mad:

I'd weigh the rats you're trying to feed just to double check, and get an updated weight n your girl to boot. You want to shoot for prey size that's about 10-15% of her weight.

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Originally Posted by Lizardlicks

You sure they aren't just mislabeling? I had to buy a rat small for my 1000g girl from Petco a couple weeks ago because hubby forgot to get it at the locally run reptile place and they were closed by the time I got off of work, and the rats Petco was selling as "mediums" were definitely what everyone else sells as smalls. It was sevens bucks too, double what I usually paid I was so mad :mad:

I'd weigh the rats you're trying to feed just to double check, and get an updated weight n your girl to boot. You want to shoot for prey size that's about 10-15% of her weight.

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They're not mislabeled, thanks

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Then those rats are waaaay to big for a 350-ish gram snake.

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Originally Posted by Lizardlicks

You sure they aren't just mislabeling? I had to buy a rat small for my 1000g girl from Petco a couple weeks ago because hubby forgot to get it at the locally run reptile place and they were closed by the time I got off of work, and the rats Petco was selling as "mediums" were definitely what everyone else sells as smalls. It was sevens bucks too, double what I usually paid I was so mad :mad:

I'd weigh the rats you're trying to feed just to double check, and get an updated weight n your girl to boot. You want to shoot for prey size that's about 10-15% of her weight.

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I will second this. I've noticed Arctic Mice sometimes stocks virtually interchangeable feeders that are listed at different sizes. Weighing the food is just a good practice too, I'm trying to remember to do this myself but sometimes I get excited to feed and forget about that step :oops:

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Originally Posted by Lizardlicks

I figured by "small rats" you meant that they were mislabeled rat pups, not rat smalls. If your girl is really only 350-ish g you should be feeding either large pups or small weans. Something in the 35-45 g range. An actual rat small is in the 50 - 90 g range and much too big for a baby that size.

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I have a girl that when I got her she was 350-400 and I fed her what the reptile store near me calls "small rats". They're right at that line between a big weaned and small small. At 350g 15% of that is 52.5, so right at the lower end of the range for smalls. I wouldn't order a pack of small rats and feed her the first one I'd grab, but a small small is perfect fine.

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Originally Posted by Lizardlicks

You sure they aren't just mislabeling? I had to buy a rat small for my 1000g girl from Petco a couple weeks ago because hubby forgot to get it at the locally run reptile place and they were closed by the time I got off of work, and the rats Petco was selling as "mediums" were definitely what everyone else sells as smalls. It was sevens bucks too, double what I usually paid I was so mad :mad:

I'd weigh the rats you're trying to feed just to double check, and get an updated weight n your girl to boot. You want to shoot for prey size that's about 10-15% of her weight.

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If you don't like petco's prices you shouldn't go to petsmart. Last time there I saw 2 small rats for 13 or 14 bucks and a medium rat for the same price. I couldn't see the rats and I didn't check if there were weights or anything, but I doubt the medium package was much bigger than what most people consider a small.

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Originally Posted by cristacake

I will second this. I've noticed Arctic Mice sometimes stocks virtually interchangeable feeders that are listed at different sizes. Weighing the food is just a good practice too, I'm trying to remember to do this myself but sometimes I get excited to feed and forget about that step :oops:

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I try to weigh most of the rats I feed, but not for making sure they're the right size or to record snake's meals. I'll note if I gave them a double meal, smaller than normal or bigger than normal meal and the weight if I remember, but it's really more for me to get a feel for how big the rats are. I can mostly tell now just looking at the reptile store how much the rat will weigh and if it's enough or not and I judge everything by my guesstimate. I always err on the side of being smaller rather than the biggest they can get but I've fed a few meals that are closer to 20% than 10% but I usually just give them an extra day or two to digest before next meal or I make sure to give them a slightly smaller meal next time.

I usually order bulk from Big Cheese and when the girls were smaller I'd weigh and separate out all their rats into gallon sized ziplocks portioned by 5 g incriments (25-30, 31-40, etc) I ordered their pack of weans and got some chunkers in there that came in at 55 g. but most were in the 35-50 range. Right now the girls sitting at around 1100g and taking a small rat between 70-90 g every 7-10 days but I'm much better at eyeballing it now, so I don't weight them out exactly unless, like you said, I get one that looks bigger or smaller than usual.

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Originally Posted by bks2100

If you don't like petco's prices you shouldn't go to petsmart. Last time there I saw 2 small rats for 13 or 14 bucks and a medium rat for the same price. I couldn't see the rats and I didn't check if there were weights or anything, but I doubt the medium package was much bigger than what most people consider a small.

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What kind of sucker would pay $13 for a box of two smalls? Oh wait, what's this in my receipt drawer...

http://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/2016...ea37711937.jpg

Oops haha

Oooooouchie, MY wallet felt that! XD

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Originally Posted by Lizardlicks

Oooooouchie, MY wallet felt that! XD

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I know, the only way I could justify it is that I occasionally eat a pizza that costs me $20 and it definitely doesn't hold me over for ~6 weeks like this will for Donuts haha. Whatever helps me sleep at night :rofl:

When I first got her she was already hungry so I got what I could get and went by the body thickness rule. The "small rats" were about 45g each. She not only downed it without a problem she also wanted more like 5 days later. From then on I've been getting them from Reptilia. They're closer to 55-65g - standard small-sized regular old white rat. She also took those without hesitation until about 3 feedings ago. I'm honestly not super concerned just yet. Just thought maybe someone's seen this specific behavior before. I think the size was a bit big for her before but she seemed to like it and a just right for her now but she seems to want something else

Probably I'm feeding her too much as was previously suggested

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