Male BP 9 months still hasn't eaten

I have had him since he was 3 months old. every winter he goes on a hunger strike for 3-6 months. he is 4 years old and this time he has gone 9 months. He recently pooped and shedded and is acting normal but I am sick with worry. I have been attempting to feed him every 2 to 3 weeks but he doesn't show interest. He hasn't been "hunting" at night this entire 9 months. I have tried everything to get him to eat. His lights are on a day and night cycle, I feed at night, his cage does not have see-through sides and he is kept in a quiet area of the house. He has a humid tank with a hot and cold side of his tank, a hide on each side and fresh water every day in the middle of his tank big enough for him to soak in if he wants and I clean his tank regularly. I want to take him to a vet but I don't know any good ones near Puyallup WA, hwever, he doesn't seem to have a resperatory infection or any other ailment. He is my first ball python, so I know that I am a noob, but I have been doing tons of research. I just really need any help that I can get. Will a ball python starve themselves to death? There was no rat-attack or anything that caused this. I have one male brownish rat and he is getting close to getting too big to be used to feeding attempts. I have tried brown male mice and gerbils, live and f/t he WILL NOT eat anything that isn't alive, however. He is a normal so me night've been wild caught but when I got him from a "breeder" as a baby, after his week to settle in, he started eating normally right off of the bat and really, he has always been a good eater despite his winter hunger fasts. I also am in search of a rat breeder in the Puyallup WA area as mine is done breeding rats. Ryuk is 4 feet long I don't have a scale to tell y'all how many g he is. Please help!!:(

Have you tried leaving the rat in his cage overnight?

It's worth getting a big scale to keep track of his weight, so you can know if he is actually getting skinnier/starving himself to death, or not losing much weight to worry. If his body is no longer a round shape and his spine is obvious, it's also indication that he's underweight.

You can post pictures of him to for people on the forum too, just to see if he is skinny or not.

I leave rats for an hour with supervision. The only things I leave in overnight are dead things and mice because they won't hurt him like rats might but if he doesn't eat right away he isn't going to is his personality.

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Originally Posted by redshepherd

It's worth getting a big scale to keep track of his weight, so you can know if he is actually getting skinnier/starving himself to death, or not losing much weight to worry. If his body is no longer a round shape and his spine is obvious, it's also indication that he's underweight.

You can post pictures of him to for people on the forum too, just to see if he is skinny or not.

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Thanks for the tip!

http://i172.photobucket.com/albums/w...psizmwmiqh.jpg

http://i172.photobucket.com/albums/w...psmrnb89rv.jpg

He has lived in a glass tank his whole life but I keep it wrapped in paper. I have always fed him in his tank. Feeding boxes don't work for him he doesn't like them. He has also never struck at me or ever shown aggression. He has never tried to bite me ever.

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Originally Posted by deadeyelisha

He recently pooped and shedded and is acting normal

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These are good signs. I second the idea of getting a scale. If he's not losing much weight, his husbandry is all in check, and he seems to be fine, I'm sure he's good to go.

I am having the same issue with my female. I don't want to hijack your thread, I think I'll go start my own.

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Originally Posted by auraria

Have you tried leaving the rat in his cage overnight?

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This is a very bad idea with a live rat.

Anything with the eyes open should NEVER be left in overnight if still breathing. (The following post is "I have never had anything bad happen" followed by "I don't know what happened")

Back to the OP, I don't see anything wrong with your photos. Weight monitoring is a great way to know if you may have other issues going on. Getting a scale now will help in the future but wont do anything now without any record for this animal.

For what its worth my male spider only eats 4 medium rats a year.

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Originally Posted by Annageckos

I am having the same issue with my female. I don't want to hijack your thread, I think I'll go start my own.

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If the circumstances are the same then by all means let's collaborate

Thank you to everyone who has replied and will reply. I'm already starting to feel better.

I have had a male go 13 months without eating, then he ate 5 meals and started a new fast. Males will not (generally) eat with vigor their entire lives as females do. My females all fast, but not for nearly as long and usually while bread is in the oven.

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Originally Posted by PitOnTheProwl

For what its worth my male spider only eats 4 medium rats a year.

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That's amazing to me... then again, I guess they don't really do much... lol... but wow.

I would try the get a rat pup with eyes closed or just barely opened and leave it in overnight, you may find a local rat breeder that has a constant supply. My snakes are shy when it comes to eating, I have been using young weanling mice and putting them in the tub with the snake and checking after an hour, most have eaten by then. If they haven't eaten I move the mouse closer. Usually they have been watching that mouse for an hour and will strike once I move it closer. I often thought about putting a remote camera in there so I can watch without my snake knowing I'm watching LOL.

I don't know how long it takes an otherwise healthy adult BP to starve to death, but I'd guess that it takes a really pretty long time. In any case, your snake does not look starving. If he was eating regularly and was well fed before this, he may just have packed in enough to last him for awhile. Pythons are highly adapted for going long periods of time without eating.

If he's really not showing any interest in any food you offer at all, i'd be inclined to try occasionally scenting the air with rodent smell and scritching at the sides of the cage with a fingernail first before offering the next thing. If he doesn't show any signs of being even slightly excited, you can then save yourself the trouble of offering an actual rodent. If he starts to respond to that sort of thing, or starts to show more hunting/prowling behavior, try offering something again. But it really just sounds like he's just not hungry yet.

For vets in the area, there is Dr Maas who travels the area and I believe he does certain days at the Tacoma Exotic vet place. Have to look him up. There is also Dr Kamaka up in Mountlake Terrace. There is Dr Bennett in Seattle who I have taken my beardie too and she did great. Those are the 3 of I have heard or used and had good results with.

I can't tell if that's a little bit of spine protruding in your photos, but by no means does he look sickly. Here are my helps:

1.) Are you POSITIVE he is a he? I had one that went off feed for 7-8 months and one day she laid eggs! They were all infertile, but still. Explained her lack of interest in food.

2.) I know it sounds weird, but try a live gerbil. Just get one from your local trusted pet store and put it in his tank and supervise as long as you can. Gerbils are BP's main staple in Africa, and when my girl went on her hunger strike, even with all those eggs in her, she went nuts for a gerbil within seconds. I used a black one and she was used to white F/T rats.

Good luck!

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Originally Posted by O'Mathghamhna

Gerbils are BP's main staple in Africa

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:confusd::confusd: and here I thought it would be ASFs.......
Whom shed this light on you?

Yes, try an African Soft Fur rat.

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Originally Posted by O'Mathghamhna

2.) I know it sounds weird, but try a live gerbil. Just get one from your local trusted pet store and put it in his tank and supervise as long as you can. Gerbils are BP's main staple in Africa, and when my girl went on her hunger strike, even with all those eggs in her, she went nuts for a gerbil within seconds. I used a black one and she was used to white F/T rats.

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Actually the gerbils that are sold in the pet industry are native to Mongolia and are not natural prey for ball pythons. There are several dozen species of rodent that are native to the same areas of Africa that ball pythons come from, but as Rob mentioned the only feeders that we typically have access to are the ASF's (also known as the multimammate rat until someone in the pet industry decided that 'African soft furred rats' were a more marketable name)

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Originally Posted by Slim

This is a very bad idea with a live rat.

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That is correct, I thought this was frozen/thawed. Disregard.

I'm surprised he pooped after 9 months of not eating anything. I know coldbloods digest a lot slower but, wow, you'd think he'd be empty after that long. There's no chance anyone else fed him anything and forgot to tell you about it?

I'm no expert but he doesn't look like he's starving or malnourished.

My female normal went on her hunger strike in July last year and finally ate 2 weeks ago. I would drop a rat or mouse in her cage once a week. She would always run n try to hide.

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