Ball python will not eat

I have a female bp, hatched back in october, she is around 25 inches, and today is the second time on a row she refuses food. She is on f/t
Hot temp 92.5 f
Cool temp 77.7 f
Humidity 60%
I do feed inside the enclosure and it is nighttime
She has a very secure hide and i know she is hungry bc she wont stop pacing in her enclosure even since before she refused the first rat last wednesday, but right now, she seemed interested in the rat, she got closer, and closer, and then just turned around. When should i start to worry? What am i doing wrong? I just gave the rat to my other bp and he took it in a second, and he has the same exact enclosure

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What size rat are you offering?

Have you tried just laying down the rat with the head in the opening of the hide and leaving it overnight? Making sure to leave the snake completely un-disturbed?

check for mites... one of mine was pacing a lot more than usual and I found a few mites on him...

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Originally Posted by norcal707

check for mites... one of mine was pacing a lot more than usual and I found a few mites on him...

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Luckily the mites (on the other snake) died long time ago

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Originally Posted by zina10

What size rat are you offering?

Have you tried just laying down the rat with the head in the opening of the hide and leaving it overnight? Making sure to leave the snake completely un-disturbed?

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I have not, should i do that today or not?


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Can't hurt to try !!

Some are just so shy and insecure. They are hungry, but their nerves get the best of them.

When snakes constrict/eat they are at their most vulnerable. And they know it.
Some Ball Pythons are just to shy.

Make sure that once you leave the rat, there will be no more "activity" in front of the cage/tub. If need be, hang a towel over it. Just leave her completely undisturbed.
Some will eat the rat within an hour or so, but some will wait until the middle of the night.

I know the rat will cool completely during that time, but it seems some prefer that over eating while they feel unsafe..

Try it and let us know how it went ;) We'll go from there..

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Originally Posted by zina10

Can't hurt to try !!

Some are just so shy and insecure. They are hungry, but their nerves get the best of them.

When snakes constrict/eat they are at their most vulnerable. And they know it.
Some Ball Pythons are just to shy.

Make sure that once you leave the rat, there will be no more "activity" in front of the cage/tub. If need be, hang a towel over it. Just leave her completely undisturbed.
Some will eat the rat within an hour or so, but some will wait until the middle of the night.

I know the rat will cool completely during that time, but it seems some prefer that over eating while they feel unsafe..

Try it and let us know how it went ;) We'll go from there..

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Alright, cant hurt to try, im out right now, so as soon as i get home i'll thaw another one

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Everything Zina said is 100% on and if no go wait a week.. One of mine are at 3 weeks tomorrow. Nothing to worry about with Ball Pythons. Healthy snakes go months sometimes without feeding.
I try once a week too...


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Originally Posted by Mr Sully

Everything Zina said is 100% on and if no go wait a week.. One of mine are at 3 weeks tomorrow. Nothing to worry about with Ball Pythons. Healthy snakes go months sometimes without feeding.
I try once a week too...


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Its been two weeks, so im kinda worried, but ok, im doing that later today and i'll let you people know what happened

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If all else fails try a gerbil. In my experience it never fails. It's been awhile but it's been speculated that they are naturally inclined to them. In the wild balls eat something called jerboas, which is not a gerbil but it's been suggested this might be why. I've had to do it a few winter times with a couple balls and it worked every time until they were willing to take rats again. I'm a big proponent of this method.

Seems also a lot of people have success with braining rats or mice. Puncture the brain before presenting it.

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Originally Posted by The_Godfather

If all else fails try a gerbil. In my experience it never fails. It's been awhile but it's been speculated that they are naturally inclined to them. In the wild balls eat something called jerboas, which is not a gerbil but it's been suggested this might be why. I've had to do it a few winter times with a couple balls and it worked every time until they were willing to take rats again. I'm a big proponent of this method.

Seems also a lot of people have success with braining rats or mice. Puncture the brain before presenting it.

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Hey, if it goes on more than a month i'll try that, cant hurt to try

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If you do try it let me know the results. I'd almost guarantee it'll work. They go absolutely nuts for gerbils.

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Originally Posted by The_Godfather

If you do try it let me know the results. I'd almost guarantee it'll work. They go absolutely nuts for gerbils.

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I will, im gonna leave the feeder overnight today, and then try again next week, and the next (that makes a month) and if she doesnt eat, im going for the gerbil

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Just make sure the rat is well thawed out in cool water and then heated up.
You don't want any cold spots inside of it.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by The_Godfather

If all else fails try a gerbil. In my experience it never fails. It's been awhile but it's been speculated that they are naturally inclined to them. In the wild balls eat something called jerboas, which is not a gerbil but it's been suggested this might be why. I've had to do it a few winter times with a couple balls and it worked every time until they were willing to take rats again. I'm a big proponent of this method.

Seems also a lot of people have success with braining rats or mice. Puncture the brain before presenting it.

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Also some people say the same about ASF's.. Thats is something Balls eat in their natural habitat is what Ive read. The problem with this (once again I've heard) is that they then refuse plain old Rats after.. Once they taste the good life they dont want to go back... It was hard changing my Male over to Rats from Mice so I see how that can happen. I breed rats now and I'm going to try to get my hands on some ASF's at a show and try breeding those too.. They are better for size purposes as they dont outgrow being a feeder for Balls..
Last what does "Braining" have to do with going off feed? Are you just saying to try Fresh Kill vs F/T? I feed Fresh Kill only but I CO2 them and thats what most do unless they have Dry Ice and do a bunch to freeze there own all at once...

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Originally Posted by zina10

Can't hurt to try !!

Some are just so shy and insecure. They are hungry, but their nerves get the best of them.

When snakes constrict/eat they are at their most vulnerable. And they know it.
Some Ball Pythons are just to shy.

Make sure that once you leave the rat, there will be no more "activity" in front of the cage/tub. If need be, hang a towel over it. Just leave her completely undisturbed.
Some will eat the rat within an hour or so, but some will wait until the middle of the night.

I know the rat will cool completely during that time, but it seems some prefer that over eating while they feel unsafe..

Try it and let us know how it went ;) We'll go from there..

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Yup, this. My ball python won't eat in front of me at all. I leave rat on top of the hide that she's in at around 8pm and check back at around 2am, if I'm still awake, its usually gone by then.

Do not offer a gerbil feeding alternative prey like a gerbil is never a good idea, they are like crack to BP, they are expensive and can be hard to find and once imprinted if your food source runs dry or you have to rehire your snake it will be an issue.

Not feeding is not abnormal just frustrating for the owner, I have seen no mention the animal size and general husbandry (closure size, hide size etc)

How do you measure your temps (type of thermometer) and where do you take your reading?

I would slightly lower the Temps to 86/88 for starter.

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Exposing brain material supposedly gets them to eat the rat or mouse. I don't think it matters if it's fresh kill or f/t.

I've never personally had any issues with switching back to rats from gerbils but I could easily see that happening. I've never actually had any luck with f/t and balls so I've always had to do live or fresh kill. I gave up even trying f/t when I only had balls because it was a waste of time and money.

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Originally Posted by The_Godfather

Exposing brain material supposedly gets them to eat the rat or mouse. I don't think it matters if it's fresh kill or f/t.

I've never personally had any issues with switching back to rats from gerbils but I could easily see that happening. I've never actually had any luck with f/t and balls so I've always had to do live or fresh kill. I gave up even trying f/t when I only had balls because it was a waste of time and money.

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Experiences can vary so greatly. I've always had great luck with FT. Even the Balls I've gotten shipped to me that used to be on live, took FT immediately, no problem, no hesitation. The rescues I had, most of them WC and sick, took a little longer. All of them ate nothing while they got well, then I HAD to give them Gerbils just to get them going and weight on them, eventually live rats, and then FT. I haven't had one that didn't eventually switch, LOL !!

One should do what works best. For one selves and the snakes. Ball Pythons sure can be frustrating in that regard. The hardest part for people is not to stress about it LOL

Hey people, bc my snake didnt take the little rat pup i had for her, i gave it to my bigger and fatter male yb, but it was kinda small, could i give him the rat pup that i refroze last week?

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If you are asking whether you should give the refrozen to the one that won't eat easily, I would say no.

The reason being, you want to see if "leaving the prey" works. If you use a re-frozen rat and the snake does not eat, you can't be sure why.
Did it not eat because...well, just because.
Or did it not eat because that re-frozen rat has turned to mush inside, possibly?

Until you figure out what is going on, I would try to make this as straight forward as you can.

So, no luck then?

Let us know.. ;)

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Originally Posted by zina10

So, no luck then?

Let us know.. ;)

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Yea I havent tried yet, i was actually just gonna get up to do it, she looks very active and hungry

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Let us know how it goes ;)
Good luck!!