BP Behavior Questions (concerns)

My male bp finally reached above 800g last november and during the winter months he tended to skip meals(frozen thawed) here and there and fast, which I assumed was due to breeding season. Now that summer is approaching I figured he would be back on feed but the last time he has eaten has been maybe a little over 1 1/2 months ago. His weight has barely dropped, 1032g to 1008g during this time but I still am concerned.

Lately at night he seems to be searching to escape the cage and keeps getting his head stuck between the glass and cage of my Animal Plastics cage. I have double checked temps and husbandry seems fine. I also have added extra foliage and things to maybe help him be more secure? I just do not know if something is wrong or not. Any suggestions or support will make me feel much better.

How old is he ??

Could it not still be down to the breeding season ?

1.5 months is nothing for a male that size. he may still be looking for a girl. double check all your husbandry. if it all checks out there is no need to worry unless he is loosing a lot of weight. I just had one end a six month fast. I know it seems weird but this behavior is normal.

Ahh thanks guys! the help is great.

Zincubus he is a few months over two years old.

Hey guys, once again have been a little worried. My ball just has not been consistent with eating and seems to eat about once a month right now. His last weigh in was a month ago and was 1080g. The month before he was around 1032g. Just recently he shed and pooped (hasnt pooped in what seems like a very long time) and when I weighed him this morning he was 980g. Is this a concern in weight loss? He last ate around the time he weighed 1080g. Any help would be very appreciated.

Can anyone with a little more experience tell me if this is a significant weight loss that I need to be worrried about?

I still wouldn't be worried at all. How often are you offering food? If it's too often it can have the opposite effect. Are you also handling him a lot? Since he's been refusing I'd just leave him totally alone for a solid 2 weeks before even offering again.

Thanks for the reply. I actually haven't even been handling him since he's been off, figured best to have zero added stress from that. When he is eating I offer every two weeks but when he refuses I have been offering every week until he does eat again. He currently has been super restless at night. Temps and humidity are normal and haven't chcanged so im assuming it's just females on his mind. Not sure.

Have you tried offering different food items? I had a girl that dropped a lot and went off food for several months. What brought her back was offering f/t mice (she used to pound f/t rats) and reducing her feeding to every 2 weeks. She now gets a f/t mouse followed by a f/t rat (she will take it 20 minutes after eating the mouse). She will also do f/t ASF, followed by a rat.

I don't have males, so can't speak to the weight loss you mentioned or the breeding season effects. My girl didn't seem effected by the temps outside during her strike.

Oh the wonderful consistent eating habits of BPs :rolleyes:. I wouldn't be too concerned about the weight loss and as Hannah said I would scale back to offering food bi-weekly instead of every 7 days. When any of my snakes refuse food, which isn't often at all with the species I keep, they don't get another meal for at least 10-14 days. That'll teach em! :D

Thanks to you both! I might try feeding a different food item, however fear he may become addicted and not go back :colbert: Ill wait another week to try and feed him again. Whats even more of an anomaly, I weighed him again today and from 980g he is now 1251g; heaviest he's ever been.

Ball Pythons are normally not crazy about frozen thawed when in doubt try live that seems to work with all species to get them going again.

Well here's what I hate about live. One, my ball does not eat whatsoever in a separate container and won't eat without the comfort of his hide over him. So I do not want to drop a live rat in his cage with potential areas to hide without me seeing(I know to watch all live feeds). Two, if he doesn't wanna eat that week I hate euthanizing a rat with my own hands. Seems so cruel. So anyway, what do you all recommend? Should I continue feeding like I have with f/t rats and wait for him to take again( wait another two weeks to try again) or should I try the mouse idea and or live feeding?

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Originally Posted by Louv44

Ball Pythons are normally not crazy about frozen thawed when in doubt try live that seems to work with all species to get them going again.

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That's not true at all to be fair . I'm in the uk and I've been successfully feeding all my snakes including countless Royals on thawed frozen with no problems at all . LIVE feeding is not an option in the UK .

I promised I wouldn't criticise anyone for feeding LIVE but I'm not having that that old wive's tale about Snakes not liking thawed food .


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Originally Posted by Louv44

Ball Pythons are normally not crazy about frozen thawed when in doubt try live that seems to work with all species to get them going again.

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Originally Posted by Zincubus

That's not true at all to be fair . I'm in the uk and I've been successfully feeding all my snakes including countless Royals on thawed frozen with no problems at all . LIVE feeding is not an option in the UK .

I promised I wouldn't criticise anyone for feeding LIVE but I'm not having that that old wive's tale about Snakes not liking thawed food .

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yeah i've never heard that either, though i do know of people with picky eaters offering live as a LAST resort (besides assist/force feeding). Spaghetti has always been ferocious with her f/t rats; the second the rat is in sight she grabs it faster than i my brain can even process.

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Originally Posted by tttaylorrr

yeah i've never heard that either, though i do know of people with picky eaters offering live as a LAST resort (besides assist/force feeding). Spaghetti has always been ferocious with her f/t rats; the second the rat is in sight she grabs it faster than i my brain can even process.

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That's my point really . I'm a nervous wreck on feeding night as my five Royals are all fed using tongs but they strike so aggressively it scares the life out of every time :)

Best not say anymore on the subject though

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Originally Posted by Zincubus

That's my point really . I'm a nervous wreck on feeding night as my five Royals are all fed using tongs but they strike so aggressively it scares the life out of every time :)

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same. isn't it wonderful? :D

He's been eating ft and will go back to ft. There's no reason at all to try live and really nothing but negatives to it like you've already mentioned. I have 50 that all eat ft just fine.

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Originally Posted by Zincubus

That's my point really . I'm a nervous wreck on feeding night as my five Royals are all fed using tongs but they strike so aggressively it scares the life out of every time :)

Best not say anymore on the subject though



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glad im not the only one who jumps ten feet when he strikes at the tongs 😂

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Originally Posted by maausen

glad im not the only one who jumps ten feet when he strikes at the tongs [emoji23]

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lol same! i'm still not used to the striking at all it scares the bejeezus out of me every time.


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i'm not sure if you already do this, but when mine won't eat i'll leave the rat in his enclosure and make sure it's completely dark (he's usually in the dark for the most part though) and try to be quiet/reduce foot traffic. usually it'll be gone in the next couple hours.


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