Ball stopped eating....how long is too long?

We have a ball who is maybe 2.5 yrs old. He has always been a good eater, typically eating 1-3 small rats per week. We increased the size of rat and he did fine with it through several feedings. But it has been almost 4 weeks now and he hasn't eaten. We put one in every week and after 24 hrs he hasn't touched it. Usually he eats within the hour. Just keep offering or is there something else I should look for?

A

Assuming your husbandry is dialed in it sounds like you may be feeding him a bit too much. One small-medium rat every 7-14 days is plenty for a male BP that age.

Yep. He shut down because he's absolutely stuffed full. A single small rat per week is plenty for adult male BPs. Even then they may skip meals here and there.

Side note: Hopefully you're talking about leaving a dead feeder in with him for 24 hours. If it's live, there's WAY too much risk involved in leaving the two alone together for that long.

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Originally Posted by rowanthefrog

We have a ball who is maybe 2.5 yrs old. He has always been a good eater, typically eating 1-3 small rats per week. We increased the size of rat and he did fine with it through several feedings. But it has been almost 4 weeks now and he hasn't eaten. We put one in every week and after 24 hrs he hasn't touched it. Usually he eats within the hour. Just keep offering or is there something else I should look for?

A

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1 to 3 small rats for a male is way too much food, no wonder he stopped eating, they are notorious to fast but even more so if you overfeed, they will fast to catch up, assuming he has a good body weight it could easily last a year.

When you say you put one in do you mean you leave a live rat in for 24 hours? Hopefully not

Whether live or F/T if a snake is not gonna eat in the firs 10 to 20 minutes it will not eat and what you do is only stressing him making it worse.

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Originally Posted by Deborah

Whether live or F/T if a snake is not gonna eat in the firs 10 to 20 minutes it will not eat and what you do is only stressing him making it worse.

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I have had a couple of shy eaters that would only eat when the f/t was left overnight - or at least beyond the time it took to feed the rest of the collection. That's the exception to the rule though.

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Originally Posted by rowanthefrog

We have a ball who is maybe 2.5 yrs old. He has always been a good eater, typically eating 1-3 small rats per week. We increased the size of rat and he did fine with it through several feedings. But it has been almost 4 weeks now and he hasn't eaten. We put one in every week and after 24 hrs he hasn't touched it. Usually he eats within the hour. Just keep offering or is there something else I should look for?

A

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When and how do you feed him ??

Anyways - try the hairdryer method one evening ;)


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Originally Posted by Eric Alan

I have had a couple of shy eaters that would only eat when the f/t was left overnight - or at least beyond the time it took to feed the rest of the collection. That's the exception to the rule though.

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I've had my BP for 4 months now and up until the last two feedings, I've had to leave the f/t in the enclosure and come back in the morning. He was just a shy eater but now he's struck the last two times and connected. I was pretty taken back when this happened. The sound of the hairdryer and smell immediately got his attention and put him in feeding mode.

1-3 small rats per week, wow. He must be very overweight.
I don't think even a female should be eating that amount, much less a male.

My male BP of 2 years eats a smedium (in between small and medium) every 2 weeks, every 3 weeks if it's on the bigger side.

Yep he is over full.

i had a male cinny go a year without food and one of his offspring just went on a 10 month hunger strike. she went from 1500 grams to 1300 grams.
dont panic over a missed meal.the snake will eat when its hungry.
kirk

Yes, they are frozen! When he was eating 1-3 it was the fuzzy mice, we recently went up to small rat so that would probably explain why he is eating less. He typically comes out of his hide and puts his head on top of the hide when he is hungry so we usually have followed his cues, but the last few times he would ignore it and go back. I don't think he is overweight but I will take a pic and post and you can tell me.

A

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Originally Posted by rowanthefrog

Yes, they are frozen! When he was eating 1-3 it was the fuzzy mice, we recently went up to small rat so that would probably explain why he is eating less. He typically comes out of his hide and puts his head on top of the hide when he is hungry so we usually have followed his cues, but the last few times he would ignore it and go back. I don't think he is overweight but I will take a pic and post and you can tell me.

A

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I don't see how a snake goes from fuzzy mice to small rats or how a 2.5 years old snake just recently was switch to small rats from fuzzy mice???? :confusd:

Either the animal is very small for it's age or the age is wrong and you are not using the proper feeder terminology which does not help as to what to recommend for your snake.

Weigh your snake and weigh your feeders because everything is very confusing from your description.

Fuzzy mice are never fed to BP even out of the egg they take something bigger and small rats are 55 to 65 grams.

Stuffed like a turkey :/

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Stuffed like a turkey :/