Chicken?

My 7 yo BP won't eat. I rescued him 2 months ago and he hasn't eaten about a month before that. However I noticed him coming out of hiding behind the window curtain (I let him roam free sometimes) to smell the chicken sandwich I just made. He wouldn't break eye contact with it until I finished it. So what I'm wondering, is there a way to feed him unprocessed chicken (like a cutlet chunk) and would it be nutritional?

I've fed my male ball pythons day old frozen/thawed chicks before. Aside from runny poop, it didn't have any negative effects on them. That said, I only fed it to them every other meal for a few months. I'm not sure how it would work as a sole source of nutrition.

You could try a cutlet chunk, but I think whole prey is better. In the wild when they eat birds they eat the whole thing, feathers, beaks, talons, and all.

I wouldn't even imagine there being enough meat on the bird. I wanted to try gerbils but I can't find any frozen one's.

Have you tried live prey?

I tried live mice/rats, frozen rats, I gave a frozen rat a bath and rubbed it in gerbil bedding and nothin. He seems like he's scared of them if not completely indifferent.

have you tried heating the rat up in some water and thaw it right by his enclourse for about an hour then try leaving it in there and dont mess with him this works for me when my females get fussy with eating and one of my snakes doesn't like the tongs

Yeah I tried thawing it out in his tank while he was in his hide hoping the smell would fill up the tank. After about an hour I removed the cup and started dragging the rat around in the leaves in front of his hide. Showed no interest at all

the only other thing i could think of is trying ASF and waiting a little bit before that i've noticed if you offer food everyday they go alot longer without eating it kinda shys them away.

Yeah I tried thawing it out in his tank while he was in his hide hoping the smell would fill up the tank. After about an hour I removed the cup and started dragging the rat around in the leaves in front of his hide. Showed no interest at all

I'm not sure what asf means. I'm not too hip on your lingo but I try every 3-4 days

african soft fur ratshttps://ball-pythons.net/forums/cach...f2ad342bab.jpg

If youve only had it for 2 months and handle it and let it free range the room then that is probably more of the issue. Keep it safe and secure and really make sure your fish tank is modified to keep the heat and humidity where it needs to be and dont handle until it has eaten. 2 months really isnt long for an established adult to stop eating due to the new environment stress so just give it time to adjust without handling and make sure your husbandry is on point and it'll come around.

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Reduce the frequency at which you’re offering food. After the next refusal, I’d wait 10-14 days before offering again. Give the animal some time to decompress. A 7 year old adult can easily go a year without food. Take the stress off of both of ya.

But, to get back to the point of the thread...no, a chicken cutlet will not provide adequate nutrition for your snake. They eat whole animals in the wild and break down bone, teeth, hoof, and horn for the mineral content, etc. I have seen keepers feed their pythons (not balls, but some other species) chicken legs or whole raw chickens on occasion. I imagine it’s not nutritious enough to be a staple, though.

I often feed my snakes day old chicks or quail and they looooove them.

As all suggestions above PLUS try the HAIRDRYER method !!
I'll send details to you by PM..




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