Seeking advice

I have a Pastel BP, we have had her around 5 months and got her when she was around 9 months. It has been about 3 months since her last shed and the same since her last meal. When we got her in June she had just shed and it had been a couple weeks since she had last eaten. She took well to frozen and was eating like a champ for about 2 months. She had her first shed with us and it came off clean eye caps and all over night. Nothing has changed in her habitat and temps on warm side are around 87-89 degrees and cool side is around 79-81 degrees. Humidity levels are between 50-55% steady. I’ve tried feeding her multiple times and she doesn’t have the slightest interest. Obviously I know she will kind of regulate her feeding and shedding but just wanted to get some insight on whether I should try something different or seek any medical advice. She is still active in her habitat and tongue flicks are good she’s always been very docile ever sense we got her and no change in her behavior. Any thought or advice would be greatly appreciated!

Got her when she was around 4 months, so she is currently around 9 months old.

BP's are known to go off feed, especially in the winter.

My BP, Shayna, a female Albino Spider, goes off feed like clockwork every year for a few months or more. They self regulate. Your temps and humidity seem good and she ate for you and ate F/T, so I would guess she's on a hunger strike if everything else seems normal.

It would be helpful to see a picture, get a weight, and know what you were offering as prey (type, mouse or rat, and size/weight). I would also start weighing her every 4-6 weeks and see if she's dropping weight noticeably and dramatically. Shayna loses 5-8% of her body weight every winter. Then gains it back fast spring-Fall.

Again, probably nothing to worry about, but to be safe, check weights and provide the info above if you can.

https://ball-pythons.net/forums/blob...2-520e22e9fef0

https://photos.app.goo.gl/HMcri2hGEJqd31bJ9
https://photos.app.goo.gl/23zNV6bXbeFKAZUV8
https://photos.app.goo.gl/4ucdph3cyNCM7xAX6
https://photos.app.goo.gl/26D6LA9fiWHqMRjP9
Currently weighs in at 148 grams, she is *estimated* around 9 - 10 months old

Quote:

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Originally Posted by MedusaThePastelBP

https://photos.app.goo.gl/HMcri2hGEJqd31bJ9
https://photos.app.goo.gl/23zNV6bXbeFKAZUV8
https://photos.app.goo.gl/4ucdph3cyNCM7xAX6
https://photos.app.goo.gl/26D6LA9fiWHqMRjP9
Currently weighs in at 148 grams, she is *estimated* around 9 - 10 months old

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148 grams is awfully small in my opinion for a snake that age.. What are you trying to feed her? Have you tried live prey? Did you up the enclosure size?

There is a problem here, a snake that size should not be going off food, that is normal for adults, not hatchlings which is the current size even though she is 9 months old. My 9 month old snakes are in the 600-800g range to give you an idea how far behind yours is. You're going to need to get her eating consistently weekly. That is by all means, if you can't get her to eat f/t then it's time to give her whatever she'll eat, live mouse, rat, asf, basically whatever she'll take and stick to it every week until she gets up to a healthy weight at least. Also make sure you are offering the right size meal. I feed mine rat crawlers at that size. Look at the sticky about getting your hatchling to eat and follow it exactly!

Her enclosure size is 36in wide, 16in tall, 18in deep

Quote:

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Originally Posted by MedusaThePastelBP

Her enclosure size is 36in wide, 16in tall, 18in deep

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That could definitely be part of the problem, it's way to big for a small bp, they like small tight spaces to give them security and reduce stress.

Follow this to a T if you want to get your bp back on track.
https://ball-pythons.net/forums/show...-hatchling-101

I'd also bump up those temps by a couple of degrees - insulating the enclosure can help.

I'd also ask where you are measuring the temps - the best way is to measure inside both hides where the snake spends it's time. The easiest way to do this is a temp gun but telling us more about your enclosure might help us narrow down which tips we think might help. :gj:

Update!
After reading a lot, I did a couple things that helped out with my issue! Where we have her habitat it was very easy to scare her... meaning the hide she likes to hang out in is facing where we can walk right by and often times she would have her head out of the hide and see us walk by and shoot back into her hide. I covered half of the tank with some towels so that she wouldn’t be getting scared every time we walked by in hopes to relieve any stress we may have been causing her. The layout of her habitat she has two hides, two water dishes and a log in the middle that she likes to climb at night. One hide and water on the cool side one hide and water on the warm side. So the space in her habitat is well used so it’s not just a lot of open space.
I also used to take her out of her habitat and move her to a Bin to feed her. Again after reading and looking around I learned that I could be adding stress by pulling her out and handling her and moving her to a separate location to feed.
after a few days with the towels covering half her tank and not handling her and letting her be. I tried to feed her and within seconds she was on it. That was last Tuesday and I just fed her again. Same thing, a couple seconds and she was on it. I’m going to continue with this until she gets up to a healthy weight.
Thank you all who commented helping me out, this is my first BP and I tend to over research things to try and do everything right but having experienced people’s opinions and tips is really useful! I’ll keep you updated on Medusa’s progress!!

Thanks again!

Little update on my girl Medusa!!

Just over a month ago I got her back to her regular eating habits and have been weighing her every week or so. December 9th 2019, Medusa only weighed 210 grams for being roughly 9 ish months old (we believe). After weighing her tonight she is up to 285 grams and is now eating xtra large mice every week and a half. She was eating large mice every week until now when i switched her up to the larger mice.
Also she refuses to eat mice from Petco or Petsmart... I used to buy all my mice from a local reptile business until they had to close down.. So I had to go and get her mice at Petco and when I would try and offer her those mice she would flick her tongue at it and then hide her head. If the mouse ever touched her face she would rub her "nose" on her substrate and do anything to avoid this mouse. There is another reptile shop about a half hour from my house and I went and got mice there and she ate instantly. Im not sure what it is but she hates mice from Petco or Petsmart.. Wondering if anyone else has seen their BP do this.?! :D
Anyway, thats a little update! thanks to everyone who gave me some tips and advice to get my girl back on track. Still have work ahead of us to get her caught up but she is looking good!!