Not eating for 7 months

Hello,

I have a 3 years old male ball python. He stopped eating around the end of November of 2019 and haven't shown any interest in the food ever since.
At first I thought he is not eating due to winter time since last winter he stopped eating as well for 2 months but later got back to it without problems. This time as spring came he still refused to eat. We have checked his temperatures and humidity many times. He has everything he needs with hides, warm and cool zones, fresh water.
I used to feed him frozen rats that I warmed for him in the water, he always been good with eating them. We have tried to switch to mouse but were unsuccessful. We have waited some time before offering meals. Hasn't helped. At this point we are thinking either trying live or taking him to the vet. The problem with live is that we don't have experience with feeding live to snakes and also knowing my snake's behavior he can easily get scared and as a result more stressed. Same with the vet, i am worrying if I take him it will only worsen his appetite due to the stress going to the vet. He hasn't lost much weight since he stopped eating and he doesn't seem like having any health issues as he looks healthy. The other thing I would like to mention is that because of pandemic I got stuck outside of the country and since spring my friend is taking care of him. This a second time when he refuses food during warm months of the year when i am not around. Last time he started eating when I came back. I don't think it had anything to do with his appetite but can it be possible he refuses to eat because he is with different people at the moment? Can you suggest me what should I do as a next step? Thank you and i apreacte any of your help.

You need to take him to a vet. A couple of months can be normal for a ball python but that long is not. A vet can recommend whether force feeding may be necessary. Usually after one force feed they'll go back to regular feeding. Trying live is not a good option, especially with a more skittish snake.

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Originally Posted by Namea

You need to take him to a vet. A couple of months can be normal for a ball python but that long is not. A vet can recommend whether force feeding may be necessary. Usually after one force feed they'll go back to regular feeding. Trying live is not a good option, especially with a more skittish snake.

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I completely disagree. Seven months is a long time, but I've heard of BPs going over a year. Obviously getting the snake eating sooner than later would be nice though.

If the animal is not losing much weight there is no need for a vet visit. Snakes will not starve themselves to death.

You DEFINITELY don't want to assist or force feed a three year old snake either. The animal already knows HOW to eat. Assist and force feeding are for hatchlings that don't yet know how to eat.

At this point, your best bet is sticking to rats, but smaller than usual. Only offer every 3-4 weeks. Offering too often will only lead to further stress.

Unfortunately without knowing husbandry details it's impossible to try to pinpoint what may be causing the extended food strike.

Can you provide the following details??

What are the enclosure temps?
Humidity?
How are temps and humidity measured?
Is the snake being handled at all?
Is the enclosure in a high traffic area in the house?

A healthy ball python can go a year without food without issue and you do not assist or force feed an animal that knows are to eat, adding more stress to an animal that is off food is not gonna help. Many vet with limited experience will jump the gun not understanding what can actually be done to help an animal resume feeding.

What needs to be look at closely his your husbandry

It is not unusual for a sexually mature 3 years old snake to go off feed now getting more details will help.

How big is he (weight)

What size and type prey were offered prior to going of feed.

How big is your enclosure?

What are your exact temps and how do you measure them?

What type of bedding do you use.

I think the most important questing is, is he losing weight? As others pointed out, additional information is required to help you any further.

With that said, one of my girls goes off feed during fall through spring months for a stretch of about 5-7 months on an annual basis since she turned around 3 years old (I've had her for about 6 years). The longest she went without eating was 9 months.

I'd recommend not handling him until he start eating and monitor his weight on a monthly basis.

Thank you,

His cool side is at 75 while his warm side set at 90 but it showed 87.9, so we moved it to 92. His heat mat connected to thermostat controller. The humidity shows to be at 55 on the cool sie and 60 on the other end.
His cage is 36x16x18. And currently he is on paper towels. I have tried other substrates before, but it seemed that aspen was irritating him. He was eating medium size rats before going off feed. As of his weight I will get the scale to know for sure but it seems like he hasn't lost much with since he stopped eating.

I appreciate any help and advises.

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Originally Posted by Jess94

He was eating medium size rats before going off feed.

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There’s a likely contributing factor in his fasting period. Very few males ever need anything more than a small rat every 7-14 days once mature. Even then, a food strike is not uncommon.

Side note, I feel like we’ve seen this topic or similar at least 4-5 times now in under two weeks here.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

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Originally Posted by jmcrook

Side note, I feel like we’ve seen this topic or similar at least 4-5 times now in under two weeks here.Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

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Definitely seems like a reoccurring theme lately.

In regards to your the cool side, i'd bump that up 78-80.

You're right, my bad. I didn't read thoroughly to see that the snake was 3 years old. I thought it said 3 months.

A fully mature bp can go longer without eating although it's not necessarily a healthy thing to do. If the husbandry is correct a vet visit may still be necessary to determine if there's an underlying health issue that is causing the fast.

I've had a snake go 13 months without eating. The important thing is the weight. If there's not much weight loss then just wait.

My bp used to go through fasts all the time. For about 3-4 years I could count on both hands how many times he'd eat. Usually he'd go 2-4 months between meals, but a few times he went 6-8 months. It started when I made my first move, and then randomly stopped when I made the final move with him. Then, he went on to eat like normal even after being shipped to another forum user and ate reliably until he passed away after their house flooded.


I took him to the vet on several occasions, but could never get an answer as to why he wouldn't eat, and he always seemed healthy. Eventually, I just had to stop worrying or I'd have gone crazy. lol I stopped offering him food on a regular basis altogether. The only way I'd thaw him a feeder was if he came up to the front of the cage when I fed the other snakes, in an s-curve ready for food, or striking the glass. I didn't have to do that long before his feeding issues just...stopped. During that time, the only time he missed a meal was when I was trying to get him to eat medium rats. Once back on smalls he went straight back to a normal schedule again. I had also in the past tried feeding him as large of meals as a large rat, a meal so big he couldn't even swallow it on his own and had to push it down. So overfeeding may have had as much to do with his issues as stress, and I'd keep feeding regimen in mind as well when trying to fix a feeding issue.


Sometimes bps just do whatever the heck they want, and as long as he looks healthy and husbandry is on point, all you can do is just wait him out and try not to worry unless another worrying symptom pops up. But hopefully this thread helps you worry a little bit less once things are dialed in.