Female Ball Python Still Off Food Since December

2019 Female off food since December. She does still urinate but not often.
She was close to 900 grams before she went off food. Currently shes 833.

I also had a male who went off food around the same time but he started eating again a month ago.

I have 8 Balls and a Burm. Mixed between VE and C-Serpents racks.
Ambient room temp set to 78. Hot spots 88-90 and humidity between 50 and 60.

Any thoughts or ideas before I head to the vet for a checkup?
Thanks

How and what are you feeding? Could you provide details on the routine that you feed and exactly how you hold the food, where it's pointing, how you heat it, etc? It might not be a problem since you have other pythons that are eating but it could be a small detail that it causing her not to eat.

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Originally Posted by Erie_herps

How and what are you feeding? Could you provide details on the routine that you feed and exactly how you hold the food, where it's pointing, how you heat it, etc? It might not be a problem since you have other pythons that are eating but it could be a small detail that it causing her not to eat.

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Yes it wold help to have the above info. MAke sure your environment has not changed. Is your thermometer still accurate ect.

However, one possibility is the 1000g wall. It was breeding season for both after all when they went off food. That sometimes triggers a fast in females around 1000g, give or take a few hundred.
I had three females this year do this for months. 1 at 800g and one at 1100g.
Basically its like they are almost ready to breed and a small amount of breeding hormones and instinct are kicking in. That would also explain your males distraction from food.

Mixing it up helped eventually. Different, and smaller food items. But it took time.
There was another method I used for a 1300g snake, It worked immediately, but I would not recommend it.

My Ball once refused from May 2015 to Feb 2016 only taking a small rat during that time. As long as the weight is good and she is looking healthy the snake is probably just a Ball being a Ball.

Just wondering what type of thermometer you’re using to take the surface temps ...


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She's probably fine. That weight loss over that period of fast wouldn't worry me at her current weight.

How often are you offering food?

When my female BP, Shayna, fasts (every winter like clockwork - 4-5 months on average), I only offer 1X a month until she starts eating again. I consider it a fast when she's skipped two meals in a row going into winter. I also look at the behavior. When Shayna fasts, she "brumates" as well. It's not hibernation, but snakes can do this hybrid thing too. She's very sedentary, not out looking for food, and only comes out to drink and use the bathroom (rarely).

When she's like this, I only handle to clean the cage if necessary, and check on her every few weeks to make sure she's okay. When they are like this, they slow their metabolisms down and are burning very few calories.

Remember, almost 90% of our/human calories are burned maintaining body heat. Snakes, being ectothermic, do not have to worry about that.

I would offer 1X a month until your snake eats again. Also, from a weight perspective, I wouldn't worry until she's well under 800G. Further, I wouldn't be weighing her more than 1X a month either. Let her be and she will eat when she is ready.

As mentioned above sometimes offering less often helps - every ten to 14 days works a treat for mine .


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Originally Posted by dakski

She's probably fine. That weight loss over that period of fast wouldn't worry me at her current weight.

How often are you offering food?

When my female BP, Shayna, fasts (every winter like clockwork - 4-5 months on average), I only offer 1X a month until she starts eating again. I consider it a fast when she's skipped two meals in a row going into winter. I also look at the behavior. When Shayna fasts, she "brumates" as well. It's not hibernation, but snakes can do this hybrid thing too. She's very sedentary, not out looking for food, and only comes out to drink and use the bathroom (rarely).

When she's like this, I only handle to clean the cage if necessary, and check on her every few weeks to make sure she's okay. When they are like this, they slow their metabolisms down and are burning very few calories.

Remember, almost 90% of our/human calories are burned maintaining body heat. Snakes, being ectothermic, do not have to worry about that.

I would offer 1X a month until your snake eats again. Also, from a weight perspective, I wouldn't worry until she's well under 800G. Further, I wouldn't be weighing her more than 1X a month either. Let her be and she will eat when she is ready.

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I do about the same thing. Offering every few weeks after two refusals. Once she eats I'll go back to my two week schedule. If she takes it... Great! If not I give her a few more weeks before offering again.

With all of my other snakes I've never had to worry about this. Most of them will even eat in shed..... But I don't usually offer then trying to simply leave them alone.

Hopefully the three I've added recently don't make me a liar. Being a King, a Boa, and a Hoggy I don't think they will.

https://ball-pythons.net/gallery/fil...526_120609.jpg

Like most have tell you I agree. Not much to worry about. I had one that is a problem eater, it took me a while to switch her to frozen thawed. This also worked for me to get her back to eating. I offer one live adult size mouse. When she consumes that I offer her a f/t small rat. Usually she takes it from there and will go back into food. She went off this yr right as she hit 1500gr and was about to start her first breeding season. I did that and she went onto food. She is now almost 2000gr and I suspect gravid.
Good luck try the mouse but be careful bc I find they can become addicted to them. Don’t stress she will be fine.


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My biggest female? BP (appx 1100 grams) went off food last November, then started back up the end of April.

She lost about the equivalent of 1 meal,shed once and went to the bathroom twice.

Just as I was starting to get worried she went back to eating.

If your temps are good and you know the snake isn’t sick then I see no need to worry. The animal was eating before so it’s only a matter of time until it eats again. Keep offering food every 2-4 weeks until the critter gets back on track. I’ve had BPs go 8 & 12 months without food and they were just fine, but it’s a big reason why I don’t keep them anymore. 😀

I have 2 infared temp guns. One is a TG8-IR from Reptile Basics.

But anyways before going off food I would feed a fresh killed small rat every Friday.
The rats were between 80 and 100 grams. Off tongs. She is picky though she won't take F/T.
Lately I've been trying every 2 weeks, she seems interested but eventually backs off.
A month or so ago I tried a live weaned rat but she had absolutly no interest.

Also shes been wrapping her water bowl and cool seeking. Not always but I do notice it often.

After how much weight loss should I be concerned?

I did just get back into BPs last February and even before that I never had one go off food for so long.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Ascended

However, one possibility is the 1000g wall. It was breeding season for both after all when they went off food. That sometimes triggers a fast in females around 1000g, give or take a few hundred.
I had three females this year do this for months. 1 at 800g and one at 1100g.
Basically its like they are almost ready to breed and a small amount of breeding hormones and instinct are kicking in. That would also explain your males distraction from food.
.

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Originally Posted by Iron_Man

I
Also shes been wrapping her water bowl and cool seeking. Not always but I do notice it often.
.

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Bowl wrapping is a sign of follicle development (if your temps are right)
Another sign of 1000g wall i mentioned. Your snake is 900g. She is in puberty for lack of a better word and is practising to breed but is too young/small.
It may not be the case, but its a strong possibility.

Edit: the Iron man is cool :cool: Hope he is not dead for real in the films.