possible free ball python

I have a ball python that has not ate for about 4 months. I have tried everything. He/She appears to be in very good health and spirits. I do not want to hurt him and if I cannot get him to eat, I am willing to give it to someone who knows more about it than me. He is about 4 feet long and extremely nice. My kids love him and will be sad to have him go, but we all want him to be taken care of. Please respond with suggestions or if you are very experienced with ball python and eating problems, please let me know. I live in Ohio.

Are you looking for a home or advice on feeding? If it's the latter can you describe your setup and what you have attempted to feed. (If you can post a pic of the setup that would be good too) Most likely husbandry issues are at the bottom of your non feeding.

What is it housed in?
What type of substrate?
What are you temps for hot/cold sides?
How do you measure those temps?
Do you have two hides?
History of bp before you got it?
Has it been to the vet?
Fecal?

Oh and welcome to the forum. :D

First off how long have you had it?
How old when you got it?
And when did it stop eating?
Was it captive breed?

My bp stops eating every winter for about 4-5 mos then in spring starts back up again eats like crazy toward the end of summer/start of fall then stops
I seem to think he is wild caught as they do have a habit of doing this.
Not anything your doing wrong or husbandry issues could just be his routine
Let me know.

Christie said it best. Describe your bp's environment and provide some info on its history also.

I have never met a snake that I could not get to eat....some take alot of patience, but I have had 100% success with picky eaters. If you still need to find a home for your BP, let me know...I am located fairly close to you, depending on where in Ohio you are.

Let me introduce you to my Ozzy then :)

Some bp's, mainly WC will fast during the cooler months as this is breeding time, no amount of patience in the world will make them eat short of force feeding.
I have tried everything as well as folks who have years exper w/ bp's and breeding bp's. My vet who is a reptile vet confirmed the theory that some just go on fasts.
This could be the case of this posters bp, no reason to get rid of it.

I'm agreeing with Jotay. Both of my adult males are off feed for the winter. Mine were both cbb tho. I wouldn't worry until after spring. :)

My gopher went on a fast for about 4 months. And he's no beefy snake, but a thin little guy who didn't look like he should be missing many meals! My husbandry was spot-on (checked and re-checked and re-re-checked!). There wasn't anything I could do about it except continue to offer him food from time to time.


He finally started eating again sporatically...and became a regular feeder when I switched to fresh-killed instead of frozen. Now he gets live and feeds easily most of the time.

Snakes have their own minds about food, that's for sure! And they can go amazingly long times without eating. So long as you continue to care for it and give it the opportunity to eat when it finally wants to.....you'll be doing fine!

Like Christie and Jotay I think a lot more information about the age and current condition of the snake, length of ownership, husbandry, caging, etc. would be helpful.

I'm glad you found your way here Tom. If the forum can be of assistance in either helping you keep your snake or if you wish, rehome it - then I'm sure with more details on the situation you'll get lots of information to consider.


~~Jo~~

I have had the bp for 1 yr 1 mo. I do not have any history on him but he was a good size when I got him. I estimate he is about 3.5-4 ft. I keep him in a 55 gallon tank with a red heat lamp and an under the tank heating pad. I have several rocks, large drinking bowl and a tree limb in the tank. I only have 1 hide toward the middle. the warm side is 85 degrees air temp. He can go to the heating pad or climb the limb to get closer to the heating lamp. The cool side is 75 degrees with about 50 percent humidity. I use newspaper as a substrate. I read that it was as good as any to use. He does move around the cage to regulate his temp. He has only eaten live rats and mice for me. I got him last January and I did not even try to feed him for a few weeks as I heard they should get use to their environment before trying to feed them. I take him out of the tank and put him in a darker rubber maid tub to feed. I would like to keep him but just do not want to harm him by something that I am doing to keep him from eating. Thank you everyone for your comments and suggestions. Keep them coming!

I would see about getting the warm side up to 92-94 degrees, the cool side to 82-84 degrees and your humidity is about right. You also might try offering him food in his enclosure, rather than a separate enclosure - he may feel safer with his hides as cover!

If it's any consolation - my juvie ball python has not eaten since October. I weigh him once a week, and he's not losing any significant weight, he's got great muscle tone and he appears healthy (although he is going to the vet on Friday - mainly for sexing - but I'll still have him checked over). I know it's because I can't convince him that it's not winter that's he's not eating, and since he's still healthy (as far as I can tell) I'm just offering him food once a week (I also feed live) and know that once spring comes, he'll more than likely start feeding again!

I'd suggest as Robin did to get his temps up a bit and make sure you are measuring them with an accurate digital not analog instrument (analog stick on type things the pet store sells are never reliable). Also offer him a hide on both sides that are just big enough for him to fit in....basically if there's room for anything but the snake the hide's too big, as a breeder that frequents this forum always says. Some snakes are really picky about their "favorite" hide so I make sure both my hides are identical (just my way though).

We have an adult female that's on winter fast too and a couple of younger females that went on and off feed earlier in the winter. One thing that triggered the two females to start eating again was a suggestion by Adam of 8BallPythons to get the temps up a tad and then make sure the room the snakes were in got 14 hours of daylight (fake or real) and 10 hours of darkness. This apparently can trigger them to believe spring has sprung lol.

We always feed ours in their home enclosures.

Have a good look through the caresheet here as well as the Ball Python threads for husbandry, etc. You may be surprised how much great information you find that may help you decide to keep this snake if that's what you'd like to do.

Oh also, it might not be a bad idea to have a herp vet check the fella out and maybe do a fecal (if he'll poop) if not they can swab the vent I believe to check for any underlying physical problems. Just a thought really.


~~Jo~~

Ditto on the last two posts
Up your temps as suggested, two hides and try feeding in the cage.
Just keep trying to offer food on the same day and time every week
and try the daylight / dark deal.

Some bp's just don't feed during the winter. Keep an eye on him and make sure no real weight loss/muscle tone loss and appears to otherwise act and look healthy.

Do you find he is out and about in the evening/night hours cruising around the tank? If so I would say he just thinks in breeding season.

Good Luck and any other questions please post and we will do our best on the site here to help you out.

Are you going to try the husbandry suggestions, or are you still looking for a new home??????? I'd be interested in giving your pet a new home if that is what is needed.


Just let me know.


R.

^^Word^^

I'd take the BP I'm very responsible and there is a vet 1 block away from where I live and I'd pay for shipping Give me a shout!

If you decide to keep him then good luck!:D