poll: has your bp ever refused a meal?

Has your bp ever refused a meal? How about two? How often do they refuse for you?

I've never had a problem... till now. Dexter hasn't eaten in 4 weeks...

I'm wondering how many other people have this happen to them?

LOL!


Depends on the animal....

But yes, everyone of them has skipped a meal once or twice, depending on the situation.

I have a few that skipped a week or two. I have one big mouser female that finally took a rat yesterday :carrot: . I couldnt believe it. I try rats with her every now and again, if she refuses i wait a week and throw her a few mice, but this time she took right off the bat. I was like :eek:

if he was previously a heavy eater he's probably just regulating himself. Either that or he's being a ball python, ha... I have a little girl (yearling=ish) that hasn't eaten in about as long, and while i find it terribly frustrating, she's still very much in good health, so the problem lies with me being impatient and not with her having a problem.

i have some that have never missed a meal, some that skip every once in a while, and 2 males that skip fairly often in the winter, but not enough that it affects their weight much at all.

he's nice and fat and squishy... so i'm not really worried about this... as he's always been a good eater.

just hope he smartens up soon and starts back on food. personally i think he's on strike... waiting for his future ball python friends to get through CITES and into our home!

It really depends on the snake, I've got a female who has never refused a meal even when gravid. In fact she just gave me 8 eggs about a week since her last meal. And I've got some that will eat less then a dozen times in a year.

Males are notorious for it during winter time. It happens, comes with owning a ball and knowing how to handle it. And sometimes you just need to wait it out and keep trying. A lot of the time an evaluaion of your husbandry can help solve it, sometimes its just the snake.

i've only had a problem once when i tried giving floyd a f/t mouse. that didn't work out so well

ooohh.... i just remembered.... floyd did quit eating for a month the first winter we had him.... i forgot all about it! too late to revote now.... oh well!

My largest male just started feeding again a couple weeks ago after he decided he wasn't going to eat over the winter.

Aleesha, we have some that will skip here or there. Most of the younger ones (the 06 group) never skip, maybe during the active part of shedding but that's about it and it's rare with them. Our fully mature adults all went off feed during breeding season and Saoirse, our WC adult, always winter fasts no matter how we tweak her husbandry - Adam warned me way back when we rescued her that this was a very real possibility for Saoirse.

If Dex is a rat eater you may want to try a nice live rat fuzzie. They seem to be pretty yummo to the ball pythons and that's what we use to kickstart Saoirse back into a good feeding pattern each spring. A couple of those once a week and in no time Saoirse's digestion is back in high gear and she's ready for a more appropriately sized rat.

As always though doublecheck his husbandry and so forth (you know the drill by now). :)

Let me tell you.

Lucille would fast in the winter time when we first got her but she was a rescue and they didn't have her set up properly. so it took her a while to adjust. But she as a terrific eater now! Well...she is gravid :carrot: so she hasn't ate in about a month.

Also when I got Trax he wouldn't eat and got very dehydrated and thin so I *assist fed* him and he eats like a monsta now!

and I have these 2 lil pita's (pain in the azz's) that I got from a rep show back in feb and they have not ate yet!!! They both have quite the attitude too. I offered them all types of prey in every condition poss but still...nothing. :(

However...When I was cleaning tubs and tanks this morning I found one of them in full blue! This will be the first time either of them has shed since I have had them. So I am pretty excited. I have been dying to them after a nice clean shed!

Their health is fine other than being a little thin. I am not sure of their hatch dates but one is 418 grams and the other is 614 grams.

I am going to offer the one not in shed (the 418 gram) something today but the other I will try next week after she sheds. I have my fingers crossed!

Quote:

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Originally Posted by MarkS

It really depends on the snake, I've got a female who has never refused a meal even when gravid. In fact she just gave me 8 eggs about a week since her last meal. And I've got some that will eat less then a dozen times in a year.

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I'm in the same boat. I've got some that would eat every day and a male that has eaten three times in the last year or so and hasn't lost much weight.

Well, I couldn't really answer the poll--Auryn refused every time (but one) that I tried to feed him a rat pup--That's about 7 or 8 feeding attempts, I think. However, before that he ate his mice every time and when I decided that he's going to be a Mouser-For-Life and offered him a couple of mice, he gobbled them down right away. So, he did refuse, but it was entirely my fault and not really his.

i don't know about any of you... but just hearing that others are facing this issue as well... on a yearly basis (not just a "oh it's only happening now and never before" basis) really helps me through this time with dexter.

the only 'change' in his husbandry is... well... nothing. i was going to say it's been a very cool spring but it was a cool winter as well so really that's not a change. :P

i'm going to try jo's suggestion and offer him a rattie pup... those little fat sausages are an appetizer no snake could refuse!

I think anyone who own's a BP or more then one has theirs skip feed at least once. My male has perfect husbandry and he eats some times and doesn't others. But he hasn't lost any weight. I think that it isn't a issue of wether or not they eat but wether or not they are healthy/loosing weight.

Some will every once in a while, some never had.

Only once, but I don't think it was due to Max's fault, as there are several factors about that meal:

#1 He was in FULL shed, although he did eat in the middle of his last shed.
#2 The mouse was in the process of dieing, I know alot of animals can detect if other animals have an illness, are dieing, etc, so I don't know if that was the case or not.
#3 The mouse was brown, all the others have been white.
#4 Has never had a mouse that big before.

Yea My mojo female sometimes skips a meal but my bad one is my first Orpheus.

He goes off feed every year and this year was the longest he quit on dec 14 and just started two weeks ago. :D talk about stress

My Ozzy goes off feed every winter and usually comes back on around end of April - start of May. He is 4 yrs old and has not eaten every winter for the last three years. Ate his first winter after birth.
He usually goes off around Nov-Dec. Never seems to lose any weight. I have gotten use to it.
Some thought the rack would help and he would eat year round but hahah no such luck. It is just who he is :)
He was purchased at Petco so I assume we was wc or ch.

Well, lets see. We currently have 57 snakes, including 11 that have yet to eat their first meal. I have some that eat like there's no tomorrow, and some that look at it like, "What do you want me to do with that?".

I have one female that likes mice, and if I offer her a rat, it pretty much guarantees at least a one month fast.

One girl that ate mice last year, and went off feed 11/29/06. I've been offering rats about every other week for the last couple of months, and she took one 2 nights ago!

My male pastel hasn't decided to start up after his winter fast. I think maybe he wants more time with the ladies.

Steve

The only one that has no refused ever with me, is Luna, the girl that Cue gifted me with. She literally has never refused a meal. my others all have at one point or another.. then again, I never remember my pastel refusing.. even during breeding season when I gave him some rest ant a feeding.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by MarkS

It really depends on the snake, I've got a female who has never refused a meal even when gravid. In fact she just gave me 8 eggs about a week since her last meal. And I've got some that will eat less then a dozen times in a year.

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I'm the same way some don't eat for months(males) and some eat in shed or gravid. I have a male pastel who didnt eat since November than just ate a week ago and this week not interested. He has done this since he was 300+ grams. Breeds like a porn star though. I know it isn't husbandry because we have over 40 snakes in the exact same conditions but they all are individuals and have their own quirks and behavior. Males are worst feeders in my experience, although my albino male Aldo never went off feed this winter and bred like a champ while all the other adult boys were fasting. Go figure

I've only had my ball for a couple months but so far she has never missed a meal, eats any prey I offer even in deep blue.

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Originally Posted by westcoastjungle

Breeds like a porn star though.

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:rockon:

Well when I first got him, he refused a few meals over the course of a few weeks. Now, he rarely skips a meal if ever.