I am at my wits end! Feeding advice needed.

Please help. I have had my BP for 8 months and for the first 6 months we had no problems at all. I would buy a small rat, she would eat it. Then 2 months ago she stopped eating. I have changed NOTHING. I have handled her less so I don't stress her, I try feeding her every week and she refuses. She does not even seem interested. She looks very healthy and her temps are great. She has shed with no problem. She doesn't appear to have anything wrong with her. I am really starting to stress out! Any suggestions?? Thanks in advance!:)

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Originally Posted by prettyviolet

Please help. I have had my BP for 8 months and for the first 6 months we had no problems at all. I would buy a small rat, she would eat it. Then 2 months ago she stopped eating. I have changed NOTHING. I have handled her less so I don't stress her, I try feeding her every week and she refuses. She does not even seem interested. She looks very healthy and her temps are great. She has shed with no problem. She doesn't appear to have anything wrong with her. I am really starting to stress out! Any suggestions?? Thanks in advance!:)

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How much does she weigh? If she's well over 1000-1500 grams, she might be off of feed because of breeding season. From what i hear, its normal. I can understand your frustation though, i would be stressing too. If you don't see her losing weight and acting normal, don't stress to much. Just keep offering.

Are you feeding live or F/T?

Sounds to me she is just off feed for winter.... perfectly normal. Just keep an eye on her weight. she will eat again when she gets hungry. Trust me, she didn't forget how to eat.

I am having the same problems with my Ball right now, and just to let you know some little facts I have found out by research....That during the winter a snakes metabolism slows down which causes them not to eat because they do not digest food so fast as they would when their metabolism is higher.. I hope this is helpful as I am a new BP owner..I have had a lot of help off of here, but I have also done my own research, and found a lot of info, But a lot has come off of here this site is great!!!!!!

Totally normal - they can go months and months without eating.

Out of my breeder girls ALL but two have not eaten for 3 months. And the 2 still eating are a touch under 1400gms so good thing they are still eating. Only one of my breeder males is eating.

Best thing is to offer food every 2 to 3 weeks -they will eat when they are hungry.

I had a wc female go 13 months without eating. Then one day she started eating and is a good feeder now. I have heard of them going as long as 23 months without food. A friend of mine has 1 that hasn't eat since it laid eggs a year ago. As long as they drink water they should not die.

My good eating, big females went off feed when it got cool. Some haven't eaten since early October. Don't sweat it!

What is her weight?

JonV

Before assuming this is just a winter fast, I would like to know more about your snake & your set-up.

If you got your snake 8 months ago as a hatchling, then she probably should not be fasting when she is still young & growing.

If your temperature is not controlled by a thermostat, the temps in her enclosure may have gone down as winter set in (or gone up with summer, if you are on that end of the world). Winter also can cause very dry air in many homes, so maybe her humidity is now too low.

Did something change near her enclosure around the time she stopped eating? Or did you move her enclosure from one location to another?

Double check everything in & around her enclosure to make sure she still has a proper environment. Only after everything checks out would I start considering that she is just fasting due to the season.

Assuming everything is ok, as long as she maintains her weight and otherwise looks & acts healthy, she should be fine. BPs have been known to fast for many months without ill effects.

Thanks so much for all of your advice! When I got her 8 months ago she was already almost 1 year so she wasn't a hatchling. Her temps are controlled and her humidity was down but I followed advice I read on another posting here that suggesting using a hamster ball with a wet wash cloth in it (I used a plastic container with a lid and poked a bunch of holes) to up the humidity and it worked great. I have not weighed her but I will do that tonight and keep track. Thanks again for all your advice! This is the greatest place to come when you have I question about BP's!!

i just had a male eat yesterday for the first time since LAST x-mas.

dont sweat two months. they can someitmes jsut be difficult

My female is 2 years old and 1400g, and this winter she has only been accepting food once every two to three weeks. At first I was worried. But then I started tracking her weight; turns out she is not losing weight, but actually she has gained a little weight!

To quell your fears I would go out and buy a gram scale. Keep track of her weight every week or two and see if she is losing a lot of weight. I saw one at Wal-Mart in the appliances for $30; or if you want to get a nice one, I would recommend the My Weigh 7001DX from Reptile Basics.

Another thing you can do is pre-scent to get her excited about the meal. Let the rat thaw or just let it sit on top of her enclosure for a half-hour to an hour before offering the rat. This might pique her interest.

Placing a BP in a small space like a paper bag or small tub with a prekilled prey item and leaving it overnight(inside it's normal enclosure)almost always works.

I have 14 all together, i offer them all food the same time every week(5-7days babies, 7-10days sub adults/adults) if they eat they eat, as of right now all my 08's and 07's are eating might miss a feed or two but they are right back at it the next time, my big female(2000grams) hasnt eaten since the end of November but she just ovulated my other big female hasnt eaten since mid december but she is also breeding, and my two proven males have eaten maybe once or twice since december,

"remember, if you have selected a healthy ball python, it will be able to fast for several months without any ill effects. Reports of ball pythons fasting for up to a year before they begin feeding are fairly common. There are even two records of ball pythons that fasted for 22 months before feeding, so don't panic."

its not an issue if they arn't eating its only an issue if they arn't eating and they are losing weight, if your snakes are losing weight then i would worry about it

**the paragraph with the quotations was from The Ball Python Manual**