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[TONYDM41684]

I have a bp that is about 30 inches long and used to eat two fat mice a week. Then I switched her to prekilled rats. Now she won't eat half of the time. When she does eat she won't strike. So I try to feed her every 10 days and she won't eat, this time but the rat I fed her last week was not that big. So I tried to feed her mice still would not take it. Now I am worried. I know that ball pythons are known not to eat but DAMN this is making me mad. I get a rat kill it and she won't eat it. She used to eat mice as soon as I put them in the tank. What now??? My other bp is just a couple of months old and eats like crazy. Strikes just smelling the mice. I am just ready to give up. It is too hard to keep up the humidity and when the humidity is up the temp is too high. She won't eat some times, what do I do? i am ready just to take then to the local pet store and trade them in a get a red tail because they always eat and they get much bigger. I'll be lucky if either one of bp get more than 4 feet.

[Freakie_frog]

Balls are know for going off feed.. just keep trying and don't give up. She may not be hungry or may just getting stubourn. I feed mine his first two adult mice laste night and it took him like 15 minutes before he figured out the first one was food but the second one was all good.. just keep trying

[rex322]

im sorry if i sound mean, but if your thinking of giving up on the ball because its not eating exactly how you want it then maybe ball pythons arent for you. mine had a problem with it to. try waiting a little longer, then offer it.

[SatanicIntention]

Would you trade a child in if they didn't want to eat their dinner? I'd hope not.

From what I've heard, when on rats, they can often go longer periods without eating because of the extra bulk of the rat. She is probably not hungry. Just don't give up. She will eat when she wants to. Just make sure she is hydrated well(no saggy skin) and doesn't look skinny. If she looks normal otherwise, everything is fine.

With the humidity issue, have you tried just making a humid hide? That way the snake can regulate how humid their environment is by just going in and out of the humid hide. If trying to keep the humidity up is messing up the temperatures, I would say don't worry about it.

The whole not striking thing is normal. She knows the rat is dead, and therefore would rather be lazy and do it the easy way, then put forth more effort than she has to. BP's are lazy, that's why they can go so long without eating. Very slow metabolisms. Just like when bears go into hibernation.

Anyway. If she doesn't want to eat one week, wait another week and try to feed her another pre-killed rat. Your other BP is eating like a champ because he is growing faster than your older one. He needs to eat more often to keep up the weight being burned off by growing. Growing is hard work

Just take a deep breath and relax. Everything is as it should be. Also what's wrong if they get 4 ft? That's very normal. Red tails also go off feed. Would you trade that snake in when it thought it was breeding season and went on a 4 month fast? There's no reason to be so drastic. Your snakes are doing what they do naturally. Everything is good in the world. Breathe.

[Marla]

Thank you Becky, for that apt summary.

[normballpython2]

um yeah dude i been up all day and still haven't eaten jst cleaning my snakes tank and watching him feed on a fuzzy rat. even if he didn't eat today i would still keep him. even if he didn't eat or do anything for a year i would still keep em because he is my pet. a being not just something u can just trade man. how would u like it if when u were younger ur mom traded u for another jsut becase u didn't fit her standards. man get ur priorities straight and keep the bp and treat it as a living being and not just a toy. sorry if i am being a little offensive but that post sorta ticked me off. forgive me if this really offends u but i am trying to get a point across.

[Nate]

as for the heat/humidity problem...
get a lamp and put one of those black heat lights in it...put it over your tank and keep it on 24/7 to keep the hot side at a stable temp.

get a towel (or small rag) and re-wet it daily. If you havn't gotten a digital temp/humidity guage, they're like $15 at wal-mart (found mine next to the light bulb section) that way you can accurately keep an eye on temps and humidity. if temps get too high, unplug the heat lamp (but of course, keep some belly heat), and if the humidity gets too high from the towel, just fold the towel over one or 2 times. let us know how that works for u.

[TONYDM41684]

I expected the response. I am sorry but I am just fustrated. She is upseting me. I could never trade her in. I do want a red tail but I can always make room for that one. It just that my buddy has a bp that has been eating and growing so well and i just feel like I am behind. I am sorry for being an ass I really enjoy having my 2 bp even if it can be upseting.

[Nate]

you'll get 100 respnoses to one question from this site. it's what ppl do here. post all ur Q's...they'll recieve a damn good answer.

stop stressin...lol