Hardly eating, now trying to escape? What are you trying to tell me, snake?!

[saevam]

WOO GET READY FOR A WALL OF TEXT!

My ball python came out of a nine-month long fast in May... It was a nightmare. I tried everything but live food to get her to eat.

Long story short, she started eating again!... but it hasn't been very regular eating. She'll only eat once or twice a month at most. Small rats, even though at her size she should probably be eating mediums.

And now she's trying to escape every night. For nearly three weeks now, she pushes her nose at the door for 5 hours every night. I thought it was because she was hungry, but she keeps flat out refusing food. She ignores it completely and focuses on trying to escape. She does the same escaping antics any time i take her out or spot clean. Me being in her cage just sets her into escape mode lately. She's acting like somethings wrong with the husbandry, but for the life of me I can't figure out what it is .

The only thing that has changed since she started trying to escape is that I did a full cage cleaning three weeks ago. That... shouldn't have upset her this much... Perhaps because we have a cat? Maybe cat hair got in there when i was cleaning and she smells it? These are the best things i've come up with :B.

Here are pictures of her and the enclosure.

• The enclosure is 36"x24"x12", made of PVC.
• Humidity generally stays around 50%-60%. I'll spray once a day in the morning to keep it at that level. It'll get to 40% at the absolute lowest.
• Temperatures are 91-89 on the belly-level of the hot side, 80-82 on the cool side's belly-level, and for ambient 86-82 for ambient depending on where you are in the cage.
• The enclosure is heated by a UTH for belly heat and a ceramic heating element. Both are maintained by dimming thermostat. She generally avoids the hot side, though. Always has. She almost always stays in the two cooler hides.
• She has four hides in total, each one has a 2-5 degree difference from one another. One of these hides is also a humid hide, and additionally she has a bowl big enough to soak in (though i've never once seen her soak).

Feeding notes for this year (All rats are f/t from a local rat farm.)

• May 4th - Broke 9-month fast! Ate small rat
• May 10th - Ate small rat
• May 16th - Ate small rat
• May 24th - Did not eat. Small rat offered. Moving up to medium.
• May 30th - Did not eat. Medium offered.
• June 7th - Did not eat. Small rat. Acted extremely interested in food but eventually turned away.
• June 20th - Ate small rat
• June 30th - Did not eat. Small rat offered. Close but she eventually passed on it.
• August 4th - Ate small rat
• August 11th - Was in shed. Food not offered
• August 19th - Did not eat. Intent on escaping. Small rat offered.
• August 24th - Did not eat. Intent on escaping. Small rat offered.

Weights for this year

• Jan 1650g
• Feb 1600g
• Mar 1568g
• Apr 1532g (1450 by vet visit end of april)
• May 1605g (Started eating again!)
• June 1580g
• July 1559g
• Aug 1703g

TLDR: Ball python is very picky about eating, and now is trying to escape at night. I can't figure out what i'm doing wrong, or if i'm just over reacting and this is normal.

Thank you guys for any suggestions. :<

[Eric Alan]

Is that UTH on the inside of her enclosure or are the pictures playing tricks on me?

Also, have you read these recent feeding articles?

• http://jkrballstreetjournal.com/2014...-eating-again/
• http://ballpythonbreeder.com/2014/08...thon-appetite/

Both are excellent places to start when trying to figure out the problem feeder puzzle. Good luck!

[Gemma]

My ball python pushes her nose up to the screen every time I put her back in her terrarium. All she wants to do is come back out, though. She's a spoiled brat.

[albinos_rule]

Looks to me like it is too, guess we'll wait for them to answer

[bcr229]

Is that UTH on the inside of her enclosure or are the pictures playing tricks on me?

It's in the enclosure. It's possible to waterproof the connections but it's kind of a PITA.

[Eric Alan]

It's in the enclosure. It's possible to waterproof the connections but it's kind of a PITA.

That's where my thinking was going. If the connections are accessible from the inside and they aren't entirely waterproof then that could cause behavioral changes (among other things, of course).

[angllady2]

Sometimes, there really isn't an explanation for their behavior. That is blasphemy I know, but it can be true. Is it possible you could move her enclosure up higher or down lower? I had one big female, she leaned on her tub sides so hard she bent the tub and escaped regularly. I gave her two new tubs, and she did the same thing to both of them. I was ready to kill her. Moved her tub from waist height to knee height, no more escape attempts.

I still have no idea why she suddenly hated where her tub was, or why lowering it 12" made such a difference, but it did. It might be worth trying in your case. You may have even changed something when you cleaned. You may not know it, but she may sense it and that is why she's trying to escape. Believe me, these guys are experts at finding weakness in their enclosure and exploiting it.

I hope you can figure out what is wrong. Or at least, figure out how to make her stop her obsessive behavior.

Gale

[saevam]

Is that UTH on the inside of her enclosure or are the pictures playing tricks on me?

Yes, the UTH is on the inside. I couldn't get it to do much on the outside...
It never occurred to me that could possibly effect her behavior (or, you know, shock her if she pee'd on the connection point). I feel like an idiot. Why didn't I ever think of that ?! I'm going to switch it to being on the outside for a while. Hopefully it'll be up to snuff

Sometimes, there really isn't an explanation for their behavior. That is blasphemy I know, but it can be true.

Ha. Could be! Interesting that moving the tub kicked it into gear for yours. I can't really raise the enclosure since it's a big PVC thing... I tried covering the door last night and she stopped her escape attempts. I noticed her on top of her hides this morning, and into the evening. I think she feels safe resting on top of her hides as long as i cover the window door. It's been 85 today and she's a complete princess about her temps and hates it even remotely near 90.

[saevam]

Update, since it's been a few days.

I moved the UTH out of her enclosure.
I also turned down the temps so the hot side is now 88 instead of 90. The weather has cooled down, so the cool side of her cage is now 80, instead of 83-83 like it was a few days ago.
I also covered her cage window with a cloth.

She's still trying to escape at night. It's not as the almost frantic mash-my-face-against-the-door-and-push that it was before, but she's still nosing around every night looking in every corner.

She's also now sleeping on top of her hides during the day. I actually haven't seen her in her hides in days. No idea why she's doing this. Maybe with the cloth she feels secure enough to not use a hide? Maybe she feels it's too hot in the hides? Any ideas?

Haven't tried feeding her yet. I'd like to wait for her behavior to normalize if i can..

[saevam]

Sigh. It's been nearly two weeks. She's still doing it.

I've tried cluttering the floor to make her feel safe, dropping the temps... She's still avoiding her hides and nothing stops her from trying to escape every night... She's dropping weight fast because of all the activity and no eating... No idea what to do... Getting pretty bummed out about it.

If anyone has any ideas before I take her to the vet... I'd really appreciate the help.