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

[Eric Alan]

A lot of BPs tend to roam at night - that part is perfectly normal.

From your chart it looks like her weight is fine and it's only been a month since she ate last - that part is perfectly normal.

Some snakes use their hides and others do not - that part is perfectly normal.

Am I missing something? Why are you bummed? What part of any of this makes you think she needs to see a vet?

[saevam]

She got off a 9-month fast earlier this year and has only gotten seven meals in her since then.

This behavior is completely unusual for her. She always uses her hides, she never desperately mashes her face in the corners trying to escape for hours. Her weight dropped significantly more than normal during this three-week nightly bouts of desperate escape attempts.

I was hoping the vet would have some answers as to why her behavior took such a drastic turn, since the internet hasn't been able to tell me anything.

[Eric Alan]

If you feel you need to see a vet, just make sure that they're a reliable herp vet (maybe other members can recommend one in your area). The last thing you want is a vet without knowledge of BPs to diagnose something that isn't there and stress your snake out to the point where it becomes sick.

[coldbloodaddict]

Try live...

[saevam]

It's been two months, so I figured time for an update. I decided to take the internets advice and leave her alone and not fuss with her for awhile.

She still has not eaten, nor has she stopped her escape attempts. Her September weigh in was 1536g, and on October 1501g (in contrast to her August weight of 1703g)

Two weeks ago she stopped trying to escape!... for a while. It eventually was made apparent that she stopped because she was going into shed, and actually stayed on the warm side for five solid days as she went into blue. I sprayed her twice a day to keep the humidity above 60%. Despite the humidity, when she shed it was blasted into pieces. She got it all off okay. No damaged scales or stuck pieces. Makes me wonder why the shed was not perfect like previous ones though...

At any rate, now that she is done shedding we're back to how she used to be. Calm during the day, escape attempts at night. She is using her hides now, so at least we're back to normal there. She still shows zero interest in food. If she was at least looking at it and smelling it I would consider live to convince her to eat, but the fact she doesn't show a hint of interest like previous fasts makes me think food type is not the problem here.

So, here is my current battle strategy!

It seems to me, with no interest in food, textbook temps and humidity, coupled with constant escape attempts... must mean she feels unsafe in some way. Clearly my cluttering attempts and extra hides haven't convinced her she's safe, nor did leaving her alone for two solid months. People always like to say ball pythons prefer cramped quarters, so I'm just gunna put that to the test. I plan on getting a 28qt tub and placing her in that, instead of her nice fancy 3"x2" cage she apparently hates.
If a snug tub does not get her eating again, I will try to find a snake specialist to get blood work done to see if she has some sort of illness causing this behavior. The last vet I tried failed to draw blood and didn't seem to know much about ball pythons so i'm not inclined to go back there...

If anyone has any critiques or suggestions on that battle plan, let me know!

If neither of those things work I don't know what i'll do. Probably run screaming naked into the woods, finally driven to madness. If you don't hear any more updates, you know what happened.

[saevam]

Went to the exotic vet.

They said my husbandry checks out... They did suggest a UVB light for her, and said that it may help her appetite again. Not completely sold on that but hell at this point sure i'll try crazy stuff. Vet gave her a vitamin shot and drew blood to run tests on. Bloodwork came back clean, so at least that has been ruled out.

Vet said to attempt feeding the following day, with a mouse or very young rat since her usually food is a medium or small rat. Feeding attempt did not work. She just attempted to escape the cage. The fact that she's still trying to escape so regularly seems like it's related to her fasting, but I can't find out why she's doing it... I mentioned it to the vet and they didn't address it at all. The vet now wants to give her another vitamin shot, and force feed her a pinkie... I feel kinda uneasy about this... She's certainly skinny but not nearly emaciated, but maybe they want to get something in her to run a fecal? I don't know... Vets know more than me, i'm trying to trust them.

Should we go through with the force feeding? Does that feel weird to anyone else?

Any help or advice is appreciated...

[Spoons]

Maybe this is dumb, but have you thought about actually letting her out of the cage and seeing where it is she wants to go? Letting her "escape" and monitor her location to see where she ends up? I'd even try feeding her once she's ended up somewhere. I dunno, maybe it's silly, but I'd be open for anything after your ordeal. I really hope you get something figured out, talk about frustration.

[saevam]

That's actually a really good idea... Seriously. I'm going to try it next time she does the crazy i-must-escape night behavior. Thank you for that idea!

She's been pretty chill the last three nights. I'm wondering if that vitamin shot kicked in and she's feeling more normal. Hopefully~ If not, i'm trying you're suggestion, Spoons! :}

[bcr229]

BP's do not need or benefit from UVB light.

I also would not force feed anything. It's stressful on the snake and yours knows how to eat.

[calmolly1]

Did the smaller enclosure (the tub) make any difference?


Molly & Steve
0.1 normal BP 'Precioucess'
0.1 BCI 'Luna'