Is he fasting?

[Archer]

Hello,

My BP hasn't eaten since sometime mid-summer this year when he weighed around 1320g. He was last fed a medium sized frozen rats.
I'm aware that BP's are known to be fussy eaters and that males, especially, can fast from late autumn, but I am worried that there may be another issue at play. He seems somewhat scared of his food and jumpy, but if the rat is left in the tank he cuddles up to it.

After a while of refusing food, I decided to stop offering to him. This lasted around 3 weeks, but when he was offered food again (about 1 moth ago), he showed no interest. I've not offered since. I am considering purchasing smaller frozen rats or perhaps wild frozen rats.

I am now consistently keeping an eye on his weight to determine his health.

on 26/08/18 he weighed 1497g.
on 11/10/18 he weighed 1442g.

He is loosing weight, but not at a drastic rate. Could he be fasting, or should I be worried?

Thanks.

[BallPythonWannaBe]

To start off with what is your enclosure like? Heat sorce, temps, and wether or not you are using a thermostat would be helpful. If it's not an issue with the husbandry more experienced people will surely come along with more advice.

[Archer]

Oh yes, I intended to include the husbandry!

He's in a low height glass viv with coconut substrate and some plants. There are cork boards blocking the glass sides to ensued he feels secure. His hides are low and a good size for him. He also has a fake skull to climb on.

I use a puls-proportional thermostat with a CHE, as well as a mat thermostat for his UTH.

His temps are steady, with his hot hide ranging from 88-90F and cool at 81-2F. Ambient temps settle around 77F.
The humidity is always between 50-60%.

Hope this is helpful.

[Archer]

Does anyone know what might be the problem?

[Stewart_Reptiles]

He could stop eating for up to a year with no issue at that weight, it's a male smaller more infrequent feeding especially if it's a pet are better.

Snakes are overfed in captivity and with BP when they are overfed they will fast to catch up, in the future when he resume feeding try offering rats not bigger than 75 grams every 7 to 10 days and every now and then skip a week.

You may also want to see if downsizing the enclosure for the winter will help him resume feeding (I have great success with that with my males.)

[Archer]

Hi again,

I’ve downsized his viv (90 x 45 x 30 cm / 36” x 18” x 12” (WxDxH)), and moved to smaller rats. He’s still not eating. As of today, he now weighs 1370g.

I hope there’s something else I can do as it’s approaching 6 months now and I’m quite worried for him.

[Treeman]

Maybe offer a mouse instead of his usual rats?

With my ball python having been a pain to get to eat his whole life, I have learned some tricks that other people have found helpful.

What has worked for me:
Feeding in an all dark room, with the snake in a tub
Leaving rat with snake in a dark box for a while. *(only F/T rodents)*
Heating rat up as hot as I can without cooking rat or damaging snake

What hasn't worked for me:
Brain splitting
putting chicken broth in the water the rat's thawing out in to add scent


Since my guy is such a finicky eater, these tricks don't always get him to feed 100% of the time. Unless significant weight loss occurs until the point the snake becomes unhealthy, just experiment with new tricks to trigger feeding response.