BP scared of rats?

[panickinbanan]

Hello! A few months ago I brought my first bp home. She has been doing great apart from a few times where she has stopped eating. During these periods she loses a little weight which worries me. These periods start after she sheds and seem to last until I get a different rat. Is it possible she is getting scared of the rats somehow? She won't eat f/t so I have been feeding her small live rats, specifically brown because I thought that might be what she preferred but I guess not anymore. She has eaten this size almost the entire time I have had her. I even feed her the same way as before she sheds so I don't know how she could be getting scared. Temp and humidity don't change either. I am just worried that losing weight like this isn't good for her health, so if anyone has suggestions on what I could do differently I would be very grateful!

[MusicCityMack]

How big is she, and are you sure she’s a she?


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[Lord Sorril]

A ball python turning down food is nothing new.

Without knowing all the details of your set up and the age/size of the snake--it could be one of a thousand possible reasons. I think being 'afraid' of the rat is one of the less likely possibilities.

[panickinbanan]

Oh sorry, I completely forgot to add all of this. She is 10 months old and 513g. She has lost weight since she started her shed about two weeks ago (She was about 550g). She is in a 29 gallon aquarium (two sides are covered and a third is facing the wall) with reptichip bedding. Hot side is 95f, cold is 75f (I can't get it much warmer than that, but it never seems to bother her) and the humidity is around 60%. I am also 99% sure she is a she as the breeder I got her from seemed pretty reliable.

[Lord Sorril]

If the snake was recently moved between locations/enclosures or if it does not appreciate handling and you insist then you can reliably predict it will skip meals.

513 grams is still growing for a female-some males will slow down at this point and passing up a meal for them is just standard behavior.

A lot of people have trouble as their ball pythons get larger and the thermal gradient is more problematic for a growing snake who has diminishing options in a confined space. A 29 gallon has the same dimensions as a 20 gallon, but, a few more inches on the top. Yes, the additional height makes it more of a challenge to heat the enclosure.

75F is too cold, 95F is too hot

80F is the ideal air temperature (via thermometer)
90F is the ideal hot spot surface temperature (via temp gun)

When I was using 20 gallon tanks I was working in a cold room and I needed two heat emitters (one on each side), and a UTH on part of the bottom on one side. All of these heating elements needed thermostats to keep their temperatures balanced out.

Since the snake has a history of eating rats previously: If you get the temps fixed and you have a large enough water bowl for the snake to submerge (for shed) then you can be confident that the snake will eat when it is ready.

[Bogertophis]

If I had to kill & eat live rats (that can bite back hard-! in self-defense) by ONLY wrapping my mouth & body around it, I'd be afraid too!

Snakes get hurt when fed live...sooner or later it happens, whether or not YOU noticed. Then they can lose their "nerve"...

I know how HARD it is to entice a BP to accept f/t or fresh-killed* prey, but it's best that you learn. *have you even TRIED fresh-killed (& still warm or heat-enhanced)
rats?