Adult female not eating

[Snakee01]

Hello!
I bought an adult female ball python in the hope of breeding her with my friends snake. She is 1800g and the reptile shop I bought her from told me she was ready to breed. Since buying her in January she has only eaten for me once (an adult mouse) even though the reptile shop said she was eating medium rats once a week. My friend has been telling me that she shouldn’t be bred until she starts eating again. Is this true? Do they power feed and then stop eating when they’re ready to breed? Or is she just on strike and I should wait until she eats.
Thanks in advance for any input (:

[Lord Sorril]

Weight is just a basic estimate for breeding. Maturity is the determining factor.

Since she is relatively new to your collection and she has only eaten 1 mouse since January I agree with your friend that you should concentrate your effort on getting her to eat regularly instead of adding stress by attempting to breed.

If your setup is adequate then she should eat when she feels comfortable. If she is not/does not-then you have an issue.

[Stewart_Reptiles]

Adult are well know to stop eating when changing environment in my experience 50% of the adult females I have purchased or received on loans to 6 months to a year to resume feeding.

Personally I would not breed an animal unless it has passed a 90 days quarentine and is feeding with consistency.

Offering a mouse to a rat eating animal was not a great choice as they are more enticing and now you my be stuck with that descision. Changing prey is usually not the best option, patience is especially with an animal that size.

As for breeding give it another year with the economy as it is right now you are better of doing so anyway.