Mia is one of the picky ones.......

[Maybeka]

HELLO ! Been a while since i posted. I have read a lot about picky Ball Pythons, and Mia is definitely one of them.
We feel she is small for her age, she is 2 yrs and 6 months old now and weighs about 700g.
She has just come out of a 7 week food strike (no clue why) and during that strike she shed twice!

She does not like blood, which to me is odd because if the rat has a little blood on it's nose, she will smell it as if she's going to strike, and just turn her head really fast and leave. Other times she will strike and if she happens to miss, she will not even attempt to try again and will just go back to hiding. Then there are times where she will eat every 7 days like clockwork with no problems for 3 months straight.

We thought we had it down with how to feed her, we defrost the rat and just before feeding her we lay it on top of the wire on her enclosure under the heat. Within 5 min she is stretched all the way up to where it is in definite food mode so by the time she eats she's REALLY ready for it. However that doesn't seem to work all the time anymore.

Last night she had just her head sticking out of her hide and never came out for food so i put it down in front of her and she snatched it in 2 seconds and pulled it inside to finish it.

Only question we have is that since she had a rough start, will she ever catch up and be the size of a normal BP female?

Just wanted to post a quick update, hope all here are staying safe.

[Craiga 01453]

What size prey are you feeding? Too big can lead to food strikes.

How often are you offering? Offering too often can stress the snake and lead to further refusals.

How long are you leaving it under the lamp? If its starting to cook at all the snake will refuse.

[Zincubus]

HELLO ! Been a while since i posted. I have read a lot about picky Ball Pythons, and Mia is definitely one of them.
We feel she is small for her age, she is 2 yrs and 6 months old now and weighs about 700g.
She has just come out of a 7 week food strike (no clue why) and during that strike she shed twice!

She does not like blood, which to me is odd because if the rat has a little blood on it's nose, she will smell it as if she's going to strike, and just turn her head really fast and leave. Other times she will strike and if she happens to miss, she will not even attempt to try again and will just go back to hiding. Then there are times where she will eat every 7 days like clockwork with no problems for 3 months straight.

We thought we had it down with how to feed her, we defrost the rat and just before feeding her we lay it on top of the wire on her enclosure under the heat. Within 5 min she is stretched all the way up to where it is in definite food mode so by the time she eats she's REALLY ready for it. However that doesn't seem to work all the time anymore.

Last night she had just her head sticking out of her hide and never came out for food so i put it down in front of her and she snatched it in 2 seconds and pulled it inside to finish it.

Only question we have is that since she had a rough start, will she ever catch up and be the size of a normal BP female?

Just wanted to post a quick update, hope all here are staying safe.

All mine strike feed from their hide ... next time heat the head of the mouse then dangle it in front of the hide entrance - don’t blink


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[Mr. Misha]

All mine strike feed from their hide ...


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I second that. However my terrariums open on the side so feeding for me is a bit easier.

I'd recommend defrosting the prey at room temp and once you're ready to feed, put the prey in a ziploc bag, fill a container with hottest tap water available and let the prey warm up for about 5 minutes and then offer. If you wait too long, the prey can cool down.

[Maybeka]

What size prey are you feeding? Too big can lead to food strikes.

How often are you offering? Offering too often can stress the snake and lead to further refusals.

How long are you leaving it under the lamp? If its starting to cook at all the snake will refuse.

She is eating small rats.

We offer about every 7 to 10 days. She usually tells us when she's hungry and goes "hunting". When everything in her enclosure has been re-arranged during the night it's usually when she's been out cruising.

It's under the lamp until we see her come out looking for it. It's usually about 2 or 3 min maybe.

Think i'll defrost room temp as i do now, but i'll put it in warm water right before giving it to her. I tried defrosting it in water, but that gives it a bloody nose sometimes, and she HATES when her food has a bloody nose.

So you think she'll ever catch up to be normal size, or always small? If she's stays small we are ok with it, she's adorable as is.

[Mr. Misha]

So you think she'll ever catch up to be normal size, or always small? If she's stays small we are ok with it, she's adorable as is.

Try to do it on the same day for about a month and see if that changes things. I've noticed that by offering on a strict schedule, my BPs know when it "feeding day" and are already waiting for their dinner.

They all grow at their own pace. One of my girls eats like a pig for 7-9 months and then stops for 3-5. This has been going on for 3 years in a row. First year it happened I was freaking out but now I'm used to it. I still offer her food on the months she goes off feed and keep a log of her weight.

[Craiga 01453]

She is eating small rats.

We offer about every 7 to 10 days. She usually tells us when she's hungry and goes "hunting". When everything in her enclosure has been re-arranged during the night it's usually when she's been out cruising.

It's under the lamp until we see her come out looking for it. It's usually about 2 or 3 min maybe.

Think i'll defrost room temp as i do now, but i'll put it in warm water right before giving it to her. I tried defrosting it in water, but that gives it a bloody nose sometimes, and she HATES when her food has a bloody nose.

So you think she'll ever catch up to be normal size, or always small? If she's stays small we are ok with it, she's adorable as is.

Ok, it sounds like you're doing everything the way I would have suggested. I heat prey in water too. I find the extra hydration can't hurt.

Some are just smaller than others, some grow slower than others. Without knowing more about her background (parents sizes, hatch weight, how soon they started eating as a hatchling, etc...). As long as she's maintaining a good body structure I wouldn't sweat it.

Try to do it on the same day for about a month and see if that changes things. I've noticed that by offering on a strict schedule, my BPs know when it "feeding day" and are already waiting for their dinner.

They all grow at their own pace. One of my girls eats like a pig for 7-9 months and then stops for 3-5. This has been going on for 3 years in a row. First year it happened I was freaking out but now I'm used to it. I still offer her food on the months she goes off feed and keep a log of her weight.

Perfect example of how different things work for different people and different animals. There really are no "one size fits all" answers.

I stopped feeding my BPs on a schedule because I was getting refusals. Since I started basically letting them "tell" me when they're hungry (by observing behavior at night) I haven't had any refusals and they both eat year round.

Silly little BPs.

[Zincubus]

She is eating small rats.

We offer about every 7 to 10 days. She usually tells us when she's hungry and goes "hunting". When everything in her enclosure has been re-arranged during the night it's usually when she's been out cruising.

It's under the lamp until we see her come out looking for it. It's usually about 2 or 3 min maybe.

Think i'll defrost room temp as i do now, but i'll put it in warm water right before giving it to her. I tried defrosting it in water, but that gives it a bloody nose sometimes, and she HATES when her food has a bloody nose.

So you think she'll ever catch up to be normal size, or always small? If she's stays small we are ok with it, she's adorable as is.

Try thawing naturally in the snake room then a quick blast of a hairdryer then offer immediately whilst it’s still warm


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[Maybeka]

Ok, it sounds like you're doing everything the way I would have suggested. I heat prey in water too. I find the extra hydration can't hurt.

Some are just smaller than others, some grow slower than others. Without knowing more about her background (parents sizes, hatch weight, how soon they started eating as a hatchling, etc...). As long as she's maintaining a good body structure I wouldn't sweat it.



Perfect example of how different things work for different people and different animals. There really are no "one size fits all" answers.

I stopped feeding my BPs on a schedule because I was getting refusals. Since I started basically letting them "tell" me when they're hungry (by observing behavior at night) I haven't had any refusals and they both eat year round.

Silly little BPs.

That's what we were doing at first, we fed her on a schedule and it didn't work for long at all. Now we wait until she shows us that she's hungry, that's usually the only time she will eat.

She was a little bitty thing that my son had purchased at ….. PetSmart (yes he knows now ….). If you look back at my posts you'll see that she had some major issues with her tongue when he brought her home and he had to assist feed her (with help from a friend of his who has ball pythons also) and as a matter of fact we didn't see a tongue for the first 3 weeks he had her. We REALLY thought she didn't have a tongue at all.

Funny thing was that the vet at PetSmart didn't see reptiles...very odd they sell them but don't take care of them but whatever …

Fortunately we already had a very good reptile vet of our own because we own Sulcata Tortoises and a Bearded Dragon. The vet said she was just probably a few months old and she had gone a bit after my son got her without eating before he finally assist fed her, and vet said she was very small.

The vet had to inside her mouth and find her tongue. That was the first time we actually saw her tongue come out. For the first few weeks he had her we didn't think she even had a tongue and we were quite worried! It was almost like it was stuck inside, like a person who's tongue tied. Once the vet took care of it, my son assist fed her a few more meals and then one day she struck and ate by herself. (it was like party in our house when she actually took that first mouse)