Snake on Hunger Strike (Again) for 9 Months.

[Albert Clark]

Consider also partially replacing the substrate to 100% cypress mulch. There has been anecdotal evidence and reports on the impact that 100% cypress mulch has on poorly feeding ball pythons. Coupled with all the other recommendations the substrate plays an important part in ball python feeding. East Coast Reptiles some years ago put out an article that outlined their studies and research into the issues of non feeding and poorly, inconsistent feedings in several different ball pythons. I believe this article was in Justin Kobylka’s Ball street Journal. They highlighted the successes that were brought about by instilling 100% cypress mulch into the enclosures of several animals. If I can pull it up from the archives I will post it. Good luck and pts can be placed on hold.

[Alf_uk]

Buzz shead on the 11th , I've left him a few days as he was just hiding. Tonight I feed him an ASF, and I eventually got him to feed !!! I must have been dangling the ASF for 20 mins, ( Withdrawing every 5 mins so i didn't push him too far). I have to say he was very messes trying to swallow his prey. It took him over 30 mins, his head wobble was getting in the way and he was trying to take it ass first. I was glad I got the smallest ASF the shop offered (40g), eventually the ASFs guts were exposed , so i am not sure he got the full value out of the feed. However it is a feed and it progress.

My question now is what are the next steps ? How long would you leave him until trying again ? Would you continue with the 40g ASF or move up a size ( Buzz is 1kg)..

Thanks again.

[Armiyana]

If he's having trouble with the smaller size still I would be hesitant to try sizing it up. I don't think having him on the smaller prey size is a bad thing either. I would stick with it for now and see if he improves or just keep making sure he's consistent.
Ball pythons can be extremely sensitive to changes so trying to change it up when you just got a good response can make him quit again. And if his wobble is acting up more at the moment I would definitely not want to stress him out more.

If he starts eating the smaller size consistently and you're worried he's still not getting enough, you can try offering him a slightly shorter feed schedule.
A lot of BPs are actually overfed and overweight. We like the 10% rule because it's easy. The key is keeping an eye on the muscle and spine, and the way the body is shaped when coiling. Unless it's a female who's breeding soon, I sometimes scale back the ones who want food 1x a week to a much smaller prey item to keep them from becoming sausages.