1200g Pastel hasnt eaten in a month

[TKByrnes21783]

Hey all. I know a month isnt a long time for a ball to not eat. But.... Im trying to get him ready to breed and he just wont eat. He was 1300g a month ago and is down to 1210 now. Dont see any signs of sickness and loves to be handled. Litterally climbs out of his tank and into your hands. I know its possible that he senses the time of year and wants to breed but I dont want him to get sick or even die during breeding. (thats how I would want to go though lol) Any advice?

[snakesRkewl]

90 grams in one month is a lot to lose even being completely off feed.
Maybe you didn't get an accurate weight to begin with?
I've had snakes not eat for many months and not lose 90 grams.

If you can try offering him smaller meals until he regains interest and then up the size to his usual.

[Rawbbeh]

Did you weigh him the first time when he had food in his gut? I would probably say that a good sum of the weight he lost was in the form of poop...

A month without eating isn't anything to be concerned about. You can see threads where some have gone 6+ months. A local breeder told me one of her BP's went 9 months with only losing a couple of grams in weight!

[Aes_Sidhe]

90 gram difference could be a good size nr 2 plus nr 1

Some of males will go totally off feed during breeding season .. and he maybe just start thinking about girls...
My male go off feed 3 weeks ago... but with temp drops... few cold fronts pass...and female shelf below I'm not surprised...

1200gis a healthy weight for male. He shouldn't loos more now.. and if he will gulp nice portion of water You can surprisingly discover that he gain couple of grams

[TKByrnes21783]

Maybe he still had food in him. He was fed like 4 or 5 days before I picked him up. The breeder I got him from said it might be from going into a bigger setup. He was in a 32 q tub and now he is in a 40 breeder.

[Aes_Sidhe]

Maybe he still had food in him. He was fed like 4 or 5 days before I picked him up. The breeder I got him from said it might be from going into a bigger setup. He was in a 32 q tub and now he is in a 40 breeder.

That's is a possibility... put him Back in 32qt and after few days give him live weaned rat...

[TKByrnes21783]

Yea ill try it. My fiance hates putting them in a rack. She says they need more room! lol so the big snakes get larger setups.

[snake lab]

Tell your fiance that ball pythons live underground in termite mounds in africa lol. You should be fine. He probablly is ready for a lady. Bring on the girls. I love this time of year

[TKByrnes21783]

Thinking thats what his problem is. He was a stud last year! got him on 2 females this year so.... Either way im going to keep trying to feed him for another 2 weeks then ill start breeding him. Still gonna offer food.

[Quikcobra]

Try not to handle him for a while (Week or so), then down size the food 1 scale, And then try to feed him in his container/tank. It works for me.

PS... Make sure theres no other snakes in his tank/container during this process...

I think its too early in the year for him to since that. But if there was a nice change in the bariatric pressure, It may have done something. But not for a month.