Ball Python Losing Weight

[Shiverice]

Hello everyone. About two months ago, I purchased a ball python. I was told that she is eight months old. She was feeding fine until two months ago when she was bitten by a mouse. I have tried to switch her to frozen, but she's very picky. She has not eaten since the mouse incident, and I have offered her a mouse every week. She was roughly 120 grams when purchased and has gone down to about 90. Is this reason for concern?

In regards to her eating, she has been striking/killing the mouse but not eating it. I've tried leaving her alone in a dark room but she won't eat.

[Montypython696]

I would say a snake that size dropping 30 grams in two months would be a little concerning.

I would get an accurate weight of the snake for sure, so you know exactly how much weight the snake is losing.

I would also try offering her smaller prey, try some live fuzzy mice, they are relatively small for a ball python I know, but if she eats them then at least she's got some food in her belly. I had to do this for a 180 gram albino who didn't eat for me all winter, I got him started on fuzzies early April because he would follow the prey around but not strike. Now he's on small mice and is doing better/putting on weight.

Hopefully the bite didn't traumatize the girl, but in my book anything that gets under 100 grams would be cause for concern.