Weight Loss

[ssg150102]

Don't know where to post this. So 3 of my 4 BP shed in the past few days. I cleaned their tanks afterward and weighed them as I put them back up. 1 of their weight has gone down almost 30 grams while the others have gained. 3/4 fed last week Sunday, the one with the weight loss (Aset) is the one who didnt, and I've had her a few weeks now. Should I be concerned about the weight loss? I attempted to feed them all this Sunday just passed and none of them ate. I knew one wouldnt, I wouldn't sure if Aset would, but I thought the other two would, but none of them did. Should I try to feed her even though it isn't a scheduled day, or is this normal? She hasn't eaten since I've had her and I know they can go long periods of time without eating, I'm just concerned about the weight loss.

[200xth]

Don't know where to post this. So 3 of my 4 BP shed in the past few days. I cleaned their tanks afterward and weighed them as I put them back up. 1 of their weight has gone down almost 30 grams while the others have gained. 3/4 fed last week Sunday, the one with the weight loss (Aset) is the one who didnt, and I've had her a few weeks now. Should I be concerned about the weight loss? I attempted to feed them all this Sunday just passed and none of them ate. I knew one wouldnt, I wouldn't sure if Aset would, but I thought the other two would, but none of them did. Should I try to feed her even though it isn't a scheduled day, or is this normal? She hasn't eaten since I've had her and I know they can go long periods of time without eating, I'm just concerned about the weight loss.

What did the one who lost 30g weigh before and after? A drop of 150g to 120g is different than a drop of 1200g to 1170g.

[M.P.C]

Double check all your husbendry, make sure she has a nice snug one entrence hide, are you feeding f/t mice or rats or do you feed live and again witch do you feed, maybe try giving her the opposite of what you normally offer and see if maybe she is just picky, when i got bowser he wouldnt touch f/t anything and wouldnt eat mice, got a rat pup and he slammed it as soon as it hit the floor

[ssg150102]

Double check all your husbendry, make sure she has a nice snug one entrence hide, are you feeding f/t mice or rats or do you feed live and again witch do you feed, maybe try giving her the opposite of what you normally offer and see if maybe she is just picky, when i got bowser he wouldnt touch f/t anything and wouldnt eat mice, got a rat pup and he slammed it as soon as it hit the floor

she has two hides. she use to spend all her time in the warm side hide until she started shedding. i put some moss inside and around it when she came out one day, she hasn't been back in it since. its been about a week. i have a lot of plants around the outside boarders of the tank so shes either hiding under those or in her cool side hide. i'm at work right now so i can't post a pic. she just finished shedding yesterday, but shes been cruising the tank and being a lot more active since sunday.

the first feed attempt she rejected. that was on 7/26 and she had just started shedding. i fed her medium f/t fuzzy.
i attempted again this past sunday because she was pretty much done with her shed and she had become active again. medium f/t fuzzy and again she didnt eat.

to my knowledge she last fed at the pet store on 7/16. they couldnt tell me if she actually ate though.

[ssg150102]

What did the one who lost 30g weigh before and after? A drop of 150g to 120g is different than a drop of 1200g to 1170g.

she was 152 the last time i weighed her, which was 7/18. last night she was 128.

[M.P.C]

Have you tried live yet? She could just be a picky eater like ball pythons are known to be

[Stewart_Reptiles]

i fed her medium f/t fuzzy.
i attempted again this past sunday because she was pretty much done with her shed and she had become active again. medium f/t fuzzy and again she didnt eat.

she was 152 the last time i weighed her, which was 7/18. last night she was 128.

While this does not account for the weight loss you need to feed this animal the appropriate size prey Fuzzy (rats or mice) are not adequate for an animal that size.


You mentioned that the animal has not ate for you since acquiring it? Here is what you can do to get her started remember the NUMBER 1 PRIORITY is to get her to eat for you.

Switch her to a 6 quarts tub with aspen as bedding (2 inches layer), provide a plastic flower pot saucer as a hide, DO NOT HANDLE the animal, wait a week and offer a LIVE adult mouse in the tub. If it fails the following week try again offering a LIVE rat pup. In the mean time NO HANDLING until the animal eats at least 3 meals for you.

Switching to F/T right now is not the priority feeding is.


As for the weight loss if the animal had been weighed after a few meals and after word after defecating and urinating this could easily account for the loss however if when started to feed and feeding the right amount the animal fails to gain weight take her to a vet and have a fecal done.

[ssg150102]

Have you tried live yet? She could just be a picky eater like ball pythons are known to be

not yet. i wasnt sure about what to feed them, but i knew what two were eating at the store so i kept them on what they were use to. i got this one, Aset, and the last one from a different store and the clerk at least gave the impression she didnt know anything about their eating habits, accept they ate on thursdays. i went with the 10% body weight. i'll try larger if that is wrong. i was worried about going too big right off and harming them. they were all under 200g before their last feed.

[M.P.C]

Fallow deborahs advice and stick with live till she is eating consistently then think about trying to switch to f/t, balls can be very picky about the food, from being picky about what the prey item is, the color, if it was frozen or live/pre killed... our snake family here is a great example, stella is about 3-4 years old and wont touch anything out side of a small/med mice. bowser will only eat live rats, mice he shys away from and f/t he just ignores, but peach, rolland and johnny are all garbage disposals that dont care as long as its a meal

[SamO]

Just seconding what Deborah said. All my slow starters go on her plan (as of a few weeks ago) and they have all taken except one (but he has only been on the plan a week).

The reason for my post (other than to say Deborah's plan works) was to add that I have a young male who will only eat in total darkness. Blind all the windows, turn off all the lights, not even as much as a flashlight in the room (the incubator fan light is to much), then he will eat. He's been on rats for almost two years and eats 60 gram rats but it must be as dark as we can get the room.