Sick of wasting food

[maskedburito]

I’m absolutely fed up with throwing out rats. Wasting tons of money. Had my bp for 5 years and ready to give her away. Ever since I had her she has been the pickiest eater ever. Lucky if she eats 10 meals a year. She has been a steady 1900 grams tho forever. Never changing weight. She only eats them if they are piping hot. I can’t keep throwing away 5$ rats.

Her temps and tank is perfect and has been. Bps are suppose to be easy snakes and I got the pickiest one ever. Just venting.

[Sonny1318]

Okay if the husbandry is fine, have you tried spacing out feedings? I have nothing but males. And my older ones barely eat from Late December to late July. I’ve just learned to offer once a month during that period. Just my 2 cents.

[tegu]

My solution is having multiple snakes. I have some snakes where if they were the only one in my collection id feel the same way.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G920A using Tapatalk

[maskedburito]

Okay if the husbandry is fine, have you tried spacing out feedings? I have nothing but males. And my older ones barely eat from Late December to late July. I’ve just learned to offer once a month during that period. Just my 2 cents.

Sorry was real upset of the food waste. Calmed down. I don’t offer too often anymore as I know she turns down a lot. When she is fasting around the same time period you say, I generally only try once a month. I noticed she only eats it if it’s insane hot, like boiling water heating it. Which i can’t do because she may burn herself.

It will be easier when I have another snake that size to offer the food to when she turns down. It’s medium rat. Wondering if it’s too big and intimidating her.

[RickyNY]

Get a Carpet Python. NO more wasted rats

[zina10]

Trust me, I understand your frustration. Their fasting and so called picky-ness can really get to people, esp. if you buy and waste a lot of food.

Forgive me for asking though, how much research did you do before you got a Ball Python? They are not the "easiest" . At least not for people that do not understand how they work.

1900 grams is not that bad for an adult Ball Python. Especially if it was a male. Are you sure its a female ?

How BIG are the rats she eats ?

Many BP's (esp. males) will only eat about 8 to 10 meals per year, depending on the size of the feeder. More, if the feeder are on the smaller side. However, there are some females that behave much like males when it comes to diet.

They are opportunistic snakes. In the season when food is plenty, they will take whatever they can get. Because there always comes the dry season, when food is scarce or non existent for many months. During that time they fast.

If they were to continue eating year round like they do when they are in "eat plenty" mode, they would get obese and eventually the organs fail because they can't support the blubber. Their entire system is built for the "eat>fast" seasons.

Now, there are some Ball Pythons that will eat year round, but most adults WILL slow down, if fed larger prey, they will take longer breaks in between. And then come weeks or months of fast.

That is simply part of Ball Pythons.

You say everything is perfect. But humor us and describe her setup, what kind of cage, how big, hides, how you heat, how you regulate heat, how exposed or not, humidity, temps, how BIG are the rats she does eat.

And again, you are sure of her sex?

You can try smaller prey and less often. Let her build up an appetite. At that size she isn't going to starve anytime soon !!!

[pretends2bnormal]

As much as BPs are recommended as beginner snakes, they definitely aren't what I'd call "easy". That award has gotta go to something like a corn snake, in my opinion.

But to your problem, I would definitely space out feeding to about as often as she has historically eaten for you as a start and keep an eye on her weight. Maybe just offer once monthly as long as her weight stays steady.

Also, I'm not sure where you buy rats that a BP would have to have $5 rats (unless you feed live?). She may choose to eat more regularly if you offer a size smaller (smalls if you offer medium, or medium if you are offering larges). If you do use frozen, it is definitely cheaper to order online. My small rats cost around $1.50-1.75 & mediums around $2 each.

If you feed F/T, I highly recommend getting a cheap hair dryer and using that to thoroughly heat the head of the rat before offering. You may see better response from her this way than warming under a lamp or by dipping in hot water.

Sent from my SM-G950U using Tapatalk

[zina10]

Ok, just saw you feed mediums.

Try to go to smalls.

[Zincubus]

Get a Carpet Python. NO more wasted rats

Or a dwarf Boa


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

[Zincubus]

I always say that Royals are THE perfect snake to buy ... novice or expert ... but you HAVE to buy a good feeder .

A couple of mine will only eat every 10 to 14 days as well .


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro