Feeding problem.

[Whodinidunit]

My BP is also going on a feeding strike lately. It's been about 3 weeks since he last took a meal. What is baffling is he has been very active lately. Every morning I come home from work at 8:00AM and he is out of his hide and moving about his cage all the way up to the top. And the same thing when I wake up in the evening as I get ready to go to work. So he is out and about all the time. Even when I hold him he is very active in trying to move around.

His tank is a 39gal tank. Hot side temp is from 89-93 degeers, cool side is 78-82 degrees. Humididity is about 75%. nothing really has changed except i switched his bedding from cypress mulch to aspen.

I've already wasted 3 rats trying to fed him. he always seems to be interested but then changes his mind. Any Ideas? I have been good with feeding him since July.

[Sparky1]

Do you feed f/t or live? How old is he?

[LadyOhh]

Consider if the temps are down in your area, that he may be fasting due to the season.

[SoundUnsleep]

I would suggest to change back to mulch and throttle down the humidity to 55 to 60%.
Reason for why I think that the substrate might be the culprit: Substrates are being discussed on just about every forum and every keeper and breeder is trying hard to provide the very best for their critters. That's a tough thing to do, because fact is that some snakes have different needs. The metabolic rate of a ball python is not just affected by temperature (although some BP's will attempt to hibernate even with perfect warm temps in a tank, like in your case), but also by exposure to certain chemicals/minerals/proteins in their environment. Aspen and cypress have a different ratio calcium/magnesium uptake and used as a substrate may affect the snakes metabolism.
Sad, but true, there are many research projects about mineral uptake in plants, but to my knowledge there are none that provide much information as to their effect on our snakes.
If you decide to change back to the mulch, give your baby a couple days of rest and then try to feed again.
Best of luck!

[Stewart_Reptiles]

There are 2 things, here first one is that you BP refuses to eat, the second one is that your BP is very active.

How big is your BP?
What type of thermometer do you use to measure his temps (Stick, Dial, Digital)?
What kind of hides do you use and are they tight (all side touching his body) and identical?
What size prey have you been feeding and how often?
Do you have a pic of your enclosure?

[littleindiangirl]

Also, how long have you had him?

[Whodinidunit]

I have had him since the end of June. The first month I had him he gave a little "I don't Wanna Eat" period for about three weeks. But since then he's been a solid eater, eating 2 med rats a week.
He is about 4 and a half to 5 foot in length, do not know what he weighs at since I do not have a scale and he wont sit still long enough. When I got him the person that sold it said he was about a year old, but I think he is older then that.

I measure his temps and humidity with a digital thermometer. Currently as of 3:24 PM EST his hot side is at 88.7 (outside his tank Room air is at 72) and cold side is 79 with a 55% humidity. I think the humidity was up yesterday cause I just misted his cage prior to reading.

Husbandry: 39 Gallon High tank. I just gave him a larger water bowl. He has a homemde rubbermaid bin on his hot side for a hide. and a wooden peice for a cool side hide. Other then the water bowl and the change over to aspen everything has been the same since the end of June. Aldso on his hot side hide under the tank I do have a small heating pad that is set to either lo

I feed him Live rats. He does not want anything to do with f/t or freshly thumped (trust me, I tried).

Here is a photo of his setup:
http://i172.photobucket.com/albums/w...ni/Whodini.jpg

Someone said it could be the season up here as the weather is starting to get nasty and cold. I also read that it is breeding season. Could this also be a reason?

[littleindiangirl]

Two medium rats a week? Medium as 150+ grams? That's quite a lot. He's probably going off feed from too much food.
It is also coming into winter, but a lot of CB snakes wont go off feed unless they are cooled. (I believe).

[Stewart_Reptiles]

In most of the cases when a BP is fasting there is a reason behind it, often it is husbandry related, in that case make sure that your temperatures are 80-84 on the cool side, 90-94 on the warm side, of course this mean you need to have an accurate reading provided by a digital thermometer.

Check your humidity and make sure it is between 50%-60%

Make sure the enclosure is in a low traffic area.

Make sure your hides (2) are tight enough so your BP can snug in, all sides must be touching your BP's body.

If you handle your BP often, try to limit handling (Too much handling can cause stress)

BP will also fast to catch up and I can tell you that if you feed 2 medium rats a week I am not surprise to hear that your BP refuses to eat. This is way more food than your BP needs.

Because a BP can eat large amount of food does not mean he needs to.

If you want your BP to resume feeding and eat with consistency I would recommend you to downsize a bit.

BP can thrive with nothing more than a small rat (4 weeks old - 45/65 grams a week).

I never fed a medium rat, not even to my biggest adults.

The largest prey I feed is a small rat weekly and I never had any BP going of feed.

[dr del]

Hi,

I think it would be a really good idea to get all that tape out of the enclosure in all honesty - it's an accident waiting to happen (especially with it being all over the hide as well).

boosting the temps a little is an option but they aren't really terrible or anything.

But I do notice the probes are hanging in mid air. It might be a good idea to use the probe to check the actual temperatures inside his hides hot and cold to see what he is actually being exposed to - or have I misunderstood that picture?

I would try to source some identical nice tight dark hides that you could fit one at each end - possibly using a smaller waterbowl would make that easier? The tub seems a little large if he can fit in that wooden thing from the picture.

I agree he has been eating a lot - but that depends entirely on what your source calls a medium rat. The weights mentioned in the posts above seem right as to what you were feeding?

It is possible that it is breeding that is on his mind but a couple of little tweaks to his home might spur his appetite a bit.


dr del