Since I am still a bit new to ball pythons, It drives me nuts when a female hits 1000g and then goes off feed for no reason. Especially a female that has eaten every single meal that was ever put in front of her. Almost 1.5 months went by without any interest in her rats, so I decided to start some testing.
Is she going off feed because she just isn't hungry? Something else? My husbandry seems fine since every other snake in that rack are feeding with gusto. I feed F/T by the way.
The testing began.
1. Test 1: only open the cage a few inches and lower the F/T rat in there slowly. No response.
2. Test 2: Do the zombie dance lightly grazing the BP's mouth area. No response.
3. Test 3: Leave the Rat in overnight. No response.
4. Test 4: Shut all the lights off and lower in the rack with tongs. No response.
5. Test 5: Heat water up inside an old coffee mug to where i can just about keep my finger in there, dip the rat in there for 10 seconds, dab the rat with a paper towel. Result = Instant strike and successful meal!
Three days later I tried again my old way....nothing...Then I tried the hotter water coffee cup way....BAM! Struck within seconds! I guess my snake likes her meals hotter than normal now!
Don't give up on non-eaters. Something has to make them tick!
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