I've made several posts about this female before but here's another one for her latest issues. I got her in August and she was eating live mice. I quickly switched her over to F/T mice but could not get her to eat F/T rats. She was still very hit and miss as far as meals were concerned. I never can predict when she'll eat for me. After a couple of months, I was ready to just call her a mouser.
On October 20th, I nonchalantly placed a live rat in her tub (which I've done before with no luck) and she ate it quickly. On October 24th, I fed her another live rat thinking that the first was probably a fluke. Then, on October 28th, I got excited and fed her a F/T rat fuzzy which she took. She took F/T rat pups on October 31st and November 3rd as well. Around this time, I realized that they all needed to be on large rat pups/weanlings so I started feeding every 3 days versus 4 to use up my small rat pups to make room in my freezer for when I bulk order more rats in January (since I didn't have the next size up and elected to feed meals close together than multiple prey items since my ball pythons tend to only want to eat one rat at a time).
Since then, she has refused EVERY SINGLE rat pup that I've offered her. All were thawed how they always are (in a baggy in warm water for about 30-45 min) and nothing about the prep/method of feeding has changed. Her tub has not changed, temps are pretty constant. I'm not sure what her deal is. Since her first refusal on November 6th, she has lost 21g (200g down to 179g).
She's still very young and even though I know they can last a long time without eating, I'm worried about her weight loss. What can I do to get her eating again? Do you think the change from a 4 day schedule to a 3 day schedule made that much of a difference? The other two ball pythons who were about her size have doubled in weight and she's regressing. Any help is appreciated.
extra info:
Housing: kept in a 28qt tub in a rack with two identical hides, water dish, and some plants to take up space (I figured with her shotty eating habits, it might help her to feel more secure)
hot side: thermostat keeps the flexwatt between 90-94* (set at 92*)
cold side: my bedroom usually stays between 78-82*
Humidity: around 50%
She shed October 26th and there are no signs of another shed (whereas my other ball pythons shed every 4 weeks like clockwork)
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