BP not eaten for 2 months. Suggestions?

[CRAZY]

Okay, first off let me start off with saying I know many BPs go on for months without eating. But mine usually eats like a pig. He occasionally goes on a 3 or 4 week hunger strike but always gets back into the rhythm of things after. He's never gone for this long. He looks healthy, he's moving around a lot. I haven't weighed him for a while but I don't believe he's lost any weight. I haven't changed his conditions. He pooped about 3 or 4 weeks back. He finished a shed cycle about 2 weeks ago, and got all his skin off no problem, except for a bit on his head, but that is off now. He does have a retained eye cap. (any idea how I can get rid of that? I heard baby oil and a cotton swab works.) I can't see anything physically wrong with him. I checked for mites. If he hasn't eaten by the end of January I might get a gerbil or 2 from my supplier, I hear BPs cant resist those. If the problem persists into February, I might change the set up of the tank, and maybe switch the substrate to indoor/outdoor carpeting (I was planning on doing that before, but then he stopped eating and I figured that would just stress him out.) I switched him to a smaller food, but he didn't touch those. Any help would be much appreciated. And when would a good time be to start worrying?

TL;DR Ball Python hasn't eaten in 2 months. Nothing appears to be wrong. I've heard of "Hunger Strikes" before. Any suggestions?

[Kaorte]

What is his setup like? How big is the tank? How are you heating it and how are you controlling the heat source? How are you measuring temps? How many hides does the snake have?

It isn't all that normal for a bp to go off and on feed so often. Its usually just winter fasting or breeding fasting.

[SNIKTTIME]

I think it is totally normal for BP to go off feed. Almost everyone I know deals with it and terms it as normal. That's why they make feeding charts so you can keep track of the feeding patterns. The general rule is as long as the snake is not losing weight don't worry and keep offering food as normal until it eats again. I seriously think this type of snake actually forgets that it's supposed to eat sometimes. If you are that worried you can try appetite stimulants for 3-4 days then try feeding again. Or kick the humidity up, or try dabbing some chicken broth on the mouse/rats nose to change scent.

[sho220]

I think it is totally normal for BP to go off feed. Almost everyone I know deals with it and terms it as normal. That's why they make feeding charts so you can keep track of the feeding patterns. The general rule is as long as the snake is not losing weight don't worry and keep offering food as normal until it eats again. I seriously think this type of snake actually forgets that it's supposed to eat sometimes. If you are that worried you can try appetite stimulants for 3-4 days then try feeding again. Or kick the humidity up, or try dabbing some chicken broth on the mouse/rats nose to change scent.

I'd seriously consider Kaorte's advise before even bothering with chicken broth or stimulants. Like was stated, it's not common to randomly go on and off feed. Heed her advise and check your husbandry...

[SlitherinSisters]

I think you should get your set up first. Usually they don't keep going on and off like your snake. I had a juvenile male go off feed for 3 months and he finally ate a live mouse. I offered every type a mouse/rat there was once a week for 3 months.

[dr del]

Hi,

Double check your temps haven't changed because the seasons have.

I wouldn't recommend the carpet bedding - it gets stinky and horrible and are considerable more trouble than they are worth. Newspaper works well. But you don't say what you are using now so it's a little tricky to know what to recommend.

A good soaking session (15-30 minutes ) in 86f water and very gentle work with the cue tip should take care of the eye cap. But if it doesn't come off after a couple of sessions it might be as well leaving it until his next shed and just making sure the humidity is a little bit higher than usual and see if that helps.

Weigh him. Keeping track of their weight during a fast is one of the best guides to knowing when to worry or not.

You also don't say what you have been feeding him - if he is on rats I'd definately think about trying mice long before a gerbil just from the price and availability angle. Same if he is on mice - try small rats. And if you can I would even try ASF's before gerbils.

If you are using larger prey items like medium or large rats it is possible to just make them feel full and trigger a fast. Smaller more regular meals seem to avoid this problem a lot better.

And the main question - what size/ weight is he?

Could he have just gone into breeding mode?

If you tell us these things and maybe even run us through the whole cage setup we can tailor the advice more specifically.


dr del

[CRAZY]

Temps average out at about 86-88 F. Humidity is around 60 percent.

I got a big carpet and cut it up so I can switch a dirty piece with a clean piece.

I'm using bark chips right now. Don't know exactly what, which makes me sound like a bad owner, but I checked with the independent pet shop owner down the street (they have a big reptile section, and all of them are healthy) and he said it was good stuff. Also, my snake has accidentally swallowed it with a mouse in the past and there were no repercussions.

I feel stupid for not mentioning what I feed him. My supplier sells me frozen "jumbo" mice. I asked her and she said "Jumbo" can range from 30-45 grams. I believe I usually got about 35 - 40 gram mice. But my last batch were bigger than usual so I think they were probably tipping the scales at around 45. I feed 2 f/t mice a week. One after the other. Maybe the last batch was a bit big. She sells me a pack of 10, and we got through 8 before he stopped eating. She gave me a new shipment of smaller ones. He ate 2 of those and hasn't eaten anything since.

Just weighed him. He's roughly 1400g and about 3 1/2 feet long.

He has never gone without eating for this long before. But maybe he has gone into breeding mode, I dunno.

[Kaorte]

temps are a bit low...Shoot for a hotspot around 90-92*F.

Other then that there isn't much else that could be off husbandry wise.

Probably just him wanting to breed. At that weight he shouldn't have a problem with a few months of fasting.

[CRAZY]

Thanks. Also, I forgot to talk about his enclosure. He has 1 hide on the hot side, and a makeshift hide on the cool side. (I took him in off a friend who didn't want him and was taking care of him very poorly. ie. 1 live baby mouse a week, no heat, no humidity.) The makeshift hide is a step-arch thingy that is supposed to be used for turtles, i put it over the water bowl, so that he can curl up between the bowl, the arch, and a log on the back. I also have a plastic plant in the back to hele retain moisture. (I also heard having plants makes them feel more like they can camouflage and in turn make them feel more secure) He has a heat lamp on the warm side, directly above the hide, which is on top of the built in heater in the tank. (Don't worry, there is about 2 inches of bark chips between him and the heater so he won't burn himself.)
But despite all this, he still spend probably about 40% of his time sliding around trying to find an escape. So I take him out whenever I see him doing that. He usually seems quite happy when he's out. But then again, I don't speak Parsletounge.

[CRAZY]

I'd like to apologize for that incredibly nerdy and childish reference that wasn't even in the slightest bit funny.