Adult female Ball Won't eat Very Frustrated

[JenH]

I have a 4 year old female that I got the first week in January. She ate for me once and has refused food ever since. I got her from a retired hobby breeder that said that she locked once right before I got her. She told me that she was her best feeder. From what I had read, if she was gravid, she would be pounding her food. She is very active and healthy. She is around 2025 grams. I am very concerned about the amount of time that she has been off of her food. I have other balls that have gone off of their food for a couple of months, but we are nearing on 4 months. I have offered f/t and live. I've offered rats, mice and even gerbils. She smells it like she is interested but then off she goes onto other adventures. I have my snakes on a rack system with 90 basking and 80 cool side. I use newspaper and have a hide. All of the other snakes are happy and eating! Any advice?

Ball pythons eat when they want. They usually eat well before the breeding season and if they are at a good weight they can go 6-7 months without eating. Most of my girls stopped eating in November and they don't eat until after they lay. A couple of my younger girls that are boarderline (1200-1500gms) may eat once or twice when breeding starts to add a little more weight on them as they build follicles.

Don't worry - just offer every couple weeks and she will eat when she wants.