Ball python feeding response question

[Maddumpling]

My albino ball python has been like this ever since I got it and just been wondering if this happens to anyone else. My ball python eats or seems like to eat every other week. Last week he ate a rat pup just fine with the same thawing method. Yesterday, same thawing method, he bit and coiled the rat pup, but when I check today in the morning, rat pup is still in his cage. So, has anyone had experience with this sort of thing?

[LLLReptile]

Sometimes that is the result of the prey item not quite being thawed all the way through, or it was slightly too large, or something startled the snake before it could really start eating. I've seen it happen once or twice where the snake couldn't figure out where the head was, and rather than keep trying after a few minutes just gave up completely on eating.

If it doesn't feel secure, it may also coil but not eat. Do you have hides in the cage for it? Sometimes, adding a hide or changing the existing hides can help.

-Jen

[Skittles1101]

It's called ball python syndrome. Side effects are anxiety, headaches, and the constant worry about your snake.

No, but seriously, ball pythons are such finicky eaters. No one knows why they do it, I wouldn't worry at all.

[Stewart_Reptiles]

The more animal you own the more likely you are to own a true picky eater that will eat every once in a while.

I used to have a female that would eat once in a great while, small rats every 3 to 4 weeks if I was lucky, she had always been like this ever since I got her too, of course she grew very slowly and will never be a huge animal, she was 1200 grams at 5 years old when she laid her first clutch (6 eggs), since laying she has been eating like a horse and eats every week, maybe breeding triggered something in her metabolism who knows?

So yeah it happens.

[jjmitchell]

I personally dont have a ton of ball pythons I would guess around 20, and the feeding responses range from barely taking the rat off the tongs and never wrapping it just swallowing it, to a fesponse that rivals the SD retics.

I also see the problems like you are describing and honestly it happens most with one female spider she has a feeding response like crazy she hits the food and wraps it up quick, the problem is she just gets so over excited striking it and wrapping it from time to time she just seems to forget what she is doing (she is beautiful but not the brightest crayon in the box) Feeding usually takes me about an hour any way so I feed her first, come back and check on her and if she is doing her dingy man I am hungry but cant find me food routine I just offer her another warmed feeder, and when she strikes it I take the other one out and reheat it for someone else to eat....

I see it happen alot, they usually grow out of it, but it usually happens with animals with a good strong feeding response and they get so excited to strike and wrap, the just kinda forget what they are donig.,.... Hope this helps

[Maddumpling]

I have a hide. Keep hides for all my bps. It wasn't big for him, just the right size because he ate something a little bit bigger last week.