Ball python hasnt eaten since Oct

[scarsmom]

My ball python is a year and a half old, about 3 foot long. He stopped eating around halloween. Acts normal when held and in cage. He has plenty of space, heat and water. When do I begin to worry. I joined this forum just to find help for him. Thanks for the help anyone.

[Stewart_Reptiles]

Assuming your husbandry is optimal (appropriate temps, humidity, enclosure size etc... see care sheet for details) and that your animal has a good body weight it will be fine.

BP go of feed for various reason, seasonal, sexual maturity, stress, husbandry issues etc.

The first thing is to examine your husbandry and see if it could be husbandry related, if so make the adequate changes to see if it can help your animal resume feeding, regardless the key will be PATIENCE.

I have had animals fasting anywhere from 2 months to a little over a year with no ill effect.

[TheSnakeGuy]

A "winter fast" is not uncommon for a ball python. Especially since it's the snake's first winter after reaching sexual maturity. Having a scale helps in these instances so you can track weight loss. You shouldn't have to worry unless the snake becomes very thin and wrinkly, and that takes a long time without food.

[h00blah]

My albino has done it twice before, and this is his 3rd time doing it. He fasts from october until march-may. He's perfectly healthy, and his feeding response is quite intimidating when he's feeding . He's around 1200 grams. Some BPs will hover around this weight their whole lives.

[Cendalla]

If it helps you sleep at night you can keep a close log of his weight. You can see if its staying steady or if its dropping. Chances are that if your setup is fine you snake is fine but the weight will tell you how he's doing Luck!

[shorty54]

I agree with the post above. I would recommend weighing your BP once a month. As long as he hasn't lost a LOT of weight it should be fine. I moved from Tacoma, WA to Biloxi, MS in November of 2011. I had a female Mojave that didn't eat until August of 2012. She only lost 70 grams. I also have a normal male BP that stops eating EVERY December and starts again around March. He's done it two years in a row.

[Cendalla]

I agree with the post above. I would recommend weighing your BP once a month. As long as he hasn't lost a LOT of weight it should be fine. I moved from Tacoma, WA to Biloxi, MS in November of 2011. I had a female Mojave that didn't eat until August of 2012. She only lost 70 grams. I also have a normal male BP that stops eating EVERY December and starts again around March. He's done it two years in a row.

Yup. I've a boa female that went off for 180 days last winter and is doing it again this year. She only lost 12 grams and picked it back up and more in no time. Not much of a loss for a 15.5 lbs snake

[MrLang]

Reptiles are amazing

[mshadows]

...... mine was about the same age when he went on a 7 month fast , worried the crap out of me since it was his first off feed , but he finaly ate and all was well ..

[Solarsoldier001]

My Mojave is an extremely picky eater. She'll be of feed for like 7 months. Oct to about May. And then she'll eat back to back to back. As long as he doesn't loose to much weight. I'd wouldn't worry about too much.


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