Young BP still not eating...

[DVirginiana]

My young BP is still not eating, and I'm beginning to get worried. She's acting normal; sitting in one spot during the day and moving about at night. She has been passing urates, and poo as well until she stopped eating. For the first two or three weeks I had her, she ate one small fuzzy rat per week, then about a month ago she stopped taking food.
I wouldn't normally worry, but I can tell she's beginning to drop a bit of weight.

She's in a 20 gallon sterlite tub with holes drilled in the sides, and a heat pad on the bottom with a thermostat attached. Her temp gradient goes from about 83 to 90, with places to hide in both hot and cool areas. Her humidity is 50-60%. The bedding is cyprus mulch, and she has a little sphagnum moss in one of the hides.

Any suggestions as to what could be going on? I can't think of anything wrong with her settings... I know it's not weird for pythons to go off food, but she's still growing (probably between 6-8 months old) and I don't like that I can see her starting to get thinner.

[kat_black181]

Were you feeding live or f/t?

[satomi325]

Maybe provide more cover and clutter in her enclosure. Even throw a small towel over her enclosure to give her some extra security.

Are you handling her often? Try not to bother her for one week. No handling her either and try feeding her again in a week.

Trying a live hopper can jump start a feeding response as well.

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[DVirginiana]

She was eating f/t. She had only eaten f/t at the place I adopted her from, and took several after I got her.
I can add some more stuff for her to hide under, though she already has a fair bit of clutter in there to hide in.

I've cut down on handling her since she stopped eating, but I've probably been offering food a bit too often. I'll give that a rest for awhile too.

Hopefully it won't come to me having to get something live. The stores nearby aren't allowed to sell live mammals as feeders, and don't sell anything small enough for her to eat that I could even get under the pretense of it being a pet. Plus, I'd do it if I had to, but I'd have a very hard time feeding a live rodent.

[kat_black181]

Try setting the thawed rat near her tank for a bit to get her ready to eat as well.

Maybe try dipping in broth, too.

[Cissin]

How big is the snake? I had to put my babies inside 6 Quart containers to get them to eat after they were shipped to me. 6 Quart Tub, newspaper, hide and a water bowl. Once the snake went inside the hide I placed the F/T rat pinkie halfway inside the hide entrance. Came back an hour later and it was gone. You can also try the brown paper bag trick. Place the snake and the F/T prey item inside the bag. Staple it up and place the whole bag back inside your enclosure. Most of the time when the snake is in such a small space with the prey item they will just eat it to get it out of there. They also feel way less stressed out in a much smaller enclosure. My babies were about 65 grams. So if yours is larger you can try maybe a 16 quart tub.

[DVirginiana]

I've tried putting her in a smaller tub to eat with no luck, but not the bag trick. I'll give her another day or two with no handling/feeding attempts and then try the bag thing if she won't just take it.

She's probably somewhere between 6-8 months old (don't know her weight). So still young but not tiny either.