Is my BP dumb enough to starve herself to death?

[FeathersRuff]

To answer everyone questions and concerns:

- I use a thermostat with a probe to keep track of her temps. It just a fine job and her temps stay around the norm so you don't have to worry about that.
- I haven't handled her much in a long time, only when I needed to clean her tank.
- I dont regularly weight her but from the looks of it she doesn't look unhealthy. She's still growing. But I guess I'll have to weight her now anyway.
- She shed about 3 weeks ago.
- She's female.
- The rats I give her are from a local breeder who breeds rats for this very purpose. My uncle gets his rats from him all the time. They are frozen and clean.
- She is active, so I guess thats a sign that she's not sick/unhealthy.

[PitOnTheProwl]

To answer everyone questions and concerns:

- I use a thermostat with a probe to keep track of her temps. It just a fine job and her temps stay around the norm so you don't have to worry about that.
All thermostats have probes. What are you using to measure the temperatures AND where are you getting the temperatures from?
- I dont regularly weight her but from the looks of it she doesn't look unhealthy. She's still growing. But I guess I'll have to weight her now anyway.
Tracking weight helps you understand if there is too much loss during hunger strikes
- She's female.
Popped or probed?
- She is active, so I guess thats a sign that she's not sick/unhealthy.
An active all python is usually a stressed one

[Oxylepy]

Eesh. I don't know about that diagram. You could sandwich the probe, but personally I wouldn't. Works nice for my heat tape, but on an under tank heater I'd put it somewhere else, then adjust the heat for the thermostat accordingly (so the end result is say a setting of like 80 with it attached under the mat, if that gets you the right temperature on the mat)

[PitOnTheProwl]

Eesh. I don't know about that diagram. You could sandwich the probe, but personally I wouldn't. Works nice for my heat tape, but on an under tank heater I'd put it somewhere else, then adjust the heat for the thermostat accordingly (so the end result is say a setting of like 80 with it attached under the mat, if that gets you the right temperature on the mat)

Eesh?? LoL
If you are monitoring the inside surface of the flood temperature of ANY enclosure you would know what the actual inside temperature is.
Heating is not as hard as people overcomplicate it.
Where would your somewhere else be?

[Oxylepy]

Under the mat, somewhere it isn't being sandwiched by the heat mat. Then temp the inside of the enclosure on the adhesive side of the mat (if it's a glass setup the inside glass), and alter the thermostats temps accordingly. So if it's 90 on the glass, and the Thermostat is reading it as 80 because it's on the back side of the mat, keep the temperature on the thermostat set to 80.

Again, that's to avoid sandwiching the probe. Which is my main concern there. Mind that for different heaters it will be different, like on the heat tape in my rack, it's out of the way of the tubs, but directly against the heat tape. If you need to get a new probe, and you have an adhesive reptile mat under a tank, it is kind of irritating to remove the heat mat to pitch it just to swap your probe.

[PitOnTheProwl]

it is kind of irritating to remove the heat mat to pitch it just to swap your probe.

That would be why you would use foil tape to the mat. Glue to glue so it is now removable and then use foil tape on the edges to hold the mat in place.

[Oxylepy]

Hrm. That... actually sounds more sensible than I had been considering that conceptually.

[Jennarnia]

I am having the exact same problem. My snake is only 3 months old, and I was wondering how long a baby can go without eating. She has eaten mice and rats in her lifetime so far, and has refused both from us. Is offering food every couple days too often? Should I give her more time between offerings? I, too, don't want to keep wasting money on FT if she's just being dumb and trying to starve herself to death. Any advice at this point...thanks!

[PitOnTheProwl]

She has eaten mice and rats in her lifetime so far, and has refused both from us. Is offering food every couple days too often?

Yes every couple days is too often.
Was it eating F/T before?

[Jennarnia]

Yes, she was. Her breeder said I should leave her food at the entrance of her hide. Tried that. I have her on the right heat gradient according to my thermostat/thermometer readings. She's out during the day a lot too, not sure if that has anything to do with it.