Fasting BP (Not Happening, Just Curious)

[Charles8088]

Don't have my BP yet, so this is hypothetical.

If your snake starts fasting, not a stress thing but rather just fasting because they do, how do you deal with it?

So, I guess a better way to explain the question... you go to feed it a F/T, it doesn't eat. Ok, you can't re-freeze the mouse, can you? I guess you throw it out (wife & kids will not eat it). Do you try again the next day? Wait a week? If the next day, and he doesn't eat again, do you just throw away another mouse? Do you move to LIVE until he eats?

I guess this is less of a problem if you have multiple snakes, cause you can just feed the next guy.

[tttaylorrr]

i feed F/T.

i just had my Yellow go on a little hunger strike from the stress of moving him to a T8: he's eating now, but after some diligence and care.

i reuse F/T feeders only twice: frozen, thawed, refused, refrozen, thawed, thrown out if refused again. i'm lucky to live behind a huge field and can usually dispose of my unwanted feeders by tossing them over the fence for coyotes, but not everyone has that luxury.

after a refusal, wait until their next scheduled feeding as if they didn't skip a meal. offering a meal too soon after a refusal can stress a snake out and cause a cycle of refusals.

in terms of when to try something different: that all depends on the age of the snake and their history. a baby that's refused for months with significant weight-loss: time to try something different; a snake that's refused a few times over months with no significant weight loss: probs nothing to worry about.

i'm offering generalizations, but the key is just to know your animal. i've had my snakes go off feed as babies and almost full-grown adults; the key is staying on top of their care. there's many reasons a BP might go off feed, but keeping diligent in their care will help a lot when you have questions.

[Charles8088]

So if she refuses, you refreeze, and assuming you feed weekly, its ok to refreeze and thaw again the next week?

Regarding weight... how often do people generally do a weight check?

[tttaylorrr]

So if she refuses, you refreeze, and assuming you feed weekly, its ok to refreeze and thaw again the next week?

in my opinion: yes. even if i leave the feeder overnight, if refused i refreeze for next time.

Regarding weight... how often do people generally do a weight check?

i check as often as every few weeks when they're young, usually after pooping for accuracy. others might have different opinions, but that's just my way of doing it.

[Charles8088]

Regarding freezing after thawed... these critters don't smell, I hope. I can take the smell, no problem. But, I'd be putting it in a container, and then in the basement freezer. But, that's a regular food freezer. Unless I go ahead and by one of those small personal freezer for the job.

[Charles8088]

Regarding freezing after thawed... these critters don't smell, I hope. I can take the smell, no problem. But, I'd be putting it in a container, and then in the basement freezer. But, that's a regular food freezer. Unless I go ahead and by one of those small personal freezer for the job.

Know what? Let's not even answer that. Thought about it, then REALLY thought about, and you know, that's freakin' nasty in the food fridge. I'll just buy a mini for the food.

[redshepherd]

It depends on the reason for going off feed. A majority of the time with most new ball owners, there's a husbandry reason for it, and fixing up the hot side temps or adding a few proper hiding spots and more cover fixes it.

But assuming all is well with husbandry, then I ask if it's a winter fast... Many ball pythons go off feed over winter months. If it is a winter fast, I offer only once every other week until they start eating again. If it's not a winter fast and they're just randomly refusing food once in awhile, I offer every 4~7 days, depending on the size of the snake and how fast they're losing weight. Usually any snakes over ~500g hardly lose any weight even if they don't eat for a couple months. You don't want to offer too often and have them refuse every time, because it does stress them out.

You can refreeze it once (at least I do), assuming it hasn't been left out for too long!

Know what? Let's not even answer that. Thought about it, then REALLY thought about, and you know, that's freakin' nasty in the food fridge. I'll just buy a mini for the food.

I honestly just put it in my normal freezer for over a year, up until recently when I got a mini freezer just for rodents! Just think of it as unchopped meat... These rodents are from breeders and clean, not much different from sticking a whole chicken in your freezer imo. LOL

[tttaylorrr]

I honestly just put it in my normal freezer for over a year, up until recently when I got a mini freezer just for rodents! Just think of it as unchopped meat... These rodents are from breeders and clean, not much different from sticking a whole chicken in your freezer imo. LOL

same: i used to keep my rodents in with my food until our basement freezer opened up, but i still keep some in the regular freezer (usually stick them in there after refusals so i know to use them).