Stopped eating F/T

[GuyFawkesJeep]

I have 6 ball pythons. All switched to frozen thawed from live since purchase. My female albino is 500g. Breeder told me she pounded live weaned rats. Ever since I got her she would not strike the thawed rat. But I'd drop in rack and it was gone in the am. This worked great for 2 months. Now she still doesn't strike but rat is uneaten in am. This is week two for this. I warm them and blow-dry them like crazy. Other BPs pound em without hesitation. I REALLY don't want to have to buy a live rat just for her for the same reasons that I'm in F/T to begin with. Any ideas? She seems happy. I have her in a FB10 tgr rack.

[Prognathodon]

A two-week fast really is nothing to worry about, even though our high-metabolism mammal brains think it is.

Your f/t weaned rats may be a bit bigger than what the breeder was feeding, she’s just not hungry. Or she’s going into shed - lots of BPs won’t eat when in shed. Odds are this is just a temporary thing, and if you keep offering f/t once every week or two she’ll eat again when she’s ready.


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[dakski]

I have 6 ball pythons. All switched to frozen thawed from live since purchase. My female albino is 500g. Breeder told me she pounded live weaned rats. Ever since I got her she would not strike the thawed rat. But I'd drop in rack and it was gone in the am. This worked great for 2 months. Now she still doesn't strike but rat is uneaten in am. This is week two for this. I warm them and blow-dry them like crazy. Other BPs pound em without hesitation. I REALLY don't want to have to buy a live rat just for her for the same reasons that I'm in F/T to begin with. Any ideas? She seems happy. I have her in a FB10 tgr rack.

BP's often refuse meals, and even fast for long periods. I wouldn't sweat it at all.

It's only a concern with very little babies.

Once they eat F/T regularly, it's rare you would need to feed live ever again.

I would just be patient and offer every two weeks until she eats again.

Good luck!

[CloudtheBoa]

I generally don't offer food to my bp when he goes on strike. I know people like to worry about babies not eating, but they'll catch up on growth when they eat again, and the snake isn't going to eat the food anyways so why waste time and resources offering...you'll know when she's ready to eat when she readily goes into the s-position waiting for food, or otherwise seems engaged at the smell of food (since you appear to own other snakes). In my experience with my bp, he was a lot more likely to take food, and take it quicker, than when I tried offering every 1-2 weeks.