5 year old Ball Python keeps rejecting her food

[MinoBeri]

I have a 5 year old ball python that recently was moved to a bigger enclosure since her old one was getting too small. She has adapted to the larger space pretty well as far as I can tell and enjoys waking me up at night by rearranging her tank at 12am. The major hiccup I've run into is that I have not been able to get her to eat. Before my family's remodel/her new enclosure, she ate a small frozen/thawed rat regularly every sunday night, occasionally with a small snack on wednesdays if she was particularly active. Now, we try offering her a small rat every week around the same time and she comes out and acts like she'll grab it, but when she reaches the rat...she loses interest and ignores it or ends up using it as a pillow instead of eating it if it is left in her cage to give her privacy.

I'm getting worried because it has been almost 5 1/2 weeks since we have been able to get her to eat. She doesn't look boney at all (She's still a round noodle) and is still active at night and sleeps during the day. I want to avoid feeding her live because the last time she was fed live, the pup rat we were attempting to give her bit a chunk off the tip of her tail before we could intervene. She still ended up eating it, but it left her with a nasty scar.

I honestly am at a loss of what to do. I'm going to go buy some large mice tonight to see if she's just being picky/decided she doesn't like rats anymore, but if that does not work by wednesday the 25th, then my next course of action is to consult my veterinarian.

Maybe I'm missing something obvious? I'm hoping that is the case. I know that ball pythons are famous for being picky eaters.

[Stewart_Reptiles]

It's an adult that's what they do, she could go a year without food with no issue, changing prey it not something I recommend unless you are willing from now own to feed multiple each week (she might never switch back), a vet won't be of any help.

Here are you best options

Put her back in her old enclosure wait a week and offer food and see how it goes this will give you an indication on whether the change is responsible for the sudden feeding issue.

Double check everything, make sure that your temps are on spot and not to low or too high.

Keep handling to a minimum, maintenance only.

And most importantly be PATIENT BP are overfed in captivity anyway and 5 weeks for a 5 years old is nothing.

[Zincubus]

As above really and also try feeding every 10 days or even every two weeks . I have a couple who simply won't eat every week ,

Also read up on the hairdryer trick... or pm me and I'll explain it


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[MinoBeri]

Alright. I'll try again on the small rats instead of the large mice tonight, I gave her old tank to a friend who is starting off on owning snakes, but I'll see if I can get it back to test the change theory. If this is normal, then she has been a greedy eater until recently lol. I'm gonna start keeping a record of her weight/feeds after I'm able to get her to eat just in case so I can make sure she's doing okay/is not losing too much weight (I probably should have BEEN doing this in hindsight)

[Sunnieskys]

I feed my two year old every two weeks. She won't eat every week now.

[Skyrivers]

I hope you no longer feed live if you have a choice. Results can be much worse than what happened to her tail.

[Craiga 01453]

All the above advice is on point.

In addition, if like to add that offering too often can often stress the snake. When you offer, wait at least a full week before offering again, but I'd wait 10-14 days.

And double and triple check temps, etc...
Is the new enclosure offering plenty of security? Are the hides nice and snug?

And lastly, no handling until you've got this sorted out.

But honestly, don't sweat it, BP s go MUCH longer than 5 weeks without food all the time. As long as there isn't drastic weight loss don't worry.