BP Extra hungry

[Maverick67]

My older female normal has been excessively hungry this summer and on the aggressive side when shes out prowling. Normally i feed her 3 mice every 10 days (she's had issues with rats in the past and I've managed a mush higher success rate with mice) She is at the point where if she is out I can't change her water without avoiding a strike. Now i just wait untill she holes up and I do enclosure maintenance then. Should I increase the amount or frequency I feed her or is she just getting crotchety in her older age. As far as I can figure she is somewhere between 20ish years old. I am her third owner and it makes it hard to pin down.

[alittleFREE]

Has she been maintaining weight? Are her poops normal?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Maverick67]

Her weight has been consistent and deification has been about the same as it always has. She just seems hungrier and a bit snappy.

[alittleFREE]

Okay good.

What are temps and humidity and all that like? Can you describe her setup?




Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[dakski]

In addition to what alittleFree asked, how much does she weigh and how old is she?

Has anything else changed around the tank? Lighting, other animals, etc?

I had a BP when I was younger who got snappy all of a sudden and after a week of aggression, I realized my male dogs were marking the stand she was on. The urine smell was driving her nuts! Anything you can think of can alter her mood?

Mice average about 25g each. If you are offering 75G every ten days to an adult female, that might not be enough. For perspective, my adult female, about 1650G, eats a medium rat (110-130G on average) every 14 days. Adult females up to 4000G should eat a medium rat every 7-14 days. Shayna, my BP refuses often when I offer weekly. She eats pretty regularly on an every two weeks schedule.

Here is a good BP feeding chart.




Finally, if you are feeding appropriate sized meals, and she has gotten a little snappy, you can always hook train her to get her out of food response mode.

Here is a link to a thread with video I made on hook training: https://ball-pythons.net/forums/show...ead-with-Video

Keep us in the loop and let us know what changes you make and if she calms down.

[Maverick67]

She has been I. A 55 long tank for a number of years her hot side is normally around 85-90 and the cold raely dips below 75 especially now in the summer it's closer to 80ish. She has 2 identical hides on either side of the enclosure as well as a large water dish in the center. I try to keep her humidity up around 60-70. And I run standard lights for roughly daytime hours and reprogram it perioticly throughout the year.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G925A using Tapatalk

[Maverick67]

Nothing has really changed except for a major heat wave here in the northeast. That may have something to do with it. Other than that it's been the exact same for the past 5-6 years. She just seams off this season.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G925A using Tapatalk

[Maverick67]

She weighs in around 1800 or so and has been steadily around that since I fixed her up after her second owner. She's somewhere around 20 maybe 25 years old can't really peg it down due to her past. She got the name Scarlett from the burn marks from her first owner and an unregulated heat rock. ( no I don't use one) but she's has a tough go. I've had her for about 10 or so years and she has thrived from the scrawny dehydrated shape I originally got her in.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G925A using Tapatalk

[Droptine10]

She weighs in around 1800 or so and has been steadily around that since I fixed her up after her second owner. She's somewhere around 20 maybe 25 years old can't really peg it down due to her past. She got the name Scarlett from the burn marks from her first owner and an unregulated heat rock. ( no I don't use one) but she's has a tough go. I've had her for about 10 or so years and she has thrived from the scrawny dehydrated shape I originally got her in.
That's is VERY low weight for a snake that age !.
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G925A using Tapatalk

[Droptine10]

That is very small BP for that age !?!