Peculiar Behavior

[Tia2018]

My 3 year old female has started acting differently. She is super active, all over her tank. She is eating so much more, and seems to even get in strick mode when i try to get her out. Nothing has changed, temos and humidity are the same, tank content is the same. Im wondering if she is in heat or if that is even poss.....please anyone.

[Bogertophis]

More details would help us to help you figure out what's going on. Is it possible she needs larger prey? She mostly sounds hungry to me...what are you
feeding? how often? What are her cage temps.? Remember that many female snakes (like BPs) get much larger than the males in order to reproduce
successfully, so instinctively they want to eat more. At 3 years, she is coming into adulthood (3-4 years) when she'd be able to breed, so I really think that
is what's going on here. We aren't seeing her though...her size compared to what you're feeding her would help to know, either photos or better details.

[Zuri Indigo]

Are you feeding her too small of prey? When I was waiting for my small rats to come in the mail and still getting pups I noticed my snake was out more and hungry a lot searching for food. Your noodle could maybe need a size up in food.

Did anything change in her cage?


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[Tia2018]

Sorry, ok more details she was 3 in July. She is a lesser ball, she is currently 5 feet in a 40 gallon aquarium. Temps hot side 90 and 70 cool side. Pray she only eats live she has a small head for her size so she eats 2 small rats it was every 3 to weeks now it is every 2 weeks. I normally wait til she poops to feed her again, but the last few times ive had to add a 3rd rat to settle her hungry side. I will add a photo of her.

[Tia2018]

Also i am trying to upload photos, but can not seem to accomplish it

[Zuri Indigo]

Maybe I'm mistaking but isn't 70 too cold? I have my cool side set to 80 I wouldn't let it ever drop past 78.

Also do you know how many grams she weighs? I know some female ball pythons that eat medium rats. FT. I wouldn't feed a medium sized rat live to a ball python bc of scratches.

My adult boy eats small rats about 50grams but that is because he's a male and much smaller than females he won't grow much more. Will she not take ft?


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[Tia2018]

No she turns frozen away has since she was a hatchling. And my cool side stays between 70 and 75. She seems to like it that way. Im really not sure of her weight, and like i said i feed her small due to her small head size verse her body, she has to much stretching if i feed her medium.

[Sunnieskys]

First, weigh her. you will then find an appropriate size to feed whether f/t or live. 70-75 is to low and her liking it has no bearing since she cant tell you. 80 is ambient temp and cool side temp. 90 is hot side. I also hope you have a thermostat. 60%: humidity until shed. These are basics for any ball python keeper.

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[Jnksnakes]

Yeah she needs a size up. A 3 year old ball python eating weekly appropriate meals is likely in the 2,000 gram area. She would definitely need a medium rat weekly. Also, Don't compare her head size to the size of meal you feed her. I have a 2 month old retic who's head is the size of a small mouse who eats week old chickens every week. Snakes can stretch. If they can't eat it, they won't.

[Coluber42]

Just to offer a different perspective: First, were there any other changes when her behavior changed, such as changes in the weather? Even if the conditions in her cage are controlled, ball pythons are highly attuned to differences and changes in temperature. If the temperature of the room changes, the temperature gradient in her cage will also change even if the exact spots you measure and control with a thermostat stay the same. For example, the corners farther from the heat source will change even if the area under the heat source hasn't. Given her age and size, it's at least conceivable that she's hitting sexual maturity and changes in the weather have cued her to start looking for a gentleman caller. In which case, she'll probably settle back down again after awhile, probably when the weather changes again.

As to whether to increase either her prey size or her meal frequency, you should definitely weigh her and monitor her body condition. If you aren't going to breed her and she isn't skinny and isn't growing much anymore, she does not need more food even if she is of a different opinion. Breeding involves a substantial metabolic cost, so females that will breed need to bulk up more. But don't feed an animal that isn't going to breed the same as a breeder feeds one that is. It's like eating like you're pregnant when you're not. An awful lot of ball pythons are overweight tub potatoes, and that's not a recipe for long term health.

Another possibility though - if she's eating a lot, always hungry, and not gaining weight, she could have some sort of internal parasite that's essentially stealing her dinner. That could conceivably have come in on her prey at some point, especially if she eats live. So it might be worth sending a fecal sample to a vet just to be sure.

You could think about getting her a bigger cage. A 40 gallon tank is really not that much space for an adult BP, especially a larger one. They really will use and benefit from larger enclosures, as long as the enclosure has lots of hides, cover, branches, tubes, and other "clutter". In other words, a giant tank with one hide and a water bowl won't help, but a large space with lots of place to go, hides at different temperatures, things to climb, ways to get around without being seen much, etc, will give her something to do besides just climbing the walls.