Help! Not eating!

[CooperSchardt]

I think she is just "growing up": you shouldn't be feeding her once a week on a medium sized f/t rat...that's just too much food. When they're young & eating smaller prey it's ok for a BP to eat once a week, but the time between meals should get longer as the snake grows larger and begins to eat larger rodents (which just take longerto digest. Eating too much is as bad for a snake as it is for us, and like us, some will continue to over-eat while others get up from the table as she seems to do.

I do think you should make some modifications to the cage, it sounds like her humidity & temps need some help. While the speed of her digestion depends on warmth, it's also critical that she can choose higher & lower temperatures; over-head lights tend to dry out the air, and aren't efficient anyway-most of the heat rises away & out of the cage. I prefer to use UTH, and that might be just the thing you need for her digestive comfort ("belly heat" that rises from the floor), but all heat accessories MUST be regulated (thermostat) for your snake's safety. Those with screen-top cages usually reduce the air-flow significantly to keep in humidity, but you can also add a "humid-hide" using moisture-retaining (& thoroughly dampened) sphagnum moss, and some substrates hold in moisture much better than others too. (to be clear, I'd add UTH to this set-up, and keep using the over-head light for warmth too but run that with a lamp dimmer to balance the warmth with the UTH.) Every cage set-up is a little different though, because much depends on the room temperatures in your house too...as the seasons change, her cage may either be too cool or too hot, so you need to stay on that...make changes as needed & be sure you're measuring the temps. accurately.

Ok!What side and temp should the uth be at?


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[Bogertophis]

Ok!What side and temp should the uth be at?


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Is that a counter-top that her cage is sitting on? That's great for UTH, if so. You need to experiment some...to repeat, what is YOUR ROOM or HOUSE temperature
kept at? & what about seasonal changes, does this location get colder? how cold? What size is the snake's cage (length x width)? You need to use enough to achieve
the right temps. for the snake...and it MUST be on a thermostat so it's not too hot. IF (?) you use a lot of A/C, or it's chilly in winter, the best thing to do is to insulate
the glass first...the sides & back of cage...with something like white or black foam board (other things work too) cut to fit & taped on securely.

The size of UTH used is normally recommended to be not more than half the cage floor, so the snake can choose warmth or cooler...BUT it totally depends on YOUR
situation AND the kind of snake. BPs need more warmth...IF your house is on the cold side, you might want to use UTH on 2/3 of the cage floor, & ONLY WITH a
thermostat controlling it. You'd also need to measure the heat accurately IN the cage and OVER the UTH to dial up the thermostat to optimal warm temps. for a BP.
If you use a UTH product like Flexwatt, it comes in different widths...that's what I use, but there are other brands too...every set-up must be customized for what you
need.