Not eating, underweight ball python

[dakski]

A few things quickly.

1. I saw in another thread that you thought you might have snake mites, but you never responded yay or nay. I assume you do not, but it goes without saying that would be a reason for a snake not to eat.

2. Hot side too hot and cool side too cold. Lower hot side to 87-90F tops and bump cool side to 77-80F. If you are not sure how to do that, ask. It sounds like you have a UTH for the hot side, but that does nothing for air temps. Fix this if you want to start eliminating reasons why you BP might not be eating. Husbandry is number one. Once that's dialed in and if your BP still doesn't eat, you can start troubleshooting other things.

Being that the hot side is a little hot and the cool side a little cold, your BP probably isn't sure what to do. Additionally, not having a gradient (which it sounds like because of using only a UTH - correct me if I am wrong), is bad too. If it's 92F and then 74F next to it, that's not good.

3. Your snake looks okay, but if your BP lost 20% of his/her body weight, I'd be concerned. I think fixing husbandry and getting proper sized meals (see below) will get your BP back on track.

4. Do not force feed a snake that's been eating on its own.

5. BP's are not stretchy. The older they get the smaller the meals can be to maintain or even grow. Young BP's can eat larger meals proportionately and likely will more often, but not huge meals. 20% of body weight is insane for a BP. Can they, probably, but is it good, absolutely not and will probably cause them to fast for a while. When I feed a growing BP, I really don't want to notice a bump after feeding, and if I do, it should be gone in 24 hours completely. My 2KG adult female BP eats a small rat every 2 weeks and fasts in the winter. A little goes a long way with adults, but young ones are efficient too and shouldn't' be pushed.

Other pythons, like Carpet Pythons, can eat 1.5-2X their girth, but not BP's.

I would also be really careful feeding larger meals with your husbandry off. Regurgitation is worse than not eating.

6. You BP is probably too young and small to fast on his/her own accord right now. Something is wrong. I think it's your husbandry and feeding techniques.

7. Leave him/her alone. Stop weighing and taking your BP out regularly. Take out only to clean the tank, don't handle, but put in a holding container instead. This is a new snake now. 3 consecutive meals without any issues or skipping and then you can start to handle again. Also, you should consider putting this BP on quarantine, or any snake that you have health concerns with. Can't hurt, but if that's difficult, and you did when you got him/her and your other snakes, I would be less concerned.


Get your husbandry fixed, ensure no obvious health issues, and feed appropriate sized meals. I like the chart Bogertophis showed you earlier in the thread for size of prey up to medium rats, but think once on small rats, BP's should be fed every 2-3 weeks. I also had bad luck feeding mediums as it meant sporadic feeding. Smalls meant regular eating schedule. Again, my girl is 2KG and will skip meals if fed mediums. Often 2-3 if offered every 2 weeks. Small meals are easier to digest and if you want a BP to be healthy and happy, smaller more frequent and regular meals are better than larger infrequent meals.

Any questions just ask.

Good luck and keep us posted.