My boy is not eating...help?

[zoiexpieds]

My 05 pastel male is not eating. He has eaten once in the past 3 months, I've done bloodwork on him and everything is okay, ive tried f/t asf's, live asf's, live mice, live rats, f/t mice and f/t rats and he just will not take anything. I really don't want to force feed him and I heard its not good for them, so I don't know what to do really...any advice?

[ColinWeaver]

He's a ball python. Patience is the order of the day. He will eventually eat. I'm not kidding when I tell you that I have had ball pythons go the better part of two years without eating. Healthy one's can do it and still look pretty good. They lose weight but not as much as you would think after that much time has passed. It's amazing, actually. Fasting for a year or longer is not common but having animals go several months without eating is quite common. I have more than a few ball pythons in my group that haven't eaten since September. I'm not worried about them. It's frustrating but not terribly dangerous (provided they are in good health to begin with). They will eat when they are ready. The propensity to stop eating for prolonged periods is one of the things about ball pythons we don't fully understand. We know that they do it but don't know exactly why. Why one animal stops eating while the one in the cage next to it continues to gorge itself is a mystery.

Having said all that there are some other things you can do to try and stimulate a feeding response.

• Try different types of prey items. Try mice, rats, african soft-fur's, gerbils, etc. Do this only if you are really concerned about your animal. Rats are the best/cheapest source for ball pythons (using protein:dollars as the ratio). Having them develop a taste for something else isn't something you want to have happen.
• Try different bedding/substrate. Some ball pythons feed very well on newspaper, some on cypress mulch, and some on aspen, etc. I can often stimulate feeding by changing the bedding type.
• Try feeding at different times of day.
• If your cage is large, try a smaller cage.
• If you don't have a hide, add one to the cage. If you do have a hide, take it out.
• If you have been feeding pre-killed/FT, try a live animal.
• Offer food when a weather front is moving into your area. If a rains storm is moving in, offer food. I have had great success with this in the past.
• People are going to disagree with me on this but don't be afraid to leave a live food item in the cage for a few hours. A well-fed rat/mouse is not likely to become aggressive toward your snake in such a short amount of time. If it worries you just make sure you leave a water source the rat can use as well as a few small pieces of food. I have some ball pythons that eat regularly, but only do so after the food has been in the cage with them for an hour or more.

Feeding ball pythons can be an art form. They aren't like many other types of snakes that eat whatever you put in the cage. Patience and time. Patience and time.

Regards,

[Stewart_Reptiles]

First you don’t force feed an animal that knows how to it.

Second he is an 05 and he more than likely has breeding on his mind, sexually mature individuals will go off feed at this time of the year.

At that age and with a good bodyweight he can go months without eating, I know this is frustrating however it does happen you just need to be patient, your animal will be fine.

He was eating before he will eat again in the meantime make sure your husbandry is on spot.

[zoiexpieds]

First you don’t force feed an animal that knows how to it.

Second he is an 05 and he more than likely has breeding on his mind, sexually mature individuals will go off feed at this time of the year.

At that age and with a good bodyweight he can go months without eating, I know this is frustrating however it does happen you just need to be patient, your animal will be fine.

He was eating before he will eat again in the meantime make sure your husbandry is on spot.

I put him in with my normal bp female about early december and i had multiple locks over about a 2 week span of time, but had them seperated since then, shes eating like a horse, and he just won't give food a 2nd look, so hopefully around april/may he will eat again...thanks, will be patient...as hard as it is.

[Stewart_Reptiles]

[*]Try different types of prey items. Try mice, rats, african soft-fur's, gerbils, etc. Do this only if you are really concerned about your animal. Rats are the best/cheapest source for ball pythons (using protein:dollars as the ratio). Having them develop a taste for something else isn't something you want to have happen.[*]If you have been feeding pre-killed/FT, try a live animal.[*]People are going to disagree with me on this but don't be afraid to leave a live food item in the cage for a few hours.

You're right about that

Changing prey type is rarely the solution if the animal was eating before (being an 05 he obviously was) there are no reasons to change prey item.

Switching to gerbils is asking for trouble, they are more aggressive, have longer teeth, they are harder to find and more expensive, also once a BP imprint on the he will rarely switch back.

Feeding live instead of F/T should only be done if prepared to feed live from than on.

If the animal does not eat within 20 minutes there are absolutely no reason to leave the prey in the enclosure for hours it will only contribute to stress the snake, which is not what you want if you want the animal to resume feeding.