Still not eating... I'm getting worried.

[Crazy4Herps]

My adult girl, Cu, hasn't eaten since December 24th, when she ate a small rat. Before that, she'd been eating about every month. This is her first winter with me, so it might be the way she is. I believe she's about 3 years old. She's my first, so I'm no expert, but she doesn't appear to be losing any weight. Yet.

I've always fed her live small rats. She's never eaten frozen. For the first time, I decided to try a mouse. Fail. It's been almost 3 months now, and I'm starting to worry. She usually "stalks" the food for five minutes or so before going back to her hide. Now, she's not even stalking the mouse. She's been acting really lethargic. She usually responds to touch, but now I have to pick her up to make sure she's alive. I guess this is probably because she's low on calories from not eating and she just doesn't have energy.

Hopefully she'll eat within the next month. I really really hope. If not, or if she starts losing weight, I need to get calories in her somehow. At what point should I try doing the Gatorade/water thing? At what point should I take her to a vet? What could a vet do?

Please, any advice would be much appreciated. I'm really worried about my girl.

[Dave763]

First, don't worry, its common for a ball python to go off feed for a while in the winter.
I would not give her any gatorade. Leave her alone for 3 or 4 days then try a live rat pup.
A trick that has worked for me, is to put the rat pup and the snake together in a closed paper bag overnight.

[Wh00h0069]

If any snakes in your care go off feed, you should check your husbandry. Make sure that they snakes are in a proper enclosure with tight / dark hides, and the enclosure has proper heat and humidity. If a ball pythons is stressed-out, it will not eat. Once you are positive that your husbandry is right, I agree with the poster above. Ball pythons often go off feed. I would not worry too much about it until she starts loosing weight. If all else fails, you could try an African soft-furred rat. I have heard that seems to excite their feeding response.

[iurast]

I would not worry too much about it until she starts loosing weight.

I read this very often. But nobody says what there is to worry about when a ballpythons starts loosing weight....

[Wh00h0069]

I read this very often. But nobody says what there is to worry about when a ballpythons starts loosing weight....

Well if they loose too much weight, they could die. If a ball starts loosing weight, it is time to take them to the vet. They should be checked out.

[mooingtricycle]

I had a 400 someodd gram male go off feed for about four or five months or something, ages ago.

Your snake is fine. let the weather warm up.

When you say lethargic, do you just mean, hanging out in a hide. not doing anything? Ball pythons.... generally like to stay in one spot. ive got several animals that will just sit.... for days and days in one hide or the other.

When you take the snake out of the enclosure, does the snake move around and try to find a place to hide? or just chill with you?

lethargic, is more of a word for, having trouble moving, and otherwise looking sickly. Not for a snake that is quite happy to be curled up in a warm spot, and just never moving.

[mooingtricycle]

I read this very often. But nobody says what there is to worry about when a ballpythons starts loosing weight....

Its not, "starts losing weight", its losing vast amounts of weight, very quickly that you need to worry about.

If you have a snake that is in two weeks or three, looking thin and unhealthy, youve definitely got a more serious issue than general weightloss from not feeding on your hands.

[Toronto Python Gurus]

As long as all your temps, humidity, housing etc. Is a in proper order i wouldnt stress about it too much . . . .

BP's can go of eating for months even a year is not uncommon, there are even 2 cases where BP's went off eating for 22 months straight which is close to 2 years, as long as your snake is not losing weight then you have nothing to worry about . . . I offer my yearlings(08's) an adult mouse every 5-7 days i weigh them before i offer them food even if they dont eat so next time i can tell if they have lost any weight, i offer my 07's and older an adult mouse every 7-10 days my adults get small rats, i prefer to offer my BP's smaller prey more often than larger prey spaced further away, its easier on their digestive systems

none of my adults have eaten since november but i still offer them food every 7-10 days and weigh them alot of BP's go off feeding during breeding season (november - march)

[Crazy4Herps]

Thanks, guys! I've read a lot about their fasts, but it's still been worrying me. The thought that a living thing can go so many months without eating a single thing is hard to think about without panicking.

If all else fails, you could try an African soft-furred rat. I have heard that seems to excite their feeding response.

Thanks. I'll look around and try to find one... lol, now I've got a rat, mouse, and now maybe another rat waiting to be eaten.

When you say lethargic, do you just mean, hanging out in a hide. Not doing anything? Ball pythons.... Generally like to stay in one spot. Ive got several animals that will just sit.... For days and days in one hide or the other.

When you take the snake out of the enclosure, does the snake move around and try to find a place to hide? Or just chill with you?

lethargic, is more of a word for, having trouble moving, and otherwise looking sickly. Not for a snake that is quite happy to be curled up in a warm spot, and just never moving.

She's always in her hide, which is normal, but she is usually very alert and surprised when I lift her hide and wake her up, but recently she hasn't been moving at all until I get her out. Then she acts like she always has... always crawling around, but out of curiosity rather than looking for a place to hide.

[Dragoon]

mine stopped for over a month in december to january until i took him out for exercise every day for a few days, i guess i over fed him a bit, and he ate that week. i did try everything else first with no success and so i tried that. a adult can go months without feeding so i wouldn't worry too much just yet