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Off feed success story

A

Allhallows

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Since I am still a bit new to ball pythons, It drives me nuts when a female hits 1000g and then goes off feed for no reason. Especially a female that has eaten every single meal that was ever put in front of her. Almost 1.5 months went by without any interest in her rats, so I decided to start some testing.

Is she going off feed because she just isn't hungry? Something else? My husbandry seems fine since every other snake in that rack are feeding with gusto. I feed F/T by the way.

The testing began.

1. Test 1: only open the cage a few inches and lower the F/T rat in there slowly. No response.

2. Test 2: Do the zombie dance lightly grazing the BP's mouth area. No response.

3. Test 3: Leave the Rat in overnight. No response.

4. Test 4: Shut all the lights off and lower in the rack with tongs. No response.

5. Test 5: Heat water up inside an old coffee mug to where i can just about keep my finger in there, dip the rat in there for 10 seconds, dab the rat with a paper towel. Result = Instant strike and successful meal!

Three days later I tried again my old way....nothing...Then I tried the hotter water coffee cup way....BAM! Struck within seconds! I guess my snake likes her meals hotter than normal now!

Don't give up on non-eaters. Something has to make them tick!
 
Focal said:
Nice to see live rats were not an option!
Click to expand...

Definitely not an option. I do not breed rats and even 1 rat per week at $3-$6 each would dent my wallet enough to make me always get on F/T. I would not want to get the snake used to Live even for non-feeding instances. Like my tests show, there are other ways.
 
My female bp is interesting with her eating preferences too. She would never eat for me and I didn't try live although I was about to. So, one day I spent an hour trying to get her to eat and I just gave up and laid the rat right next to her. Literally 20 seconds later she starts to eat the rat next to her. gahhh all that stress for nothing, lol.
 
Just thought I'd add a bit more to your success story =p.

My clown gal seemed to only eat live mice... I put a f/t rat wean in front of her, and she seemed interested, but didn't really seem like she was actually going to strike.. I warmed up the rat for 10 minutes, put it in front of her, and she was completely zero'd in on the rat's location... Following it when I swayed it, then WHAM! Struck - Constrict - Nom.

Made me happy =].
 
H00blah said:
Just thought I'd add a bit more to your success story =p.

My clown gal seemed to only eat live mice... I put a f/t rat wean in front of her, and she seemed interested, but didn't really seem like she was actually going to strike.. I warmed up the rat for 10 minutes, put it in front of her, and she was completely zero'd in on the rat's location... Following it when I swayed it, then WHAM! Struck - Constrict - Nom.

Made me happy =].
Click to expand...

Perfect! Heat seeking snake!
 
Warming the prey item is a basic part of feeding f/t (at least for ball pythons). I'm actually more surprised that you seem to have gotten away without it for this long, lol.
Sometimes, they just want something different. I've got a couple that feed better if I lift them out of the tub and present the prey while they're in my hand - go figure. Great feeders that stop dead when you move them into a bigger tub (when they REALLY need it). I've got one female that is still trying to incubate her eggs from last year. I've put her in different tubs, moved her to a different spot in the rack, etc; but she's not giving up (I'm going to drop a few babies in with her this season, see if that helps straighten her head out so she'll eat)
Weird snakes.
 
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