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Female BP Off Feed

angelam87

angelam87

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So.
I have a female BP I bought from an expo in April.
She's been off feed since I bought her, but the woman I bought her from said that she was feeding fine before hand on live small rats.

We've tried live and f/t rats and mice of various sizes and I'm looking into picking up some African Soft Furs.

We changed her substrate, from newspaper to cedar mulch, and her position in the rack.
Since then she has shed and pooped but still no interest in eating.

She started to lose weight last month and I'm starting to get worried.

Any suggestions appreciated
 
Offer her small live rats, but not too frequently. You could try a pre-killed rat in a paper bag with her overnight. Once you give an ASF she may never eat anything else. If they are inconvenient for you to get you may think about that.

Is the mulch you switched her to indeed CEDAR? Cedar is toxic to snakes and pine is not much better. Aspen or Cypress are preferrable if you like the mulch look. Paper towels or newspaper are more than acceptable and easy to clean.
 
Whatever size rat you tried last time, try something smaller next time. I find it easier to get problem eaters back on feed with smaller meals. How much does she weigh? (Wondering if there's any chance of her wanting to breed instead of eat??)
 
If she is close to 800gr sometimes they slow down eating, or maybe you got lucky and she is almost ready to lay. But not sure about the pooping after so long, unless she was feed several rats. Also does she have a hide spot. Good luck
 
i think you are ok right now i got a girl one time and she did not eat for 6 months and she was eating fine before i got her.
 
She's not on cedar, she's on cypress.

I've introduced my male to her but she doesn't have a lot of interest.

She spends 99% of her time coiled under her water dish and will cruise around her tub at night.

We only offer to her once a week, when we feed everyone else. We've tried all sizes of rats and mice and she is just *not* interested. I found someone to buy a colony of ASFs from so that's not a worry for me.
 
angelam87 said:
She's not on cedar, she's on cypress.

I've introduced my male to her but she doesn't have a lot of interest.

She spends 99% of her time coiled under her water dish and will cruise around her tub at night.

We only offer to her once a week, when we feed everyone else. We've tried all sizes of rats and mice and she is just *not* interested. I found someone to buy a colony of ASFs from so that's not a worry for me.
Click to expand...

A lot of females will cease eating after introduction, as will males. If she's coiled around her water dish, I wouldn't expect her to eat for a while.... but welcome to ball pythons :thumbsup: a world of "WTF" when it comes to feeding, lol.
 
Have you tried feeding late at night? I have one that will only eat after like 11pm.

What are your temps? Hot/ambient?
 
I think we have, but I'll try that again this week.

She's 85* in the back of the tub and 80-82* in the front, I think.
The rack is at my boyfriend's house so I don't have it in front of me to check right now.
 
I would raise that hot spot to about 88-90 and see if that helps. If she IS ready to breed, she'll eat whenever she's ready to. Good luck!
 
My younger adult male & female have been off feed for two months and they just ate out of the blue. If it's really rainy or cloudy they seem to go off feed more frequently, even my really piggy eaters. They also tend to go off if they get a lot of big meals in a row. They want to keep their svelte figures, i guess! XD
 
She ate!

I took her bin out of the rack, removed the water bowl, and put a f/t adult mouse in with her and put the lid back on. Two minutes later she was sniffing it and a minute later she was dragging it around the tub before she wolfed it down.

In anyone's opinion would it be best to feed her on the same schedule as everyone else [i.e. once a week]? Or should I feed her every three or four days so she'll begin to put her weight back on?
 
I do once a week and see if they want a second mouse when I have an extra. I find that 3-4 days tends to make mine go back off eating or that they refuse more that way. Every 5-6 days seems ok for adults, but only if they've really lost a lot during a fast. Giving them an extra prey item will bulk them up good if they are interested in eating more than their usual number. My female pastel will eat up to four adult mice at a time, but i usually stick with 2-3 since four makes her look bloated, ha ha!
 
I have a 550 gram female that was eating like a champ, then quit... now it is 5 months later, she has only lost 10 grams in 5 months. She isn't interested in any size food, but only offer F/T since that is all she ever knew ( has never eaten a live meal). I've tried days, nights, LATE nights. She is active when you get her out and at nights, doesn't look too skinny, and is still putting on length. I think I'm fine still. only one issue......... I NEED HER TO GROW!! she is a big part of a project i want to do! lol
 
Bummer.
I'm hoping my lady will put the weight that she lost back on in the next month or so.
She was a little more active than she is now when I first bought her, so I'm hoping she'll be a little less timid and do something other than be a turtle under her water dish!
 
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