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stopped eating

T

tstrenuous10

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I feed my snake every 7 -10 days depending on my week. this was working good but the last couple of times I have offered my snake wont even bite. Wednesday was 7 days and i offered a couple times (frozen). yesterday i tried the same thing and evn resorted to live but the snake wouldnt even go for that. i killed the mouse and left it in with him overnight and he STILL hasn't eaten it. What is going on? Is there anything I can do to make him eat more? the snake is about 9 or 10 months old and eats small mice once a week. well.....ususally.
 
How long have you had the snake? Could it be preparing to shed? Any temperature changes (check, don't guess)?
 
It is very common for a Ball Python to miss a scheduled feeding from time to time. So if I am reading your post correctly it has been 10 days since its last meal? That is really nothing to worry about. Keep offering him food once a week (not every couple of days) and he should resume eating soon as long as your environmentals (temps, humidity, day/night cycle, etc) are correct.
 
Keep in mind also the time of year. It's easy for the cage temps to slip and you not realize it. I always have a few that go off feed around this time regardless.
Right now I have 5 or so 1-2 year olds that haven't eaten the last three weeks. They'll come back around before long, but it's bothersome in the meantime.
Seven days is nothing to even be concerned about. Some balls will go twice that long for no apparent reason at any time of the year.
 
the tank was around mid 80s in the warm side with 40% humidity when i was trying to feed. now its holding steady at 94 with 30% humidity. i mist the cage in the morning and at night. hopefully next week my snake will eat. i saw him come out today during the daytime which was different since it usually hides until night time. it HAS been colder here lately (snow) but i figured with the house set it wouldnt matter enough.

i got the snake last july.
 
You might try getting the temps down a bit, and the humidity up. Believe it or not, not all boids respond well to high temps. And how cold does the tank get at night? (I guess I should have asked this first - how long has it been that warm?). Sometimes, night time temp drops are enough to throw them off feed.
Oh, you never did say - how long has it been since he ate?
 
Last time he at was..............calender.............the first of the month. one small mouse. tank usually warms up at night (dont ask me). i have a digital thermometer i reste at night to check that and see if i change anything.

its a 20L tank with a 75 watt heat lamp. without the heat lamp it was 80-85 with about 50-60% humidity. seems like this changed his eating habits.

as its set now if i keep the lamp off it will be around 83-85 but im hoping the warmer temps will make him a little hungrier. thats the impression i have gotten from reading on here.
 
i tried again today and no luck. I'm going to try on Wednesday and see what happens. This hasn't ever happened before but the snake doesn't look sick and moves around just fine. Looks a little thinner then usual but thats expected from not eating for almost 2 weeks.
 
tank is holding stable at 92 on the warm side with about 30% humidity and the cool side is 78-80 with about 45-50% humidity.
 
Forget about trying on Wednesday, lol. Increase the humidity a bit and leave him alone. Don't mess with it any more than necessary for cage maintenance. Give him 7-10 days and try again
 
I had moved one hide and that made the difference. CRAZY!

so i SHOULDN'T feed wednesday? I should wait one week from sunday (yesterday) to try and feed again? Thats like 2.5 weeks. should i try offering a second mouse that day?
 
My male hasn't eaten for almost a month. I talked to a very herp-savy girl at a local pet store, and she said it's ok as long as he isn't stressed or losing weight. i am going to try feeding again after some adjusting this week, but he will occasionally come out and looks fat and calm as ever, has been acting normal and perfectly calm. I took him out for five minutes to be sure he didn't looks sick or thin, and he was acting just fine, just wanted to hibernate. The temps are good, humidity is a little higher than normal because of the rainy season. I've checked everything and changed and adjusted as much as i can, but he seems just happy the way he is.
Perhaps the rain + humidity is making him hibernate? If anyone has any ideas, i will try them, but i've been trying about everything.
I'm not worried because he is otherwise fat and happy and my temps are the same as ever, but any advice will be appreciated. thanks!
 
tstrenuous10 said:
I had moved one hide and that made the difference. CRAZY!

so i SHOULDN'T feed wednesday? I should wait one week from sunday (yesterday) to try and feed again? Thats like 2.5 weeks. should i try offering a second mouse that day?
Click to expand...

Just leave him alone for a week. Don't disturb him except to check water, any necessary maintenance. THEN try feeding again.

2 1/2 weeks isn't very long, in Ball Python terms. LOL.
 
I don't get wrapped up in terms of time periods wen it comes to ball python feeding schedules. I consider it too long when there is a good degree of weight loss.
I've had large ones go 6 months without food with minimal loss of weight. Younger animals lose weight faster than mature adults so they can't go as long without food.
Balls are made for fasting. It's in their physiology. They are very sedentary snakes and can burn very little energy if they need to conserve.
2.5 weeks is nothing. I have at least a few balls that go off feed for 1-2 months at a time every year unrelated to breeding activity.
 
Ok. never had a ball python before so I just don't want to kill it ya know. That would really suck. STILL have to get it sexed so I can refer to it properly (IT isn't cosher with being called IT. jewish I guess.) Hoping for a girl so i can breed in about 2 years. should be good sized by then. I need to get a scale I can use to weigh IT. Then I can tell if IT is losing weight.
I don't think my snake has come out of its hide for a while because i checked today and its bottom was all red from being on the UTH for the last couple of days. moved back over there in about 15 minutes when I checekd again.
 
Is your UTH properly set up on a thermostat? What is the temp where he was laying?? IF it's set at a safe temp, it SHOULDN'T cause his belly to turn red. Their belly turns pinkish shortly before they shed, and it could also be caused by the bedding being too damp. All of these reasons (temp, shed, dampness) could be the reason why he isn't eating to begin with.
 
not expected to shed. doesnt even look like hes going to shed. Temp is low 90s 94 at hottest part. i have a digitial thermometer hydrometer next to his warm side hide. possibly humidity. i spray under the hides and the substrate twice a day. I took him out of the tank to move around so i will see what happens with his belly. his humidity hasnt changed much since from when he would eat to now
 
having a digital thermometer next to the warm side hide does not tell you the floor temperature over the UTH. Bottom line is - his/her belly should not be red. That means there is a problem. It is your responsibility is to identify and correct that problem. Cathy offered some of the likely reasons, but that is all we can do in a forum. Don't just discount things because you don't think they are a problem...CHECK. I have been guilty of this in the past myself when trying to track something down...I knew that the temps were right - the room temp was the same, and I hadn't changed the settings on the heaters - so I didn't bother checking. Boy, was I pi$$ed when I finally figured out the temp was too high (this was a 17+ ft retic that suddenly wasn't eating, and would go into a shed cycle every 10-14 days).
 
so i should just remove the substrate from the area around the UTH and put the thermometer there. What can i do if its too hot? Why would it all of a sudden, after 8 months, be too hot?
 
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