Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hello,
I have had two ball pythons for 1 year 2 months now. I got them from a pet store when they were just 14 inches long. In december of 2005 they stopped eating. They hav not ate since the first of december. In december when they stopped eating Monty weighed 1.75 pounds and was 3.5 feet long. Selene weighed 1.5 pounds and was just a little shorter. Both snakes have lost over a quater pound. They are both really active at night, and explore when taking from their cage. They seem to be healthy, I was just wondering if they have lost too much weight? And what advice do you have on tempting them to eat? If they havnt lost too much weight when should I start to worry about it?
Thanks

hello,
what temp do you have them at? also describe your setup. and finally what have you been feeding? this is normal in ball pythons and i just went through the same thing with two albinos. i have them set up in a rack system they are only 300 350 grams. i bought a temp gun chevked my temps( they were a lttle low) correceted the temps with my helix 1000 and they just ate rat pups. let me know those few details but i can tell you this is normal.

They live in a 30 gallon tank. The left side, has a 75 watt bask bulb(Repta Sun), the right side has a 100 watt black light bulb(repta sun). Under the right side of the tank there is a under the tank heater that covers the right half of the tank.

During the day temps are:
Bask side(left) 93
Black night light side(right) 80

During night time temps are:
Bask side 76
Night side 85-87

I am pretty sure these temps are they same they have been at since I got them, But if they seem low I'll try raising them to see if that helps. The basking side of the tank has a rock cave, they can hide under it or bask ontop of it. The right side has a half wooden log to hide under. In the middle there is a water bowl that always has fresh water. I clean their cage every 2-4 weeks depending on condition.

From the time I got them till they stopped eating I fed them feeder mice from the pet store. I have been offering them feeder mice weekly from the time their fast began. I was not sure if they were big enough yet for a small rat. At this time the Monty and Selene are about 1.5-1.75 inches in diameter at there largest point.

If you think the temps are a little low let me know what you keep your ball pythons at. Also if you think at the current size they are ready for small rats I'll give that a try.

Thank you very much
Barry

the temps are fine. they are probably off feed beacuse of the winter months. as far as feeding a small rat you need to feed no bigger than the thickest part of the snake.

good luck!!

Okay, I've got a similar situation going on with my two females that are a little over a year old, but it's a bit more protracted than this. My two girls stopped eating back around the end of October. They were 1200 grams and 1050 grams a piece back then, now they're both down to about 950 grams a piece. One female ate a small rat three weeks ago, but other than that, neither has eaten since October 24th.

In reading literature on BP's, I found that females will often do this during the winter months as a part of the breeding cycle, so when I saw that they'd stopped accepting prey items totally, I dropped the temps and let them do their thing. Well, it's getting into spring now, and I've brought the temps back up and the photo period and they're still not eating. Kinda curious whether I should start getting worried yet?

Dave