Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hey all, I have a ball that has not eaten in 21 months, but today she did something really unusual. i placed a large rat in with her of course she was in her hide, but when the rat stuck his nose in the hole of the hide she slammed it with unusual feroscity, I mean i have never seen a ball attack prey like this, well she killed the rat but now she won't eat it, i'm not sure what to do here. first off i have never had a ball that would not eat, i'm getting worried, shes starting to lose weight. And secondly i've never seen a ball kill, but not eat. I try to feed her at least 2 times a week, have had her to the vet, don't got anything wrong that the vet can tell. Now i got a dead rat(which i don't care) and a snake i know is hungry. what to do, should i try to force feed her or what. I just don't understand she always ate before, in fact she ate about twice what my other balls eat. Do you think it has anything to do with her size(its a female) she is quite large a bit over 6' and as thick as my forearm, its the biggest ball i've ever seen and i really don't want to lose her. any help would be unimaginably appreciated. oh shes 12 years old now and i've had her since she was only 14" long, and she was only 3 months old when i got her. what to do i'm really worried now because she never acted like this before.

Levu

i know exactly how you feel

my male pastel didnt eat for about 4 months, he would eat either rat pups or small rats depending on what i had available, he went of feed and got worried like everyone does...
well about two weeks ago i got the bright idea to put a mouse in his cage, well to my surprise he ate it, but i cant get him to switch back to rats well anyways

you should try feeding her a rat pup or a large mouse
maybe its the size of the rat that intimidates her
who knows

good luck with you bp

Joe

I SWEAR I didn't see this until AFTER I posted!!!!

Steve

There are others here who are way more qualified to answer this than I am. But, if she hasn't eaten in 21 months, she may not have the "flora" in her gut to efficiently digest a large rat.

I have a 2kg female that has been off feed for a couple of months. She had been eating small to medium rats before her "fast". Last night, I decided what the heck, and offered her a live mouse. She had it down almost before I had it in her enclosure! She went ahead and ate 3 more, and then I stopped. She may have taken more, but I decided 4 was enough for that meal.

You might try a mouse or two. Given that she's been off food for so long, if she takes them, I would probably let her digest just one or two for a few days before offering more.

Steve

Offering food a few times a week is probably stressing her out.

only offer food once a week and leave her alone.

I hate to offer mice to rat feeders B/C they will, as stated develope a preference.

I would offer a weanling/small rat first, something way smaller than she could eat, for a few weeks to see if she takes it.
after a few successful feedings then go up in size from there.

if she doesn't take weanling/small after a few weeks, maybe a mouse will get her going again.

JMO
TomChambers

Hey guys thanks for the input,

I'm not sure what her problem is shes eaten rats all her life, infact she would eat 2 sometimes 3 jumbo rats before she started this silly stuff. She ate rat pups from the time i got her, them we moved up in size. I would hate to offer up a mouse, cause 2 other balls i have were given mice from the time they were hatched and i could never get them to eat rats. they still don't and thier size shows it too. I really don't know what to do, this is my favorite snake, has never bitten me or even tried. and as far as stressing her out trying to feed her, i don't think thats the problem. because as i stated earlier she used to eat every time i'd offer up food and want more. She laid 7 eggs not this past feb. but the one before that and has not eaten since the male was put in with her in.
Do ya think snakes get afeeling of loss ? after all i did remove the eggs and hatch them in an incubator got 6 out of the 7 eggs, wonderful critters they are now getting some real size to them. I dont know if she don't eat soon i'm gonna force feed her. Ok i'll try a mouse first, man i really hate to do that. but giving her mice is better than her dying.

thanks levi

levi,

whether you believe me or not a non-feeding snake gets stressed out when you offer food too often.

I still think you should try a smaller food item first once a week, then if she wont take it try mice.

TomChambers

Did she lay the eggs in the same cage she is now living in?
After she laid the eggs did you wash and disinfect the cage well to get the egg smell out? Did you also wash the egg smell off her? I am guessing all the smell would be gone by now but who knows. It's worth a try at least. Maybe she killed the rat to protect her eggs if the scent is still in the cage. I would take everything out, disinfect everything. Put in completely new substrate and maybe even a new hide or cage furniture. Make sure her temps are in the right range. Make sure humidity is right. Make sure you wash her down to remove any smell that might be on her. Then leave her alone for a couple of weeks or even a month without touching nor bothering her at all. Then I would try the mouse thing and follow it with a rat placed in her mouth as she is swallowing the mouse. I would scent the rat with mouse smell for good measure. It is much better than losing her. You could try a small rat first if you are hesitant about the mouse thing but I would try anything at this point.

Just thought I'd ask. You've gotten good advice here, I think. You should consider especially what Tom has said about offering food so often.

If it were me (after 21 months!) I'd offer a warm mouse and then be standing by with a dead rat which you could gently guide into the snake's mouth as the mouse was disappearing. Or you could rub mouse scent on the rat.

I agree with Tom, but would go even further to say LEAVE HER ALONE for a couple of weeks! Make sure she is clean and has fresh water but leave the contact and disturbances to a minimum. Then after a two week period try a small rat first, you would be suprised what a difference it can make.
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Greg Power
B.O.A. Inc
boainc@gmail.com

I had a female start to hit, wrap but not eat her meal. She did this 3 weeks in a row. I finally completely covered her rack with a dark towel and she ate right away. Subtle light flickers I guess had started to bug her.

I have a male that will kill big rats 100% of the time I put them in his cage, but he only eats them about 50% of the time. It is no big deal for me since I have a couple that eat prekilled, he just does the prekilling for me.

Most likely the reason why she didn't eat the rat after killing it was becuase you were watching her.
Put a rat in there and leave her alone in the dark for at least a few hours.
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when life hands you lemons, make super lemons, bumblebees, etc...

Well halaluya, she finally ate a few hours ago and a large rat to boot ! i think that maybe the humidity was to high, i left the fans on and dropped the humidity from about 80 % down to about 60%, it stays really humid in that room has a bunch of aquariums that keep it humid. and yes i did all those things you all suggested long ago. But this is weird, cause when i went in the room this morning, i knew she was gonna eat today. And the reason i knew was that as soon i came in the room she came out of her hide about 2 feet and waited and watched me. I opened the door, dropped in a large rat, and it froze. As Soon as it moved it was over.