Reptile & Amphibian Forums

My ball Python hasnt eaten since January. Yes I know January (5th). its crazy cuz he was pounding F/T all his life. hes about 3 years old, and Im just worried I'm going to find him belly up soon. The temp is ok and so is the encloser. Im not sure what to do... he is maintaining weight.

Ryan

There is probably nothing to worry about. My male does the same thing. He pounds rats like no tomorrow and then when winter rolls around he eats sporatically and then stops for a few months. He stopped Jan 3 this year and didnt eat until last week. During these 3 months he didnt lose any weight either. Just keep trying every week or two. He'll eat when hes ready. Try doing a search too becuase their was another thread just like this a few weeks ago. One guy had a ball not eat for about 5 or 6 months. Good Luck!

If your snake is maintaining weight, still alert and active, not wheezing, yawning constantly or showing any other signs of ill health, you have nothing to worry about.

Ball python, especially adults often fast during the winter months. It is not any concern for us owners at all, as long as no other signs of illness are detected (ie loss of weight, or as listed above). Ball pythons can easily go 4-8 months without eating without any significant loss of weight. Just a few posts below, a ball python owner had their adult snake go 9 months without food before he started eating again.

I would wait a couple weeks, offer a rodent a size or two smaller than he would normally get, if he doesn't take it, try again in another two weeks.

BP do go off feed and it can be for various reasons such as overfeeding, breeding, husbandry, illness, stress, etc.

Check your temperature and make sure they are 80-84 on the cool side, 90-94 on the warm side, of course this mean you need to have an accurate reading provided by a digital thermometer/hydrometer such as this one.

Check your humidity and make sure it is between 50%-60%

Make sure the enclosure is in a low traffic area.

Make sure your enclosure is the appropriated size, an enclosure that is too big can be overwhelming, and can cause stress overtime.

Make sure your hides are tight enough so your BP can snug in, all sides must be touching your BP's body (Avoid log hides as they do not really provide enough security for a BP).

If you handle your BP often, try to limit handling (Too much handling can cause stress)

BP will also fast to catch up if the prey they have eaten in the past are too big or if you feed too often, try feeding our BP a prey slightly smaller then the girth size, once a week, and nothing bigger then a small rat (4 weeks old) for an adult BP. This will allow your BP to feed with more consistency.

Hope this help.

They avoid that kind of heat in Africa by hiding in burrows and termite mounds. I keep my hot side at 86 in the summer 84 in the winter and they still prefer the cool side most of the time. As for yawning, it can be indicative of problems but not aklways. I have one snake that yawns a lot and has been doing so for three years. It is just a quirky habit of his.
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"Can't you just feed it vegetables"? No, no I can't you stupid hippie.

np-

I agree.

I ALWAYS see people on here writing 90 or even 95 degrees for the hot shot. I think thats way too hot also. I keep the hot spot at around 85 in the summer and 80 in the winter.

Whenever I've had the hot spot over 85, the snakes run (well... crawl real fast anyway) to the cool end on the enclosure.

Even snakes that are very timid will leave their hide and go to the cool end where the may not even have cover, rather than stay in the heat.