Reptile & Amphibian Forums

So, i acquired a het for piebald ball from a friend of mine about 4 or 5 months ago. The entire time I have had him, he has not eaten. I have offered him F/T mice and rats and he will not take them. The food offered is not too large for him. I keep the temperature and humidity correct. He has a water bowl, hide box. None of my other snakes have any problems. Maybe after a month of having him and him not eating, he started his shed cycle, so I figured maybe that is why hasn't eaten. That was not it. He still would not take the food after shed. I am wondering if he is possibly constipated because he has not went the entire time I have had him. I have soaked him a few times in warm water to no avail. I spoke with my friend about it and he says that he never had that problem with him. Is there something I am doing wrong? I have done just about everything I can think of. I consider myself an intermediate collector and know quite a lot. Like I said, all of my other snakes are happy and feeding like horses and I keep them all in the same climate controlled environment. Any ideas? I would greatly appreciate it.

Thanks!
Heathen

How old is it? Could it just be the breeding season? I say that cuz my friends ball has been off-feed since like november or so..... he does that every year.
Is he losing weight? If hes not i wouldnt worry about it...
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2.2 red tail boas
1.0 blood python
1.1 kenya sand boas

Have you tried feeding live? My ball stubbornly won't take anything but, save for one growth spurt period where he took F/T. Mine goes off feed every fall/winter (been off since November) and probably won't start feeding again until March or April. Drives me nuts waiting, but that's how some of them are. My other two pythons (not balls--a woma and a blood) eat right on through the winter like nobody's business.

Hang in there. You never know when the response will kick in, but more than likely, it will!

Hey, thanks for the responses. This makes the fourth person that has told me that it could just be the breeding season and his natural instincts to breed. He was born 06, and to my knowledge has never been bred. But, no, he does not look like he is loosing weight. I think it must just be because of breeding season. Other than not eating, he seems like a healthy snake (other than an extreme shyness). Thanks again and if anything else come to mind, I'm all ears.

I had two ball pythons go off of their food for nine months once. Something was stressing them out. Turned out to be living together! They had been living together for over a year with no issues but all of a sudden, they didn't like it. After a day of separation, they both ate. For your info, they both suffered no ill effects from fasting.