Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Okay so i know that it is normal for snakes to go on long horrid hunger strikes but I am one of those who is paranoid as this is the first time I have dealt with THREE hunger strikes...

Anyway I have a normal Sub-adult female who I got about a month ago and she has not eaten since I got her it has been exactly 37 days since she last eight at the store I bought her from the really weird thing is she went from 750 grams to 763 grams? is that possible? Another thing(and probably the reason she hasn't been eating) is thatshe recovered from a Respritory infection like 3-4 days ago

And now onto the other hunger strike...I have a normal baby BP who hasn't eaten in 17 days and lost alot of weight(I think) he went from 211 grams to 183 grams buuuut he was missing with no heat for 5 days but I still don't see how he could have lost so much weight already

And now last but not least I have a Pastel BP who I got 8 days ago who hasn't eaten once shouldn't he be settled in and eating by now? I was told he was eating really well on thawed small mice

But maybe they all have great excuses to not be eating and I am just a paranoid mama...
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Brenna Rector
www.brennaspets.com

0.1.0 Bearded Dragon
1.1.0 Ball Pythons
0.2.0 Dogs
1.1.0 Cats
1.2.0 Ferrets
1.0.0 Gerbils
1.1.0 Bunnies

As far as the pastel, 8 days is not long at all. I'd give him another week to get settled before trying to feed. As far as the other snakes go, can you provide more details? Are you feeding live, pre-killed, or f/t? Feeding in the habitat, or in a separate feeding tub? What time of day are you trying to feed? Changing some of these things may help your snakes to chow down.

As far as the pastel, 8 days is not long at all. I'd give him another week to get settled before trying to feed. As far as the other snakes go, can you provide more details? Are you feeding live, pre-killed, or f/t? Feeding in the habitat, or in a separate feeding tub? What time of day are you trying to feed? Changing some of these things may help your snakes to chow down.

Okay, I will give him a week and a bit of time and then feed

For the female we started on pre-killed medium rats because that was what we were told she ate and then after we realized she had the infection we stopped for awhile and fed her a large live mouse to maybe spicen up her appetite and ended up giving that to the Dragon I always feed in a seperate Aquarium I normally feed at night-time around 6 PM or 7 PM sometimes 8 PM

As for the Male he gets a pre-killed small mouse and normally he eats fine same with all my other snakes he gets fed in a different container and I buy all my food at the same time so around 6 or 7 is when he gets fed
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Brenna Rector
www.brennaspets.com

0.1.0 Bearded Dragon
1.2.0 Ball Pythons
0.2.0 Dogs
1.1.0 Cats
1.2.0 Ferrets
1.0.0 Gerbils
0.1.2 Bunnies

Maybe try feeding a bit later, around 10 or so. I've had problems feeding in the early evening as well. My guy will strike, coil, play with the mouse, but not eat. If I give him some time to "wake up", he eats like a champ. Not sure it will work for your snakes, just an idea you may want to try.

Alright I will try that and if it doesn't work I'll just try different feeding times or wait awhile

Thanks
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Brenna Rector
www.brennaspets.com

0.1.0 Bearded Dragon
1.2.0 Ball Pythons
0.2.0 Dogs
1.1.0 Cats
1.2.0 Ferrets
1.0.0 Gerbils
0.1.2 Bunnies

I've found the best way to get my BP to eat is to throw the food in his cage just in front of his hide before I go to bed and leave it there... By morning he's usually ate.... I was expecting to have trouble with him since he'd been fed live for 8 years before I got him, but he switched over fine and hasn't given me any problems, and I got him last summer...
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~Maggie~

"Not one shred of evidence supports the notion that life is serious."
1.1 Cal Kings (Spot and Fry)
1.0 Florida King (Gamble)
1.0 Ball Python (Mitch)
0.1 Red Belly Piranha (Fluffy)
1.0 Australian Shepherd (Spooky)
1.0 Springer Spaniel/Beagle mix (Snoopy)
0.1 Cat (Ecco)

I've got to believe that feeding (after purchasing) depends wholly on the ball's comfortability level. I've recently gotten back into herps, and in the past 3 months have gotten a 150g high gold 100% het albino female, 160g 100% het albino female and a 180g albino male.

I did not buy the all at the same time.

The albino boy fed only 6-7 hours after he arrived (he was sent overnight), as did the high gold girl. The other girl did not eat for 5 days after I got her, and even then it was hard: she kept striking in my general direction, as well as striking at the mouse though as if not to eat. After nudging the mouse towards her a few times she finally took it.

Another point I've heard from other enthusiasts/breeders:
Instead of feeding a full size mouse (just the example size), try giving it a small mouse or weanling, maybe 2 weanlings. Since pythons are opportunistic feeders they may take a few small (SMALL) portions at a time, or a small portion every 4 or so days. If you're trying to get them to breeding weight, I've also heard the 'feed smaller more often' mantra works better than 1 huge meal every 7 - 10 days.

Hope this helped?

I would NEVER feed a ball the day I received it. Let them settle in for at least 3 or 4 days before stressing them out more than they already are.

as for your 3 animals i would personally back down from mediums to smaller smalls with a 700g animal. I had problems with consistant feeding in the past when I was feeding appropriately sized large meals vs a few smalls, it seems that they just take longer to get back to being ready to feed after digesting a big meal vs 2 smaller meals jmho.
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1.0 Sunrise (sshhh)
1.0 Yellow Belly
1.0 Het pied
1.0 Pastel
1.0 nerd hypo
1.0 Spider Het hypo
0.5 Het nerd hypo
0.3 poss Het nerd hypo
0.1 poss Het albino
0.1 het pied
0.5 Breeder normals
0.1 black pastel (unproven)
0.1 Tiger (unproven)
0.1 genetic reduced pattern
0.1 mojave (best looking one ever! thanks Jeff Luman)
0.1 Pastel Het ghost
0.1 BCI 8ft
1.0 snow corn
0.1 albino Het snow corn Laid 14! Gravid again!!
0.1 albino Het snow corn laid 20!
2.0 Reed frogs
2.2 felines aka boa food ;o
And I am not gonna count all those rats . . .

Brian H
Brianhettinger@hotmail.com