Reptile & Amphibian Forums

We've all had our snakes hit that period where they quit eating. Mostly it's my males and I know it's due to breeding season, but what about the females that hit that 700g mark. You already start planning the pairings for them and you get super excited and then they go on a 7,8, or 9 month fast. I feed f/t and I know I can usually entice them with a live one and get them back on track, but there's those few stubborn ones that can have everything perfect, temps, hides, humidity and they just refuse to eat!!!!! I have an 06 het pied that just came off an 11 month fast and she started gobbling up everything in sight!!!! I just hope she keeps it up and will be able to go this year. She's already 1600g, I just hope she continues this trend until I start to lower temps in Dec. Has there been any hardcore research done to find out what else (besides the obvious stresses) to cause a ball to go on a fasting period? Thanks Chris

LOL - Par for the course, my friend. That "700 gram wall" you've hit is so common that I'm pleasantly surprised when a female skips it! My advice is: try not to think about it-it will drive you crazy!!
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Brad Chambers
WWW.HCU-TX.ORG

The Avalanche has already started-it is too late for the pebbles to vote....

Hi,

Here is my theory. I think that is the weight when the females go into puberty. Maybe the reproductive cycle is starting to kick in and they go into a small fast for a small period, then they start eating for a while and breed. Just my thought. All my females have done it and I was able to get them all eating again after about a month.

Bill
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0.1 Het Albino
0.1 Spider Het Albino
1.0 Albino
0.1 Spinner
2.1 Super Pastel
0.1 Jungle Pastel
0.1 Het Pied
1.0 Pied 50 percent
0.1 Clown
1.1 Het Lavenders
1.1 Het Caramel Albino
0.3 Normal
1.1 Kids
0.1 Spouse
1.0 Chocolate Lab

I know it's very common, and I've accepted it as part of the hobby. I just wonder what would make a certain snake (usually the one your most excited about) go 11 months with out even popping their head up at a mouse or rat. Cross your fingers for my het pied!!!

Mine never go more than a week without eating. I feed live though. And I keep mine in a rack with layers of newspaper so they always have someplace to hide whether it's the hot or cold end. If they want to eat live you should feed them live IMO.

How many do you have??

>>How many do you have??

9 right now.

My personal theory is that they do it because they know it drives the people keeping them insane. Actually, I have wondered if it has something similar to do with what thunderpaws said, but i'm not aware of any actual research done into it.

I have very few in my collection that hit that wall, IDK why I assume it's because I feed them light and steady and they tend to feed right through that wall that everyone dreads.
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Tosha
JET Pythons
Toshas Blog

Herp Medicine does not equal a bottle of Baytril - Dr. Scott Stahl

i dont keep a large number of ball pythons but have had my fare share in the past 9 years. all mine have been a few months old in age when aquired or i hatched them myself and with my slow grow (three years old before size to breed male or female) i never had a wall where they would stop eating. However the 3 balls i have bought that were younger but about 500 grams decided to stop for a month roughly once they hit 600 and 700 grams.

dont know why or reasons but this is just my experiance

Chris I was thinking the same thing about how many he kept where he wasn't hitting the "wall" lol. I slow down towards the 550 mark and feed smaller meals every 7 to 8 days and I don't have quite the problem with them shutting down.....
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1.0 Sunrise (sshhh)
1.0 orange ghost mojave
1.0 Het pied
1.0 Hypo
1.0 Spider Het Hypo
0.1 orange ghost mojave
0.1 mojave (best looking one ever! thanks Jeff Luman)
0.1 Pastel Het ghost
0.1 Hypo
0.1 mojave
0.4 Het nerd Orange Hypo
0.2 poss Het nerd Orange Hypo
0.1 poss Het albino
0.1 het pied
0.1 Bell Jungle
0.6 normal breeders
0.1 black pastel (unproven)
0.1 Tiger ball (unproven)
0.1 genetic reduced pattern
0.1 black back
1.0 posslble salmon boa
0.1 BCI 8.5 ft
1.0 hypo okatee
1.3 Anery 100% het hypo amel and motley
1.1 snow corn
1.1 anery motley
0.1 ghost motley corn
0.1 lavendar het hypo
0.1 miami het hypo
0.1 miami
0.1 sunglow
0.1 candy cane
0.1 love line okatee
0.1 blue tail monitor
2.2 felines aka boa food ;o
And I am not gonna count all those rats . . .

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Brian
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Hi,

That is interesting. I never slowed down until I hit the wall. I will have to try that. Thanks for the advice. I am just so guilty of wanting to feed my snakes big meals because they seem to really enjoy eating. I just want them to be happy. And I felt if they were eating good they were felling good.

Thanks,
Bill
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0.1 Het Albino
0.1 Spider Het Albino
1.0 Albino
0.1 Spinner
2.1 Super Pastel
0.1 Jungle Pastel
0.1 Het Pied
1.0 Pied 50 percent
0.1 Clown
1.1 Het Lavenders
1.1 Het Caramel Albino
0.3 Normal
1.1 Kids
0.1 Spouse
1.0 Chocolate Lab

I had heard back when I first started breeding that several small meals was better than feeding one big meal and that was supposed to make them bigger faster and was supposed to be a healthier way to feed.......... well I tried it on 3 200 gram female balls and continued to feed 3 of my other 200 gram females the way I had been wich was a good sized meal.(I like every one else wanted BIG FATTIES to breed) Well guess wich animals continued to feed well after they reached the "wall" . . . Yep the many small meal animals. The big meal girls hit the wall hard!! Now im not feeding crawlers to a 500 gram animal but I am feeding 2 meals that don't swell their sides every 5 days or so. The 3 "test girls are all at 800g 910g and 930g's probably with a meal in them but a lot better than the 3 that are still against that wall around the 700s. If any one has more imput on the feeding regiments that they use I would love to learn more about feeding them there neat balls better.
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1.0 Sunrise (sshhh)
1.0 orange ghost mojave
1.0 Het pied
1.0 Hypo
1.0 Spider Het Hypo
0.1 orange ghost mojave
0.1 mojave (best looking one ever! thanks Jeff Luman)
0.1 Pastel Het ghost
0.1 Hypo
0.1 mojave
0.4 Het nerd Orange Hypo
0.2 poss Het nerd Orange Hypo
0.1 poss Het albino
0.1 het pied
0.1 Bell Jungle
0.6 normal breeders
0.1 black pastel (unproven)
0.1 Tiger ball (unproven)
0.1 genetic reduced pattern
0.1 black back
1.0 posslble salmon boa
0.1 BCI 8.5 ft
1.0 hypo okatee
1.3 Anery 100% het hypo amel and motley
1.1 snow corn
1.1 anery motley
0.1 ghost motley corn
0.1 lavendar het hypo
0.1 miami het hypo
0.1 miami
0.1 sunglow
0.1 candy cane
0.1 love line okatee
0.1 blue tail monitor
2.2 felines aka boa food ;o
And I am not gonna count all those rats . . .

Support our hobby and business

Brian
Contact us

I use the smaller more frequent meals method too. I'm feeding small rats to yearlings and mediums to my 2 years and the only ones that get large are over 3000g. I saw on another post what method to use for max breeding potential. It was debated that larger meals build girth and smaller more frequent meals grow length. I don't necessarily agree with this because if you feed a 2000g snake a 350g rat it's going to make them swell up like a hot air balloon, but it will deflate just as fast! I just don't understand what triggers their primal feeding response and what turns it off. Here's some examples I've come across in my own collection. I had a hatchling spider that ate every 2-4 days until she reached 18 months she bred and laid 8 eggs for me. She went through an agressive eating spell until the next breeding season. She didn't breed and has been a spratic eater this summer. I have an 06 het pied that went 2 years and would ONLY eat live rat crawlers. She went on a 10 month fast and has gobbled up everything I've offered her this year. I had pastels hatch last year from 2 clutches I kept 2 from 1 clutch in the 70g range and 1 from the other clutch that weighed 19g. The 19g girl weighs over 900g now and the others weigh 250-400g. It doesn't make sense!!!!!!!!!!!!

They are meditating and trying to reach Nervana.

You just need to keep them away from books and the computer so they don't get any more ideas.
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1 BP
4 Cal Kings 3 alb 1 het
3 Alb Corn
1 Rev Alb Nelsons