Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I have an 07 female ball (yellow belly) that won't eat. I've tried F/T, live mice, and African Soft Furs with no luck. She seems interested in the live animals, but never strikes and eventually loses interests, so I take them out. I've had her for almost 6 months now and she's lost almost 200g. She doesn't look skinny yet, but she is definitely not where she should be. I know balls can be tricky, so what's your trick?

Leave her alone, monitor for more weight loss...and if she loses much more, take her to a vet.
I had a male not eat for 10 months once...then one day POW...he ate a rat.
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"What is man without the beasts?
If all the beasts were gone,
men would die from great loneliness of spirit.
For what happens to the beasts,
soon happens to men.
All things are connected."

-Chief Seattle (Duwamish Tribe)

Has she ever eaten while in your care at all? If not, I suggest checking your husbandry. Double check temperatures, both warm and cool end, how big is the cage she's in? What is the humidity? What sort of hides are you using? How are you heating the cage? What kind of cage is it? (ie glass tank, sweaterbox?)

How was she kept by the previous owner? What did he feed her? At what time of day/night are you offering food? What size food are you offering? The more info you provide, the better we can determine why she's not eating.

If she doesn't start eating soon and continues to drop weight, a vet trip will be a good idea.
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PHLdyPayne

She has been housed in racks, first a 32qt rack and she is now in a CB70 size rack. Temps are all accurate, 90 on the hot spot 80 on the cold side. She has had different hides, plastic, card board, large, small. Photo period is controlled by the windows in my room. The rack is a vision so the light comes in everywhere with the exception of the area of the rack I insulated (I live in a basement) which is the back 1/2 of the rack covered in card board.

Her previous owner wasn't very reliable, not sure she even knew much about snakes and I know the lady fed live. I didn't ask specifically when or what she last ate because it was winter, the snake was plump and at a good weight, and because the lady was sketchy with her care, I'm sure she didn't keep track of when she had last eaten.

As far as the food that I've offered so far, I have tried everything from a rat pup through mice up to small rats (which is what I would be feeding her if she were to eat). I've left them in the tub with her; live for an hour or so and overnight for f/t.

I want to avoid the vet trip because the local exotic vet doesn't know that balls are nocturnal. Makes me question the vet.

Try a live rat fuzzy..rather small for her I know but a small prey item would work better to jump start her appetite without overloading her digestive system.

Cover the front of her cage so she doesn't get much if any ambient light during the day (in the wild they hide in termite mounds and other fully dark areas anyway.)

Leave the live rat fuzzy in the cage with her over night or at least several hours. As a live rat fuzzy doesn't have their teeth, or just starting to get them, it won't pose a danger to your snake to leave it alone with it.

It seems to me your main problem may be due to your hovering around the cage making her nervous. Though I certainly understand you don't want to leave live rodents in with the snake unsupervised.
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PHLdyPayne

If all the snakes husbandry needs are met, and wont eat try a gerbil. I have have hed 2 females not eat but showed interest and threw a gerbil in and they were gone quick. Just my experience.

She has a good hide box or two? Temps are in the normal range? Humidity levels correct? Photo period I have found is not absolutely important, but could still be a factor. We have a w/c female normal that goes off feed from two months to twelve months periodically, usually in the colder months. That's predictable. This being warmer months, that should not be the problem. Is the prey animal size too large or too small? Do you think she may be a shy eater, like a baby would be? I have seen a few of our adults (various species) actually be shy eaters due to being fed in rack systems, not exposed to the room environment while they ate. At the end of racking my brain for an explanation, that is what I can come up with. At the end of all the trial and error, a vet trip would be a good idea.
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1.0 red phase western hognose
1.0 100% het albino columbian
1.0 pastel columbian
0.1 hypo columbian
0.1 guyana
1.2 jcp
1.0 irian jaya
1.2 normal balls
1.0 spider ball
0.1 pastel ball
1.0 granite al burm
0.1 granite het al burm
0.1 albino burm
1.0 sunfire retic
0.2 tiger retics
0.0.1 sulcata tortoise
1.0 potbelly pig (Oscar)
1.0 pug (Frank)
1.1 pit bull terriers (Marlboro & Coco)
1.1 house cat (Kitty)& (Alice;pos gravid)
0.1 wife who puts up with me
2.0 rabbits (Paco & Zorro)

200g for a 2007 ???

I have a tiny albino that is at 130g, and she is a 2009. She is really picky and don't really want to eat most of the time. I also don't want to put her on live mice, so I keep feeding her frozen rat until she goes on, like most of the others picky I had have done.

But a 2007 ? I doubt that, or she is skinny.
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love this world, don't hate it.

No tricks here. Just patience. I have about 30 snakes now and I will always seem to have 1 or 2 that are not eating. They are always in the same racks as the other snakes that are pounding rats, so I know it isn't me. If your snake has lost 200 grams that is too much weight loss. When my snakes go off feed they seem to lose between 25 to 50 grams of weight max. I have heard that they can get tooth problems and they won't eat when they are having pain in there mouth. Good luck, and most the time it seems to bother us more when they go off feed than it bothers the snake itself. The only thing I can offer in experience is to not constantly try and feed the snake. Offer once a week and that is it.

Bill
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2.1 Tripple Het Caramel, Orange Ghost, Genetic Stripe
1.0 Honeybee
1.1 Het Lavenders
1.1 Het Caramel Albino
0.1 Het Albino
0.1 Spider Het Albino
0.1 Het Pied
1,1 Pastel Het for Orange Ghost
1.0 Albino
0.1 Spinner
1.1 Super Pastel
0.1 Jungle Pastel
1.0 Pied 50 percent White
0.1 Clown
0.3 Normal
1.1 Kids (9) and (16)
0.1 Spouse (22 Years Married)
1.0 Chocolate Lab

I weighed her when I got her, just over 1000g. I thought, 'Perfect, she'll easily breed for me next season.' That was February. I weighed her at the beginning of June and she weighed 830g. Almost 200 lost. And she was a nice plump girl when I got her, and she's held onto that look up until the last month or so.

I figured when I got her that she was off food because of winter or breeding season. No worries until it's mid June and she's still not eating. And losing weight.

I was also concerned when she made no move to strike let alone kill the live mouse and African Soft Fur I gave her. She seemed interested, but not hungry. I left each in with her for 30 minutes to an hour, while either watching the tub or sitting by the rack (to listen for movement and striking). I've tried this on three separate occasions with four to ten days in between each try.

When female BPs get to a 1000 grams they seem to stop eating. I don't think anyone knows why. There are some great theories on why. My own theory is that maybe it is a reproductive issue with their sexual maturity. But just a thought. From what I have heard that back in the day some breeders would breed at this weight. When I have came to the 1000 gram wall of not eating I would just offer 1 meal a week until they would overcome it. It can take a few missed meals or a few months. Just be patient and just offer once a week. If you get too upset with it then consider a vet visit, but I have never had to see a vet over eating issues. It just takes time and unfortunately these girls don't seem to get better. They will stop eating off and on in the future. Good luck and stick with it.

Bill
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2.1 Tripple Het Caramel, Orange Ghost, Genetic Stripe
1.0 Honeybee
1.1 Het Lavenders
1.1 Het Caramel Albino
0.1 Het Albino
0.1 Spider Het Albino
0.1 Het Pied
1,1 Pastel Het for Orange Ghost
1.0 Albino
0.1 Spinner
1.1 Super Pastel
0.1 Jungle Pastel
1.0 Pied 50 percent White
0.1 Clown
0.3 Normal
1.1 Kids (9) and (16)
0.1 Spouse (22 Years Married)
1.0 Chocolate Lab

What type of substrate do you use?

I picked up a pewter girl two months ago that hasn't eaten for me yet. I have her on newspaper. After talking with the seller about her, I think she prefers aspen bedding. Apparently he had the same issue when he first got her, switched her bedding, and wham! Eating machine. Sometimes its something very simple. Hopefully she'll start eating again when I make the switch. Gotta get this girl puttin on the grams!

Maybe switching substrate will help your girl also???
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Balls
1.3 Pastels
0.2 Cinnamons
1.0 Fire
1.0 Spider
1.0 100% Het Albino/100% Het Pied
0.3 100% Het Albino/50% Het Pied
1.1 100% Het Pied
0.2 PH Albino
1.5 Normals (1.0 unknown)
Boas
1.0 Salmon
1.0 Pastel
0.1 Pastel P. Super Hypo Het Anery PH Albino
Corns
1.1 Bloodred Het Hypo 66% Het Anery

let her not eat til she gets hungry enough and eats, works everytime. assuming your animal is not sick
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www.bamreptiles.webs.com
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Well, even though I am big on newspaper as a substrate, I changed all my adults to cypress mulch. Hopefully this will help the Yellow Belly Female eat, but there's another reason that I switched all of them. I have only had my Vision CB70 rack for two and a half months now and have noticed that it doesn't seem to keep much humidity (compared to my last rack). Three of my 5 adults have shed and all of them being bad sheds. Hopefully the mulch will help shedding and eating!!

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Andrea Kamp

0.3 Normal
1.0 Pastel
0.1 Pinstripe
1.1 Spider
1.1 Cinnamon
1.0 Lesser
0.1 Yellow Belly
1.0 Ivory

1.1 Leopard Gecko

0.1 South Carolina Mutt

Feed at night (after 9PM) in low light. Balls are nocturnal and mine feed so much better when offered food at night. I use fresh-killed small rats fed off tongs.