Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I have an 8-month-old ball python that's recently gotten reluctant to eat. He's eaten one mouse a week since I got him at Christmas. At first he went after it and ate it. Then he started waiting a while. Last "normal" feeding I had (3 or 4 weeks ago) he probably took 10 minutes or so before he attacked. Last week he acted like he wanted the mouse but it would snap at him and he'd recoil. After about 20 mins I gave up and put him away. I tried again the next day after giving the mouse a good whap (sorry if that's too graphic) and he grabbed it and ate. Tried to feed him today (it's been a week) and he showed no interest at all. Should I be worried or just keep trying each day til he eats? Is it normal for him to not want to eat once a week at such a young age?

I would say dont worry about it too much, sometimes ball pythons will just not feed and that is ok, i had a male dinker not eat for about 8 months once and he only lost about 150 grams. I would also suggest waiting a few weeks before next feeding, he may be stressed and by continuing to introduce food every week it may push back his interest even more. Just monitor weight and behavior so it doesn't have too much loss. But dont worry too much, ask anyone at some point most pythons go off feed and for very long times, try again in a few weeks and see what happens.

Vega1303
1.0 normal, 1.0 bumblebee, 1.0 pied
0.1 pastel, 0.1 mojave

Also you should really be feeding p/k or f/t, i learned this lesson the hard way when a tiny mouse took a big bite out of my pied. Right now your first concern is getting your snake to eat but once he continues like normal i would suggest switching off live

Thanks for the feedback As far as feeding live, I sit and watch til the prey is dead, then leave them to eat. Not taking chances on any of them getting bitten.

As far as feeding live vs. pre-killed or frozen-thawed goes - I say "to each their own".

However, I've found that mice tend to be more aggressive than rats (a lot more likely to bite). He may be reluctant to eat because he was bit or scratched by one of the live mice you've fed him in the past (it could have been quick and you may not have noticed it). Those people I know that do prefer to offer live rats generally keep an eye on the feeding process (much like you do). Keep something near-by that you can wedge in the mouse's mouth to keep it from biting your snake (much like a "bit". Generally, a wooden pencil works just fine.

I prefer to feed frozen-thawed or fresh killed. It sounds like your snake might be an easy one to convert to fresh killed or frozen thawed (that's good news). If I were you I'd switch over as soon as possible since it seems to be working.

Also, give him a few extra days. You don't have to offer food every 7 days. He may just need a little extra time to digest his previous week's meal. Shoot for every 10 days and see if that helps.

Like the previous poster stated, you could be stressing him out by offering him something he doesn't want everyday after he refuses a meal. To him, it's the equivalent of shoving something into his face that he doesn't want every time he turns around.

If he refuses one night, so be it. Either wait a few days (I generally give them at least three days before offering again). Otherwise, I might just completely skip re-offering a meal and make him/her wait until the next feeding. When they are young they tend to go through growth spurts where they will eat everything offered for a month or two and then BAM! they decide not to eat anything for the next three weeks.

Just go with it. He'll be okay. Switching to rats might also be a good idea. Think about it this way: when he grows up are you going to want to feed him one rat or sit through watching him eat six mice? I've been there before, trust me, it sucks.

Of course, all of this is just my opinion. Others will most likely have a different viewpoint on the matter.