Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hello! My daughter has a full-grown male ball python. He's always gone off feed for 5-6 months in the winter. This past winter was very mild here, and he and the rest of my snakes ate all winter. The other snakes (including a younger, smaller ball pyhon) are still eating. This guy stopped eating 3 months ago. The frustrating thing is that he'll put his head out of the hide and look excited, and hunt the tank, but not eat the frozen/thawed rat right in front of him. It's like he suddenly forgot what they are. I'm worried about this snake because my daughter is extremely attached to him. Thanks in advance for any advice and responses.
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1.0.0 Mexican Kingsnake, Vincent Price
1.0.0 277 Graybanded Kingsnake, Boris Karloff
1.0.0 Crockett Graybanded Kingsnake, Julien Sands
2.0.0 Ball Pythons, Pete (Peter Cushing) and Frank Langella
1.0.0 Pastel Ball Python, Claude Raines
1.0.0 Bearded Dragon, Sid Vicious
1.0.0 Sweet Rosy Bourke Parakeet, Didgeridoo
0.1.0 Smart & Loving Teenager
1.0.0 Old rat, Hugo

Absolutely normal. Some do it and some don't. I have seen snakes go over a year without eating. Some only want to eat 2 or 3 times a year. As long as it looks good and doesn't lose too much weight don’t worry about it.

Thanks so much - you've relieved my mind. He looks the same as always, and is still as heavy!
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1.0.0 277 Graybanded Kingsnake, Boris Karloff
1.0.0 Crockett Graybanded Kingsnake, Julien Sands
1.0.0 Ball Pythons, Frank Langella
1.0.0 Pastel Ball Python, Claude Raines
1.0.0 Sweet Rosy Bourke Parakeet, Didgeridoo
0.1.0 Smart & Loving Teenager

you can also try a live small rat or even a live mouse to try and coax him into eating if he isn't going for the f/t.

i just got onto bp's last year. the going off feed still drives me nuts, but it's getting better all of mine do great except for 1 female that went off feed for almost 2 months. she never lost weight and is back on feed and slammin everything i put in the cage. yeah! lol i agree with the other post that it seems normal and not to worry as long as they still appear healthy and don't loose weight.

jonathan

As the other poster stated, yes this is completely normal. Years ago, before all the morphs hit and all you had were normals, this is one of the reasons people didn't care for keeping em. The thought was they had no food drive and no sex drive. Now, that has changed to a degree, but the feeding issues can still very much be present. They can be very finicky. You could have one that feeds for 8yrs and for no reason decide it doesn't want to eat. Changing the smallest of things can get it back in gear. Then again some routinely go off feed for a few months and you'll just have to deal with it. If it looks healthy then you have no worries. If it goes too long and starts to lose a little weight, then ask around and try a few different tricks.

Good luck and Welcome to the world of ball pythons!!

if you do follow the suggestion of mixing it up by feeding a live rodent, it can make it harder to get the snake to go back to accepting frozen. sometimes you just gotta wait them out. as long as yr husbandry is good, and no weight is being lost, don't over-think it or stress out over it - this is how balls are. if you don't normal heat yr thawed rodents, try dipping their head in hot tap water or putting them under a heat lamp... many of mine wont eat unless the rodent is warmed up somehow.