Reptile & Amphibian Forums

My BP, Jake, is about 1 1/2 years old, and has recently lost interest in food, and is curling up under his water dish (actually displacing it) on the cold side of his tank. This is atypical for him, as he's eaten well for me since birth, and never gone more than 2 weeks without feeding. Eats fresh killed usually, but after 4 weeks of no interest, I gave him an extra mouse that my smaller BP wasn't interested in, and he ate that, but it took him forever. What's the best way to deal with this? They shouldn't be brumated with a full stomach, yes? To be honest, I didn't even think of brumation as a cause until after reading a post here. He didn't brumate last year.....do I let him chill to house temp of 68 degrees, or what? Any help would be...well...helpful! Is this something that begins with sexual maturity, also? Will my female go through this next year?
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1.1 Ball Python 0.0.1 corn snake 1.0 Bearded Dragon
0.0.2 fish 1.2 cats 3.1 kids 1.0 husband and now...
0.0.1 Pink Zebra Beauty Tarantula

how recently exactly? 2 weeks? 3 weeks?

Yep, last 3-4 weeks.
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1.1 Ball Python 0.0.1 corn snake 1.0 Bearded Dragon
0.0.2 fish 1.2 cats 3.1 kids 1.0 husband and now...
0.0.1 Pink Zebra Beauty Tarantula

n/p

Sorry, it's a term used more often in association with lizards, and I have a Bearded Dragon. Brumation is similar to hibernation.
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1.1 Ball Python 0.0.1 corn snake 1.0 Bearded Dragon
0.0.2 fish 1.2 cats 3.1 kids 1.0 husband and now...
0.0.1 Pink Zebra Beauty Tarantula

It is super normal for ball pythons, once they get a little older and closer to reproductive maturity to start an annual fast during the cooler months. They don't all do this, but a good number of them do. In the sense that other reptiles "brumate" or "hibernate", ball pythons don't.

Their behavior simply changes as part of the annual reproductive process. If you're not going to be breeding your snake, you can keep the temps at regular maintenance temps. If you're going to be breeding him, letting the temps fall into the lower to mid 70's will give him one cue he needs to be reproductively active.

Regardless of your choice the snake should always have a warm spot to go to. I keep a basking temp of 90 year round for breeders and non-breeders. It's the ambient temp that should vary with breeding.

Regards.

Raintree Herpetoculture

That's EXACTLY the info I needed! Thank you! He still has his warm spot, and I'll let the air temp stay where we are comfy, at around 70-72. Thanks again!
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1.1 Ball Python 0.0.1 corn snake 1.0 Bearded Dragon
0.0.2 fish 1.2 cats 3.1 kids 1.0 husband and now...
0.0.1 Pink Zebra Beauty Tarantula

BTW, your site is excellent. I really like the set up and content, and I'll check out the message boards later. Beautiful pics, too!
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1.1 Ball Python 0.0.1 corn snake 1.0 Bearded Dragon
0.0.2 fish 1.2 cats 3.1 kids 1.0 husband and now...
0.0.1 Pink Zebra Beauty Tarantula