Reptile & Amphibian Forums

The temp in the cage is just fine. I'm almost sure that's not the problem. I used to feed him live mice, but tried switching him over to pre-killed rats about 2 months ago. So far he has not taken to them. My questions are these: How long can he go without eating before I should get worried and also, is it possible for him to starve himself to death if food (pre-killed rats) is offered to him once a week? My other question is sort of unrelated: How do you guys thaw your pre-killed food items?

Well, if you've just started to switch to pre-killed and he's not eating, I would get a weight to set a baseline for weight lose if it occurs. He can probably go a long time, 2 months isn't a long time in python time. But just be sure he's not losing weight...that's when I would worry. How about try feeding pre-killed mice instead of rats? It may be that he just prefers mice. Also, mine has slowed down feeding during this time of year. So I got a weight. But just as I thought it wasn't going to eat, it did, but just fewer feedings per month.

what are the temps exactly on the warm and cool end during the day?
as for your ball not eating, tis the season. join the club cause both of mine have be gone the fast and prolly wont eat again until mid february-june. (fun fun fun)as long as your snake is heavy bodied and isnt losin a dramatic loss in wieght and of corse the ribs arent showing you should be just fine. just make sure you have fresh clean water and that he/she is drinking. thats the important thing:hydration. and well when in doubt, call a reptuable herp vet.
good luck cause i know what its like to wait 6 god damn months. tis a ball python headache. plus side is, i get a vaca from feeding...YEEE HAAAAaaaa!!

My little 180 gram female has gone off feed for the winter too (it's been a whole month already)! It is definetly aggrevating, but I agree with the other posts....get a weight on him and as long as he isn't losing body mass and isn't dehydrated I wouldn't worry about it. My little girl has only lost around 2 grams since I last weighed her a month ago. I have 2 other balls (~2 year old 400-650 gram males)the larger one is eating about a rat a month (normally eats 3-4 a month Prekilled), the other male is newly acquired and a bit on the thin side so he is eating a prekilled rat a week! My boyfriend has a yearling ball who is also reluctant to feed on live or prekilled mice. So as you can see balls often slow down during certain times of the year, and we need to remain strong and resist the urge to try and thaw out endless frozen rodents a week hoping one will prove satisfactory lol!
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*Amy*
0.0.3 Ball Pythons (normal)
0.1 B.smithi (mexican redknee tarantula)
0.0.1 midland painted turtle
1.1 dogs
1.0 normal grey cockatiel
0.0.30 betta, guppies, rosy reds, fantail goldfish, clown pleco,...

I've found great success in this method: Keep the frozen kill in a ziploc bag. Then fill a pot with HOT tap water. Put the entire ziploc in the pot. Set another, smaller pot full of HOT water on top of the ziploc to keep it submerged. After about 30-45 it is thawed and warmed! This is also a good method to warm up frozen kill that has been thawed overnight to room temperature.

RE: your BP not taking frozen - in my experience, the snake will eat when it's ready. Watch the behavior - I can often tell when mine is hungry just by observation! Also - we have learned that our BP (Zeke) will often not strike the pre-killed prey. However, if we turn off the lights and leave him alone for about 5-10 minutes - we return to find the rat half swallowed. Having it dark seems to really make a difference for him.