Reptile & Amphibian Forums

my ball python has gone over a year now without eating and has probably lost half of her girth. i just dont know what to do next, i took her to the vets befor but that was when it had only been 5 months and he said she was fasting but i dont know this seems a little extreme for fasting.i need to figure somthing out i have tried dead live frozen thawd . i have posted befor and i know everyone told me not to worrie but it seems in the last couple weeks she has lost alot of weight.

Could you refresh our memories? A little more info about your setup (temps, humidity, hides, etc.) would help. Also, about your bp...you say you've brought her to the vet...I'm assuming he gave her a clean bill of health otherwise you would be asking about treatment options. SO......on with the other questions....

Is she captive bred, wild caught, farm hatched?

Has she EVER fed for you?

How long have you had her?

What is her age and current weight?

Has she gone through any changes...such as a different enclosure, new/diffent cage furniture, different substrate, have YOU moved (sounds silly but whenever I move some of my snakes go off feed for a while).

Can you think of any other changes that have happened in the past year that may have affected her?

Have you switched suppliers for the mice/rats you offer her? Some breeders use different substrate for their mice/rats and this can affect their scent.

How are you attempting to feed her? In her cage or in another container?

How often are you handling her?

ALL of these things can cause stress for your snake. If your temps are within acceptable limits and she has a hide that she feels secure in then any of these other factors need to be considered. Chances are if you pinpoint what is causing her not to feed it will turn out to be something minor that you glanced over. Sometimes we forget to step back and look at the problem from the snakes point of view.

Make up a check list and if nothing seems to stick out let us know...between all of the minds on this forum there are most likely 100 different ways to scent, trick, tempt, or otherwise entice a snake to strike...sometimes they even feed.

Good luck

My snake wouldnt eat if i bought mice from any other place besides petco. Mainly because of the substrate they use makes it so the mice smell like a mouse and not like cedar chips or what ever the heck other places use.
A change in supplier of food could be it. Also have you tried feeding her at night when she is roaming around the tank? They are nocturnal and maybe she is ultra picky and will only eat at night.

my ball is captive bred,and she has eaten for me i have had her almost 3 year just this last year she hasnt eaten,she hasnt had any snges real at all since i got her,befor she stopped she ate like a pig ,her cage is fin her humidity is between 65 and 80 all the time i dont know how much she weighs but shes about 4 feet maybe a little longer and 6-7 years old i dont know she was a little over 3 feet when i got her and she used to be pretty fat but now when you pick her up you can see her ribs ,her mice come from the place i bought her and i have bought from 5 other pet stores in my area with no luck, i have cut the handling to a minimum and i have tried all sorts of places feeding her i have tried in the cage out of the cage in a pillow case( prekilled of course)i have tried live prekilled thawd.i realy dont know thanx in advance for the help

Could you refresh our memories? A little more info about your setup (temps, humidity, hides, etc.) would help. Also, about your bp...you say you've brought her to the vet...I'm assuming he gave her a clean bill of health otherwise you would be asking about treatment options. SO......on with the other questions....

Is she captive bred, wild caught, farm hatched?

Has she EVER fed for you?

How long have you had her?

What is her age and current weight?

Has she gone through any changes...such as a different enclosure, new/diffent cage furniture, different substrate, have YOU moved (sounds silly but whenever I move some of my snakes go off feed for a while).

Can you think of any other changes that have happened in the past year that may have affected her?

Have you switched suppliers for the mice/rats you offer her? Some breeders use different substrate for their mice/rats and this can affect their scent.

How are you attempting to feed her? In her cage or in another container?

How often are you handling her?

ALL of these things can cause stress for your snake. If your temps are within acceptable limits and she has a hide that she feels secure in then any of these other factors need to be considered. Chances are if you pinpoint what is causing her not to feed it will turn out to be something minor that you glanced over. Sometimes we forget to step back and look at the problem from the snakes point of view.

Make up a check list and if nothing seems to stick out let us know...between all of the minds on this forum there are most likely 100 different ways to scent, trick, tempt, or otherwise entice a snake to strike...sometimes they even feed.

Good luck

I know some people have them as pets but BP's love them. I have a pet gerbil so I scent by rubbing the prey item in my gerbil's wood shavings (I use aspen) so the gerbil smell gets on it and that usually gets a reluctant feeder to eat.
I would try a second opinion. Is your vet a herp vet?

i havent tried gerbils i might try that next week, my reptile vets name is dr barret, im probably going to make another apt. for her with him in a week or 2 when my mom can drive again (had surgery) .

Hope she's eating for you by now. I have a pesky eater that went about 3 months. I went to the local petstore and asked them for their dirty gerbil bedding. Granted they looked at me like I was nuts, but it worked. I got a live mouse, let it hang out in the gerbil bedding for about 20 minutes and then thumped it. It was a huge success. I was slowly able to switch to frozen thawed and no gerbil bedding but he is still a pesky eater.
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annjaret

"When I die, I want to come back as one of my animals."
0.2 Cats - Cordelia and Chloe
1.0 Dog - Jake R.I.P. I miss you little buddy.
1.0 Leopard gecko - Joey
1.1 Ball Pythons - Niame and Nala
0.0.1 Snow Corn - Gandalf
1.0 Aberrant Cali Kingsnake - Cicero
1.0 Husband - Shaun
(Not always in that order...but sometimes)