Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I know this has been covered several times already, or more like several hundred times, but I'm really close here (I think). I got this guy as an adult (around 4ft and 1750 grams) about 3 months ago and was told he had always been fed live rats. So far he has eaten one f/t adult mouse, which I used to get baytril into him and then refused them every other time. The baytril was every 3 days for 5 times and afterwards I gave him a week to settle down after having the tube shoved down his throat. I tried one weaned rat which he didn't seem interested in, so I left it in the cage and checked back after an hour and was just in time to see the tail go down. I got optimistic and tried offering another which sat in there overnight, untouched. I tried a f/t small rat every week for 3 weeks and each time he would actually move to the other side of the cage, taking care not to touch the rat, where I would find him in the morining. I gave in and got a live rat and couldn't even get half way across the room before he was trying to get out of the cage. I killed it in a pillow case and dropped it in. It barely touched the floor before he constricted it and swallowed while I watched.
A week later I tried f/t again and paid very close attention to the temp (the live one was around 91), he wouldn't touch it. The next week he still wasn't interested so I tried to make it do a little dance which didn't work. He was more interested in my hand than the rat even though I was using 2 ft tongs. The 3rd time was the charm I thought he snatched it off the tongs and contricted but would not eat. The next week after he refused f/t again I gave him a f/k, which he sucked down while I watched again. It's coming up on a month since the f/k and I try every week but he just won't take a f/t. The last 2 times I've just laid it on the floor, turned the lights off, and left him alone. About an hour or two later I can hear the thud of him striking and when I peek in he's constricting but the rat is still there in the morning. The only thing that I can think of is that while it smells like a rat there must be something different that makes not him want it after all. The f/t come from rodentpro and the live come from petco. It just doesn't make sense that he would eat a f/t mouse, then a weaned rat and then just refuse everything but f/k. Any tips or advice would be greatly appreciated. I don't like killing rats and I really, really don't like giving any money to petco.
I also have another bp coming up on 2 yrs old. I got him switched to weaned rats 4 wks ago and he has really put some weight on. When he first switched I thought he was a little thin and the bulge was not big but noticable. He seemed satisfied all week. Now he out hunting 2 days after he eats. Should I try 2 rats a week or should I be concerned about too much weight? Should I try upping the size to small (their about 1.5 times his girth)? On one hand I don't want him to go hungry, but on the other I don't know how much is too much. Can I just feed him as much as he wants whenever he wants? Can weight be a problem with bp's?
Sorry about the novel. It seems that whenever I have a problem that for some reason I just don't know how to keep it short and sweet. The guy that won't eat really has me baffled. I've tried rat temps from 90 to 103. I've tried making it dance. The temps are 78-80 on the cool side and 86-87 on the warm. At 88 and above he won't go over there and immediately would go to the cool side when I put him there. Has good hides which he rarely comes out of, I just occasionally see his head sticking out. God forbid I actually pull one of the hides off him. I've started cleaning the cage at night and just take the top off and wait for him to climb out by himself. Has plenty of fresh water that is changed every 3rd day. Newspaper substrate. Any help at all is appreciated. TIA.

First off, your adult bp and his f/t phobia:

He may be put off by the scent of the rat. It seems he doesn't mind eating rats, which is good. And if he'll eat f/k from the petstore and actually strike them coil for a f/t but not actually eat it I would say the only difference is the scent.

I'm not sure what type of bedding Rodent Pro uses but if it is different than the pet store's bedding it can make all of the difference. Your bp can smell the rat and is interested enough to actually try to eat it, but he may also be smelling the bedding and that could be putting him off.

Remedy?

Next time you are at the pet store ask for some bedding from their rat cage. After thawing out your Rodent Pro rat, place it in a bag (plastic, paper, ziplock, doesn't really matter) along with the bedding from the pet store. Let it sit in the bag for a while to absorb some of the smell.
Remove it from the bag and warm it up as you normally would or, if you used a zip lock bag for the scenting, simply keep the rat and bedding in the bag and place everything in warm water to heat up your rat. The warmth of the water will help the release more of the scent.
Remove rat, dangle, feed.

As far as your other snake (the one who is NOT a problem feeder) you simply need to remember that you are in control and you determine when he eats. If you feel he is not growing or is malnurished then step up his feedings a level. There are plenty of ways to do this. I would suggest to feed him on a 7-10 schedule (if he is an adult) and instead of going for a larger prey item than he is currently consuming (it sounds like it is the correct size) try offering him an additional rat of a slightly smaller size.

Example:
Let's say he is currently eating one medium rat once a week. Let's also say that this rat is 1.5 times his girth. Instead of looking for a rat that is twice his girth, try feeding him his usually medium rat followed by one small rat. Do this for a few feedings and see if he seems more satisfied. Sometimes, it is better to feed more smaller prey items than it is to feed one large item.

As far as your question concerning obesity:
Yes, they can become obese. All animals can and that is why I said to remember YOU are in control. It is up to you to maintain a healthy diet for your snake. If he becomes fat you will have to change either his portion size or the lengthen the duration between feedings until his weight is at an acceptable level. After that you will simply need to maintain his weight. Obesity is not as much of a problem with females IF you plan on breeding them. If not, their weight should be managed with the same care. Of course, ball pythons will typically go off feed at some point in the year and so have a little extra weight in reserve can actually be a good thing.

Good luck.
-----
Sometimes, things are exactly as they appear...sometimes.

I appreciate the advice and will definitely try the petstore bedding. The kid I got him from didn't treat him very well. Kept him on sand with a heat lamp as the only heat source and did not have a hide. I'm suprised he didn't die from the stress alone.
As for the other, I don't think he has a weight problem yet. He has just added quite a bit of girth in the month since the switch to rats and I didn't want to add too much. I never really thought of bedding being a problem but it makes since now that I have. Hopefully I can just scent the rats a few times like switching from mice and it won't be a problem. I'll cross my fingers. Thank you for the very detailed reply, it really helps me alot.