Reptile & Amphibian Forums

My ball python is about two(2) years old and it has not been eatiing for about two months now; it may have been for two months and a couple of weeks. I don't know what to do. I think that the snake has lost a very little bit of weight, but not much. It is still active at night and my temperature during the day is about 80 degrees. I live in Philadelphia, PA.

Please reply as soon as possible,

Thanks,

Geoffrey.

Don't panic just yet. Ball pythons typically go off feed from about October till February or March. This is their breeding season and both males and females will go off for a time. The temp is OK for the cool end, but needs to be about 90 degrees for basking on the other side. Sometimes the extra heat will be enough to trigger him to eat. Just warm him up a bit and offer him some dinner about once a week till he accepts it. I have a female who typically goes 7 to 9 months out of the year without eating weather or not she becomes gravid. Just keep an eye on his weight.

Quig

How much weight loss is too much? I need to weigh my little fella. He hasn't eaten since September, looks good (I mean I can't see or feel his bones or anything) and is really active, but I'm sure he's lost weight.
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1.0 Ball Python "Aragorn"
1.0 Bredl's Carpet Python "Strider"
1.0 Kenyan Sand Boa "Gimli"
1.0 Saharan Sand Boa "Frodo"
0.1 California Kingsnake "Gentoo"
1.0 Mexican Black Kingsnake "Indigo"
1.0 Snow Corn snake "Chile"
0.1 Okeetee Corn snake "Amazon"
1.0 Crested Gecko "Willow"
0.1 Irian Jaya BlueTongued Skink "Phoebe"
0.1 Indonesian BlueTongued Skink "Piper"
0.1 Australian Cattle Dog/Pointer "Kira"

as I said, it's the breeding season. My two have both been off feed since september also. If he doesn't show any outward signs.... listlessness, thin to the point his spine is showing, weakness of muscles,then he's probably good for another month or so if he wants to be finicky. If you have a gram scale you might want to start keeping track of his weight.

Quig

I just weighed him and he has lost 91 grams since his last meal in September.
-----
Check out My Album

1.0 Ball Python "Aragorn"
1.0 Bredl's Carpet Python "Strider"
1.0 Kenyan Sand Boa "Gimli"
1.0 Saharan Sand Boa "Frodo"
0.1 California Kingsnake "Gentoo"
1.0 Mexican Black Kingsnake "Indigo"
1.0 Snow Corn snake "Chile"
0.1 Okeetee Corn snake "Amazon"
1.0 Crested Gecko "Willow"
0.1 Irian Jaya BlueTongued Skink "Phoebe"
0.1 Indonesian BlueTongued Skink "Piper"
0.1 Australian Cattle Dog/Pointer "Kira"

I wouldn't worry about it. Mine hasn't eaten for about 4 months now and does this every winter. Usually mine starts eating again Late March into April. Just keep offering once a week and he'll eventually grab it.

I wouldn't worry too much about it either. My first ball went from December to March without eating. Like the others said, just keep offering and I'll bet he will eat soon. Beautiful snake by the way.

Thank-you everyone for your reply. By-the-way, I don't know if this has any difference on eating behavior, but my python is a girl, about two years and four months old.