Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I have had my ball python for 3 years now, and she has had no problems eating, until now. Its going on 2 weeks now since she last ate. I've been trying to feed her now for 3 days. She just recently shed, but thats never been a problem before. I've dangled the rat in front of her, and all she does is "sniffs" it. I have even left the rat in her cage and left the room for awile. She's just not interested in eating! Any suggestions? As I mentioned before, shes been refusing food for only 3 days. Maybe I'm just being too paranoid and shes just not hungry, its just that feeding problems are pretty serious.

P.S. She has been roaming her cage at night which should mean shes hunting.

are you sure you have a 'she'? i have a male ghost corn that will go off feed for a month at a time looking for a mate. he will constatly cruse his tank 'looking' for a mate. he finally started to eat 2 weeks ago.

i also have a jungle carpet python that i though was a she. when 'he' kept crusing his tank for a couple weeks at a time and not eat i post messages and was told i probably had a male that was looking to mate. his last shed revealied sperm plugs so i definately have a male JCP.

i wouldn't worry to much right now. maybe your ball python just isn't hungry. i've heard they will go weeks or months without eating and be fine. also i wouldn't keep trying to feed her all the time. if she don't eat, take it out then wait another week to try again.

Dont worry man... they can survive very long without eating.. I wouldnt start worrying until about a month... if she hasnt taken a rat by then you should take it to the vets to get checked out. Also what are you feeding it? live? prekilled? f/t? because if you were feeding say for instance frozen/ thawed rats... and your last feeding time you could only get a live rat and fed her that i would guess that would be the problem.... it can be sometime very very tricky to get your snake to go to dead prey after theyve had a smack at live prey. Also, if your using f/t rats... thaw one out.... freeze it up again and thaw it like 2 days later... that does something that balls just love... gives a certain odor balls love. Another thing.. is this the same sized rat youve been using? Try and think if youve changed anything feeding her this time from the times before... slight changes can sumtimes cause this but I really just think its one of them fasting things ball pythons do. No worries yet man

Hey, thanks ALOT Janome and Chris. Knowing all that now really puts me at ease. Janome, I'm not sure that she is a female, I just kindof am guessing because of her short tail and spurs(I know thats not a very accurate way of telling, but I'm not into breeding snakes just yet). Chris, I'll definatly try thawing and refrezing the rat I offer "her". Thanks again.

-BoidBoy-

Hey boid ... also.... do you heat up your rat before you feed it to her? maybe your not giving the rat enough heat so the python isnt buying it... dip your rat in some pretty warm water for a few to heat him up... remember pythons have pits... thats how they see...they see the heat..

another thing.... if you have done absolutely everything and it isnt eating... buy a gerbil... no lie... and scent your rat with that... or you can all together try swithing over to a gerbil...thats the ball pythons main food source in the wild.... they love em

really tho... this is very common... balls are finiky eaters... theyll be chompin a fat rat every week and all the sudden stop for 2 months.... your ball python beleave it or not could survive over a year without a meal.... i know of a ball python who didnt eat for 26 months ... thats 2 years and 2 months :0

if you get to the problem where your just waiting for it to eat and it wont and it start to go over a couple months just weigh her everyonce and a while to make sure her weight is not dropping increasingly.... anything below 20% of her weight right now you need to start worrying about getting her to eat.

If you got more questions just get back to me ill be glad to help... also let me know if these tips worked/failed

Thanks again Chris. Yes, before I feed the rat to her I always run it under some warm water. I'll wait a a week or so before trying to feed her again, and if that doesnt work, I'll get a gerbil to scent the rat with, but the only worry I kindof have about that is that im afraid my ball will get dependent on gerbils and wont take rats anymore, is that possible? I know that ball pythons will stop eating all the sudden, but im just worried I guess because its the first time shes ever fasted. I wont worry about it too much though. Thanks for the advice.

-BoidBoy-

Yes your right, the ball can become attached to the gerbils, if that happens youll have to scent all your rats, also dont go trying this for about a month, if she doesnt eat by then go ahead and try.