Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Balls are known for their fasting, even CB Balls. They are also known for going off food at about 900 grams. I think if the Ball is eating, feed it. If you have a Ball that is eating really well, and then all of a sudden goes off food, you really do not need to worry about it, it has eaten in anticipation of the fast. If you do not feed the snake enough, and then it goes off food, that is not a good thing. I honestly do not know how you would over feed a Ball. Just my opinion.

Dave

I tend to agree. Simply because adults go off feed for at least 2-3, most often more, months out of the year, this should inhibit any obesity that might otherwise occur. On the otherhand, I'm sure if you powerfed one while it was onfeed it may retain enough weight while it was off to start powerfeeding again when it started back up to eventually wind up obese. But that would almost surely create health problems down the line that would shorten it's life drastically. Is having a FAT snake really worth all that? Just my 'rather have a healthy snake' opinion.

Quig

I've got a half dozen females that I've been raising for the last couple of years that are hovering around the 1000gm mark right now. They were all eating well during the summer and fall, and now within the last month they've all gone off feed together. But, I'm not going to stop trying to feed them. I've got plenty of other females that are breeding size that are still feeding strongly. These six are all the same age and roughly the same size but I also had them all in the same rack, so I guess it's possible that there was a temp fluctuation in the rack that triggered their fast. But, like you say, balls are notorious for going off feed. They always have a reason for it, but it may not always be obvious to us.

Mark

>>Balls are known for their fasting, even CB Balls. They are also known for going off food at about 900 grams. I think if the Ball is eating, feed it. If you have a Ball that is eating really well, and then all of a sudden goes off food, you really do not need to worry about it, it has eaten in anticipation of the fast. If you do not feed the snake enough, and then it goes off food, that is not a good thing. I honestly do not know how you would over feed a Ball. Just my opinion.
>>
>>Dave

Most anything is possible if not common.

As pointed out young animals tend to grow and breeding females will lose around 1/3 of their weight with their clutch each year so along with the possibility of fasting there are some safe guards against over fed ball pythons. However I've had a few adult females that for some reason or another didn't produce eggs (maybe they got too fat first?) that I suspect might have been overweigh. These are the kind of girls that will eat most anything most any time. Still not sure why they didn't produce eggs but perhaps with selective breeding these kind of animals will become more common than the traditional fasting ball python.

Hey Randy, thats a very interesting looking ball python in the pic. Very dark with a broad 'fat' pattern. Is there a story on this one? Is it male or female? Have you produced any offspring from this one yet?

Mark

>>Most anything is possible if not common.
>>
>>As pointed out young animals tend to grow and breeding females will lose around 1/3 of their weight with their clutch each year so along with the possibility of fasting there are some safe guards against over fed ball pythons. However I've had a few adult females that for some reason or another didn't produce eggs (maybe they got too fat first?) that I suspect might have been overweigh. These are the kind of girls that will eat most anything most any time. Still not sure why they didn't produce eggs but perhaps with selective breeding these kind of animals will become more common than the traditional fasting ball python.
>>

It's a female I picked up as a smaller adult in a pet store for $100 back in 2001. She has a fairly white belly too but I'm not sure white enough to be along the mojave line as I had originally hoped. Unfortunately I wasn't able to get her to produce any eggs for me in 2002 or 2003 breeding to an at that time unproven male 66% chance caramel (he finally produced in 2004 with a proven breeder female). She was out on a breeding loan in 2004 and 2005 to a cinnamon looking male that has yet to produce. They where seen locking up in 2005 so maybe 2006 will be the year or after that I may finally get her with a proven breeder male just in case it isn't her. She got really fat (and huge) not producing in 2003 so that might have been a problem the last few years. She is one of those that eats anything year around and even when in shed.

The following is totally my uneducated opinion ...

Yes - I think any animal has the propensity to over eat. If you think about it, in the wild balls enter a rodent den, eat as much as they can then stay put for a month or two slowly digesting their meal. This instinct is still in our captive bred balls. And this binge type eating may work for balls in the wild who don't know when and where their next meal is, but for those in a drawer who get to binge every week or a couple of times a week - it can't be a good thing.

I do think that fasting due to change in weather, breeding, etc. is natural - but I believe that erratic feeding can also cause fasting. I don't think that a ball has much in the way of ability to regulate their eating patterns (this should be the keepers responsibility). After all if they did why would they eat to the point of regurgitation?

Also - from my experience if you feed once a week with an appropriate size item - you train your snake to have an excellent feeding response and have less problems with their eating patterns, as opposed to feeding them until they've got no choice but to go off feed. Naturally there are some that are better eaters than others – but then there are also those that are just conditioned to be bad eaters.

Again - this is all just my personal opinion/theory, etc. and I’ve been known to be wrong.
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Tosha

"Nihil facimus sed id bene facimus"

10.35.0 Ball Python (Harry and Fluffy and gang)
1.0.0 Angolan Python (Anakin Skywalker)
0.0.1 Green Tree Python (Verdi - yeah I know but my kids love the book)
0.2.0 Feline (Pippen and Pandora)
0.0.1 Desert Tortoise (Pope John Paul aka JP )
2.2.1 Fish (1,2,3,4)
0.0.1 Lizard rescued from feline
0.0.0 frogs rescued from pool skimmer