i got a ball python from a reputable breeder who I have bought other bps from and have turned out amazing ,he said that this snake was part of a bunch he took from a huge mass bp producer and they were ones that couldn’t breed anymore or have deffects.mine is a 8 yomale latte and he said that he was on ft rats .i have had this snake for around 6 months, I’ve tried to feed live and ft rats , live and ft mice, small or bigger rats and waited like 2 weeks in between trying to feed,everytime it refuses food,he has only lost a little bit of weight since I got him but I was wondering if anyone had any tips to get him to eat or if he’s fine but I really don’t want him loosing anymore weight
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Can you post a picture of the enclosure? What are the temps and humidity of the enclosure and what size is it? What time have you been trying to feed?
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Sometimes, especially with males, balls will fast. I have had an animal go 16 months without eating. As long as the weight lose is not extreme, I would not stress it. Try offering food once a month and otherwise, leave him alone
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I had my female clown grow to 900 grams before one year. Then she went on an 8 month fast. Just like shutting a switch off. Super frustrating. She did however lay her first clutch at 2 years old and weighed 1300 grams before laying. She was 800 grams after laying in February and today is about 1600 and is by far my best feeder. As long as your husbandry is on point and the animal isn’t sick he will be good.
I thought waiting until 3 years and the animal being 1500 grams was a minimum for breeding a female safely (or at least 3 years if she doesn’t break 1500). Unless she produced a partho clutch? Definitely would never recommend this to anyone if so. That said, snakes not eating every week (so long as they are healthy) won’t kill them. They go very long periods without food in the wild and are perfectly fine. As long as your animal has a healthy physique, they are fine.
Here is an image showing a healthy physique.
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This is a loose rule… but I personally don’t breed anything under 1500 grams. And most of my females are three to 4 years old before I breed them. I would highly recommend waiting, if you breed early it tends to slow there growing to a halt. I like to have my females fully grown before breeding them.
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While I was crazy and bred a 1100g female this year… Of course, she was seven years old so it is not like I was in some mad rush to bred her
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In that situation the female is fully grown I would have zero issues breeding her as well.
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I know. I was throwing it out there to further illustrate the point that the “1500g and 3yr” value is not a hard fast thing
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