I have a 4 year old male ball python. He has always glass surfed and been super sociable. He is an amazing eater from when we got him until now. He didn’t eat for 2 1/2 months over winter (jan-march), which I heard is very normal for the breed. He hasn’t missed a meal since (we feed every 2 weeks) and has shed once. We’ve not changed his husbandry and deep cleaned him once in this time (which had never seemed to bother him previously). But he’s no longer sociable. He spends his time soaking after a meal or in his hide. I thought it may be due to him not eating for so long and his metabolism re-adjusting. But it’s been a while and I’m worried as his behaviour is quite different to before. Can anyone help me? I miss my boy and want to ensure he’s happy and healthy. Any advice or knowledge would help. Thank you.
This is the first year we have had him. We haven’t had a ball python before !
Mind if we have a photo of the snake and his enclosure? It can help us determine if anything may be affecting his behavioral change.
This is actually a sign of stress in most reptiles, could be due to not having enough places to hide and the general feeling of being unsafe. Its very common for new arrivals to do this as well before they fully adjust to a new environment.
So just clearing it up for my own sake, this means he’s eating fine now correct?
This is relatively normal after a meal, especially if it was a larger meal. It helps them settle.
Just from my basic understanding of the situation without any photo reference, I believe his behavior might be different now because he has begun to adjust to his new home.
Ball Pythons are solitary by nature and spend a majority of their life hidden away, they are also ambush predators and rely on getting food by hiding and waiting for prey to come across them.
They are also nocturnal, it could be that he is more active while you are asleep and during the day he is resting.
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And to also get this out of the way, other than hiding more… have you noticed anything else wrong? Have you recently seen him physically acting abnormally (moving oddly, wheezing, sneezing, blowing bubbles out of the nose, opening the mouth for excessive amounts of time, drooling, unable to coordinate).
Also pay attention the next time he sits and soaks in water and watch if any small dark dots fall off of him or move over his scales, soaking for excessive amounts of time could also indicate snake mites.
Are his bowel movements normal? Has he had one for you yet?
We’ve had him since September, he’s pooped a good few times yes. He’s pooped once since his 2 months of not eating. Yes he’s eating perfectly now. Actually maybe better than before, a lot more excited for it. He used to also enjoy being out and about exploring but now seems to not enjoy it so much. We miss hanging out with him, we never force him to be out so we haven’t see much of him recently.
No abnormal signs no, none of that. Also definitely no snake mites! We’ve been very observant to his water dish and him as we did suspect this first. There’s nothing he’s very clean too! Barely ever even a piece of bark in his dish after a soak.
He has many hides etc, I will try work out how to attach a photo in a second to send his set up.
He used to hide away during the day and come out for a few hours every evening. I’m sure he does come out sometimes. I was thinking of setting up a camera to watch overnight.
Also he seems a lot more on edge. He used to be very comfortable around us and seems a lot more anxious than before. He was very sociable and now he’s just not
Something else I forgot to cover is that some male BPs will get angsty when they are looking to mate, it usually lasts a few weeks but once they are over it they do return to normal… however I’ve only had this happen to my males that I was actively pairing to females.
Considering your BP is an adult male this may be what is happening here.
Usually my males will get hissy when picked up, and behave restlessly when handled and sometimes refuse a few meals.
His enclosure is beautiful, I don’t think its undercluttered.
If I was him I would not ever want to leave that palace, seriously! That’s a beaut! I was also going to mention before Christina beat me to it that your boy may have girls on his mind at his mature age. Raging hormones could be making him a grump. As long as he is eating and active I would just make it your mission of love for him to be patient and let him get over his moodiness. Eventually he should again be content to hang out with his humans again.