Needs to change up the living conditions; ie. adding clutter to really change any habits. You do it with hatchlings all the time. Every week you change 1 thing and see how it works out. If it doesn’t you change again. It’s always a process of elimination when it comes to snakes like this.
As for the weight - my pied girl was about 575 when she went on her hunger strike. Dropped down to 400 or 388 (one of those) after the year. She just hit 1200 grams this past month or so. An animal is going to eat when it’s hungry. Breeding males go off food, and I know several people who will start breeding their “stud muffin” male at 500 - 600 grams (which I personally won’t do). If the snake in the end decides it never wants to eat - that’s on it. Let nature takes its course. However, I can see how that might upset some people.
Wait it out and keep trying. A healthy snake is not going to starve itself. But I would be trying live prey items as opposed to f/t at this point until I got it eating a couple times.
I feed live ASF’s to all of mine so I can’t really chime in on the F/T but I have had a couple when I use to have some in a tank that wouldn’t eat in a big open enclosure. I either had to put a live asf or rat in the enclosure and put a towel over to make it dark or put them in a tub together and put them in a dark and quiet location. Not sure if the larger space made them uncomfortable or what but the dark and quiet was key for my problem eaters and a smaller food item worked some as well (less intimidating)
Yes I always feed my snakes at night most of the time she is out her hide at this time but as I open her box she gets scared and goes in her hide . On occasion I would lift her hide up to offer her the mouse again but would refuse .
She was raised in a rub style rack system what breeders use .I wanted to put her in a wooden viv and I did so for the first 2 weeks when she arrived a ,3 foot one . She refused her first couple of meals so I spoke to the seller and he recommended putting her in a smaller tub to make her feel more secure . Now ambient air temps over her in England ain’t very high so I have placed the plastic tub enclosure inside a 4 foot wooden viv opposite end to a ceramic heater which is placed in the wooden viv to increase the air temperature and is actually doing a nice job of keeping the temps at regular 80-83 air temp one side 75 on the other ,she also has a heat mat on the hot side with a hot spot of 90 and humidity is kept 60-70 with a bowl of water
What makes a rack system effective is you can’t see in it. Only one side is visible so this creates dark and quiet type environment. Bearing in mind I’m talking about racks with sides. You may of moved her into a tub but four sides are visible and letting in light. This kinda defeats the purpose of moving her to a small tub. I would black out ALL the sides give her a week with no disturbances and try feeding her.
Yes good idea will get on that straight away
Previously mentioned was turning down the heat should this be the air temperature done with the ceramic or with the hot spot on the heat Matt ?
I have seen recently a lot of ball pythons thriving in Vivs. However they are extremely clutter. If you want to give your a snake a chance at living in the viv you’ll need to cutter the crap out of it.
I’d offer a live adult mouse. A weaned mouse is a small meal for that size of BP; even an adult is. Most hatchlings can handle an adult and some seem to need a larger heat signature. Could it have been a weaned rat the previous owner was feeding? Have you tried rats? How hot has the thawed prey been when offered? Has it felt warm to your touch?
I’m not a pro at keeping ball pythons but I did have one particularly nervous one that went off food when I acquired her. Finally got her to eat after blacking out all the sides of her enclosure and putting 4 hides in her tub…. All of which she was somewhat of a snug fit in. After awhile I noticed her mainly staking out one particular hide but she still wasn’t down with the frozen thawed…. I purchased a live mouse and asked the store if they could throw a bit of the mouse bedding into the critter keeper I brought with me for the purpose of scenting (I was willing to try anything at this point). I put the mouse in in the evening in front of her favorite hiding spot and she snapped it up immediately. I kept the handful of used mouse bedding in the keeper and would defrost mice in there to room temperature before heating them up. (Scenting them basically with smells associated with living mice) all following feedings she took no problem(scented) . After about a dozen feedings I tried to give her frozen thawed without scenting and she took them fine.
Not a guaranteed solution but it worked for me in that instance.
Force feeding is a strong phrase. Take a pinkie mouse and put it in her mouth. It’s like a tic tac to a snake that size. Then step up to a fuzzy. Eventually it should start grabbing them before you can put it in their mouth. Worked on a 130 gram ball python of mine. Don’t force just open mouth and put in their mouth.
This is not correct plenty of ball pythons pass 1000 grams without stopping eating. The op hasn’t got the snake to eat at all since it’s been in there possession so definitely not hitting a “wall”
Just to let you know she has finally taken a defrosted mouse . I’m so happy couldn’t believe it when she struck ! Blacking out the tub must of been the key , thanks for all the advise guys
Much Appreciated