I have a 1 year old ball python, I fed her 2 1/2 months ago. Her dinner was 10 grams over her limit. Here’s my issue it’s three months in almost and my ball python is refusing every meal I offer her. She’s in 120 gallon pvc enclosure, her humidity is on point as well as her heat. Could someone please explain why she’s not eating? I’ve tried mice I’ve tried rats I’ve tried frozen thawed and prekilled
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If temp and humidity are on point, I would check to see what may be causing her stress. Does she feel secure and have enough hiding spots or coverage? Also how often are you feeding her? If she is getting in a negative pattern of refusing meals every week, take a pause for a while. Right after she has a shed, do a deep clean of the enclosure and decor, reset the scents in her environment. Sometimes this is enough to reset their brains to feed again. Kinova on YouTube makes fantastic videos about this that I recommend. Hope this helps!
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How long have you had her? Was she eating well for you previously?
What is her weight? Can you post a photo of her so we can see her body condition?
Photos of the enclosure may help so we can figure out if there’s an issue there.
And are you sure this is a female? Some males around that age/winter months can get a little fussy on meals. Especially if they’re already a little hefty.
As @yukina_blizzard mentioned, you may be starting a stress cycle by offering food repeatedly. If you’ve been offering food weekly or multiple times in a week then I would definitely give 2 weeks to let her rest and reset.
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She’s Lost 50 grams , she has a new substrate change.
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I have another female who’s a great eater and she’s eating every two weeks so that’s when I try to feed her again.
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What is her current weight and please give us a photo of her from above so we can see her body condition. Ball pythons not eating is not a concern 99% of the time.
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There are a few things that can cause your BP to not eat but I will start with the first thing that stands out to me.
If she is small and she’s in a 120 gal without enough places to hide and a lot of clutter to help her feel secure she could be really stressed out by this. Depending on where you got her from she could have started off in a rack system and being put immediately into a 120 gal is definitely a drastic change that can cause stress.
It would help if you can provide photos of the enclosure and the snake herself. As well as posting the actual temperatures and humidity at varying areas of the enclosure since it is so large, because saying the “temps and humidity are perfect” is a bit vague…
They need a warm end ambient temperature of 84-86°F and a cool end of 75-80°F and a humidity of 50-60%.
What is her current weight? You said she’s lost 50 grams.
You never said you have tried live…
I had a female Ball Python that I always struggled to feed F/T or Pre-killed in the first year I had her until she quit F/T cold turkey and stopped eating for 7 months. No matter what method I tried she showed absolutely no interest in rats that were already dead, the first time I fed her live after that 7 months she took it immediately. Shes going on 4 years and still wont touch F/T.
2½ months off of food won’t hurt a Ball Python unless they are already pretty underweight and they are losing weight rapidly, or showing other symptoms of bodily distress.
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We honestly don’t know if she is a female. We have sent a shed test into MorphMarket and are waiting. Honestly don’t know how she is a she or not until results. She hasn’t ate since like the beginning of winter. Honestly don’t know how old she is since we got her from a pet store and they didn’t know the age. So it may be winter and breeding season I don’t know but hunger strikes are not something I am used too. I was half tempted to try chicks but I know they ain’t that good and I wouldn’t know what to do with it if she didn’t eat it.
First, welcome to the community! Folks here are always willing to help and not judge. From what I hear, some of the other forums are quite toxic. It sounds like this is at least your second BP and that one is feeding well, so you have some experience.
The #1 concern of most ball pythons is security. They usually value it above food, water and temperature. Insecurity leads to stress. Stress leads to not eating. First, you need to provide multiple, snug hides throughout the enclosure, warm side and cool side. Some folks say their BP has a preferred hide that they will use exclusively no matter if it is on the warm side or the cool side. This can be a problem as they may choose their favorite hide over proper thermoregulation. To combat that, some folks use identical hides. Second, add lots of clutter and cover. A cheap way to pull that off is to get a bunch of artificial, plastic plants and foliage from your local dollar store. Put them in all the open spaces. The BP needs to feel concealed when it moves about. Yes, with all that clutter you may not get to see your BP very often, but hopefully it will feel secure, which will make it feel unstressed, which will free it up to eat as it needs to. Once you get it feeding regularly, you can maybe reduce some of the clutter gradually. Third, you said you have a PVC enclosure, so only the front is uncovered, this is good, but it may not be enough. If you had been using an old school glass aquarium I would suggest you black out three of the four sides to add a greater sense of security. Heck, you might want to black out half or more of the front of your PVC enclosure.
Yes, please give us pictures of your enclosure setup so we can make suggestions. And give us pictures of your BP so we can tell its body condition.
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Like I stated waiting on the results to see if she’s girl or he’s a male lol
That is definitely a hefty snake. They’ll be absolutely fine skipping a few meals especially if they do come back as male from the testing.
I’ve gotten into the habit of keeping my males on the leaner side because they will continue eating regularly instead of fasting when they get too hefty.
But even a female will sometimes go off feed when they get big.
I’d try putting another hide or two in there just to see if maybe that’s the issue. BPs are ambush hunters by nature so they may be trying to find that perfect little crevice to strike from… But also, maybe consider smaller meals every two weeks for a while because they are a bit large. They’re doing just fine on this fast.
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Yeah, I’d say that enclosure could use a few more caves and clutter. It looks nice otherwise!
I also agree with @armiyana that it definitely won’t hurt this snake to lose a few grams.
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I did go out today and purchased some more flowers for the enclosure to add more clutter. I do have 2 hides in each enclosure. A big plastic water dish and a humid hide as needed. I use a che for heat and a basking bulb for the light . I APPRECIATE all advice from everyone here.
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She/he isn’t small over 1 year and 873 grams
My one snake is 2 yrs and she’s at 1065
Then the one who isn’t wanting to eat was at 925 and is little over 1 years old .
The genetic stripe that has never refused a meal until past 3 months was bought at a pet store .
My Enchi Ghost was pretty much a rescue and she was underfed.
And yes I feed by the snakes weight