Alright so I made a thread about one of my bp’s fasting and I would like for you guys to share your experiences with a fasting bp. What’s the longest one of your snakes hasn’t eaten? Did they go right back to eating their regular food or did they start eating with smaller meals? I’m not worried about my girl because she is still a healthy weight and very alert as well as active. Any info is much appreciated!
It drives you crazy but it happens. In November of 2018 my caramel female stopped eating. She was 1-1/2 years old. She didn’t have a meal until March 2019. When she started back up she would only eat mice, no more rats. I’ve had other girls do the exact same thing but eventually they start up again, why I don’t know. The best thing is to continue offering food, live, frozen thawed, mice, rats, pre-killed. Just keep an eye on what they respond to.
My caramel eats all the time now along with the others.
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18 months. An overfed rescue was put on a diet and instead of doing it my way he decided to do it his own. He dropped 40% of his weight but after 18 months of literally every trick I’ve ever heard, he decided to take a FT rat and hasn’t missed since. 
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Not terribly long, but very concerning. A 115g female was eating hoppers good and just stopped. In 3 months she dropped to 94g. Had me a nervous wreck with the weight loss, but I finally had a live hopper mouse to give her. She fed 3 times like that, took a f/t adult mouse, and just last week took a f/t rat fuzzie. Last week when I weighed her she was exactly 130g, and I’m excited to see where she’s at after that rat!
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I have a female Enchi Calico that went without food for about 8 months. Now She has eaten for me for the past 2 years and I started her back out on small rats now she is up to mediums.
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I have a female that went a year without food with no effect on her health, I did everything I could do (downsize, change husbandry around, change food, car ride etc), finally went back on food like nothing happened and never did it again. (Well aside from a few weeks during breeding season)
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Currently have a pastel that has taken one 50G small in the last 6-7 weeks. Dropped from 876 to 803 grams over December to early January , not overly concerned for her health but looks a little slim I’m going to start pulling out the stops to try and get her back going again.
That’s the weirdest line up in food I’ve ever read lol
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I had a female go 11 months, then started up again.
With all my snakes I have things eating the smallest of pinkie mice all the way to medium rats lol. I always have something sitting around. My rat/mouse supplier gave me a funny look when I said I didn’t breed (yet) but still ordered almost every size he sold 
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My longest had me nervous because it was my first snake. Took a couple meals after I got her, then stopped eating in August and didn’t eat until Jan. She still only eats darker colored mice. Not even interested in the African soft furs one bit! (I started breeding them for her too, but the other snakes love them now)
5 months. I find that once they hit breeding size they sometimes fast and don’t start eating again for a while but when they do start eating, it’s usually after a shed. I find that most of behavior is dependent upon where they are in their shed cycle
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A while back I had one of my girls stop eating right after locking with a male. She became gravid and laid 8 eggs. The eggs were speckled with decalcified spots but they all hatched fine. Momma didn’t resume eating until after the eggs hatched. Luckily she was a big girl when I paired her, over 2000 grams. But a ~6 month fast plus laying a big clutch of eggs really took a toll on her weight!
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Going on 3weeks tomorrow, he’s lost 30g, he’s only 6months old and in the 400g range. Hoping he’ll get hungry soon 
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3 weeks is a very short time and nothing to worry about in a male that is reaching breeding size.
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thank you for the reassurance!
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And once they are adults, it is a rare exception that a ball python doesn’t go on a fast at least once a year. Generally they go from 1-2 or 3 months in my experience. Much of it seems seasonal and probably breeding related.
And just to add for the topic of the thread: 10 months was the longest fast I have experienced so far. Female ball python that started slamming food like crazy for a couple months, and then one day stopped for almost a year. Very frustrating and nerve wracking at the time. But I just kept monitoring weight, making sure she wasn’t sick, tried all the tricks I could find. Only thing that worked was waiting it out. I learned a lot from the experience.
Years ago when i had 2 BP’s
One of them was fasting for 6 months.
The other one kept on eating like there was no tomorrow.
We’ve went to the vet and so on.
Nothing worked and he was still healthy so we didn’t force feed.
From one day on the other he started eating again and never stopped
Longest fast I have had was with my female BP. 6-7 months straight of not eating. Now that would have been fine…if she wasn’t a baby that wasn’t even a solid 120 grams yet. When I finally got her to eat she was skin and bones and 87 grams at nearly a year old (I was about assist feed if she didn’t eat soon). Pulled out all the tricks, made sure I had a small secure setup and also never handled her unless I had to clean for all those months as well. Ever since she ate a couple live adult mice for me (she had refused them before) she has never missed a meal and eats anything I put in front of her. Which also sometimes includes trying for my hand. She is close to the 600 gram mark now.
The breeder informed me that she wasn’t a consistent feeder after I had gotten her and the 5 meals she had weren’t without refusals. Always good when they tell you this after they get their money. 
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I definitely wouldn’t recommend to anyone to wait til a hatchling loses over 33% of their body weight before assisting. You’re very fortunate she finally caught on. Did you take her to a vet?
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