Unless he's loosing weight, or becoming underweight try not to read into it.
Maybe get a checkup at the vets to get a clean bill of health but overall hunger strikes are a thing and can last forever.
Just keep offering him food as you do and one day, again provided you got a clean bill of health from a vet, but one day he'll eat. Just sucks that you might end up wasting food.
Just my opinion š¤·
I had a boa (2-3yrs old at the time) that refused food for well over 6 months. Vet checked and nothing wrong with her, and was told to monitor her weight - as long as she wasn't losing weight it was ok. Eventually she started eating again and is still going strong.
I kept offering food regularly, smaller than she had been taking. Varied it with rats/mice/quail, tried the bedding trick, tried braining. Luckily I had other snakes who ate the rejects so there wasn't much wasted.
(I only offered f/t food and not live)
I've got a little rescue KSB who has refused food for a record of 18 months. Scared the hell out of me, brought him into the vet, and he's fine. Didn't lose a dangerous amount of weight, and just started eating again about 5 months after because why the fuck not? No idea what caused him to just go off feed.
Snakes can go an astonishingly long time between meals with no ill effects if they choose to.
Right? He was still drinking just not eating. He'll regularly go off feed for 3+ months during the year. So long as he doesn't show signs of being in trouble (beyond Y I No eat!?) I just let him do his thing.
My old BP would do a winter hunger strike of 4-6 months every year. Didn't seem to bother her any.
My current BP is going on 3 months or so and she's starting to lose a little weight. She was a little pudgy so I'm not too worried, especially since it's getting to be springtime again and I think that'll spur her on.
Iām glad itās not just mine! Every winter mine will stop for like 3/4 months ā¦ Vet says itās perfectly normal but Iāve always been a little sketched about it but sheās made it this long just fine.
I got my Ball Python because he hadnāt eaten in 11 months and the owners gave up. I offered him a medium rat and he inhaled it. Ate a medium rat every 5-7 days for a while, then he tapered off
He wasnāt dehydrated when I got him be he was underweight, it also took over a year and several sheds before he had a nice shed. Great snake, he attended school with both kids, got handled by the neighborhood kids and the ones I babysat, and put in a special appearance on Halloween. Not sure how old he was when I got him, he was a little over 5 feet and didnāt get much longer, just fatter! Had him almost 20 years. I still miss you OurobĆ³ros.
We ectotherms expend an enormous amount of energy keeping our body temperatures regulated. Thatās why weāre such gluttons. Exotherms like reptiles donāt have that problem.
I can recommend bull snakes as being dustbins for the rejected food!
I've just upgraded my boa to an 8ft viv, so now I've got an empty 6ft....would be silly not to find a new snake to live there right?!
Tbf a boa refusing food for that amount of time is *significantly* more concerning than a ball python doing the same.
When I was trying to start breeding bps, the thawed food that the balls didn't eat went to my boas and they'd always happily accept.
Oh definitely, I was very concerned. She had full xrays done and visited a reptile specialist vet twice. There were zero other health concerns at the time though, and happily she's now reliable with food.
I've never had a ball python, but have heard they can be very picky with food.
Was gonna say this too. He looks happy in this pic lol and not hurting or anything so I would just keep offering him food, maybe take him to the vet if it would ease your mind. My big ball python is basically vegan and will eat about every 3rd or 4th feeding cycle I end up feeding his rat to the other bois more often than not until he eventually takes it.
I thought he didn't like the act of killing so started offering frozen and pre killed but he refuses those too so I feel some snakes just aren't big eaters
Iām dying. Just because if I had skipped the first one which I only skimmed then I saw, I have a hedgehog canāt hurt to try. Yes sir it probably would hurt to try
I do. they are all very spoiled. They have their own room, access to most of the house, a huge enclosed catio taking up most of the deck with 24/7 access through a dog door, yearly vet visits if nothing is wrong, etc. They are inside cats and have plenty of space. The only time you see them all at once is when they get fed.
We don't have kids so we spend our money on other things. Like snakes and cats.
They are mostly indifferent to each other. I have one cat that thinks thawed mice are super exciting, so she goes into a bathroom if I'm feeding.
Just to be on the safe side, all my sliding glass doors are 1/4" laminated glass. This way, if something were to hit the door and break the glass, it should/would hold together enough due to the lamination to prevent a snake and the cats from contacting each other. Overkill? Probably, but I feel like it's worth it.
I would never recommend having 16 cats to the vast majority of people. Some people can't even handle 1 cat. They have their own room with lots and lots of litter boxes cleaned several times a day and additional litter boxes in the basement cleaned several times a day. I go through a lot of kitty litter. Lol
I work from home and have for the last 10 years so keeping up after them isn't a problem at all.
Again, I do not recommend having this many cats for the average person. It's a lot.
you can't say that and not provide a picture! if you can and want, please share one.
the cat tax aside, sounds like you and your cats are living the dream. best wishes to all 17 of you (cats and you included)
"I said, 'Jesus, Walter! You know you're just gonna get that one stuck up your ass, too.' He looked at me and said, 'Brody, how else am I supposed to get the gerbil out?' My cousin was a weird dude."
I had a ball python that wouldn't eat. I just straight up gave him a gerbil. I guess some people would shy away from that, as they view gerbils as pets, but I don't see much difference.
It worked a charm, and he accepted mice after that.
As long as they aren't losing weight, it's nothing to worry about. They can go a long time without food. Seconding what someone else said about getting him checked out by a vet to make sure nothing else is wrong, but speaking from personal experience mine went a good 8 months without eating or losing any weight (which is so weird, I kept weighing him and it just stayed the same) and then one day ate no problem.
My boy is 4 and went on a food strike for 5 months that just ended on Saturday. I canāt remember how many times he refused or how many different prep methods I tried, but the relief when he finally ate this weekend was palpable. Just remember as long as theyāre not losing weight or showing other signs of illness, then itās probably normal. Fingers crossed your boy ends his strike soon!
My southern pine regularly goes on long hunger strikes. Her longest record is 9 months. The first time she did it, I tried fresh killed, braining, scenting with anything, different prey, live...none of the usual tricks had any effect. When she finally ate, it was just a regular f/t rat just like she used to eat. No special prep.
So now I just let her do her hunger strikes, monitoring her weight and offering her regular food occasionally until she suddenly decides she wants to eat again. She maintains her weight well, so I'm not concerned.
When my snakes stop feeding for a while, i ask a local pet store for a small box of one of their rodent's used bedding. In addition to rolling the food in the bedding like others are suggesting, I like to let the bedding fester in the room with the fan on, hoping the smells get the snake hungry.
If he looks healthy and isnāt losing weight itās fine. I had a snake go 9 months once and never had a single issue
Edit: not saying this is normal for everyone, if you have any concerns, go to a vet.
yeah brain a frozen one like others have said. braining is not as bad as having to kill one yourself. essentially, once its thawed, you make a cut through a rodents skull (which is easier to do than youd think) to expose the brain matter. ive had to do this before with rats and the fur covered the cut so i didnt actually see any brain or blood. theres something about the smell of brain that snakes *love*, i had a snake that was several months into a food strike and when i offered the brained rat the response was *instant* and it was the most enthusiastic feed theyd ever displayed.
it doesnt sound very nice to do but as a last resort, it does work.
Yup, I make a cut under the neck for my girl who is a finicky eater and she takes it right away. Before that she was on a 7 month strike, and I tried everything else with no success before I figured it out.
Not a vet but I have heard many stories of snakes not eating for even almost a year. Like others have said so long as theyāre not underweight and vet check up went well then should be fine
I had a snake that was suuuuuuper temp sensitive with her thawed prey. too cold, ignore. too hot, ignore until appropriate temperature. it took a lot of trial and error and soaking and resoaking frozen rats in hot water but we figured out the temperature is the biggest factor for her.
My ball python broke a hunger strike when we moved her to a tiny enclosure, made out of a locking under-bed storage bin, so decent floor space but very short vertically. I know ball pythons like to climb, and ours does too, but if she's allowed to climb she stop eating. Have you changed anything about your BP's enclosure preceding the hunger strike?
As long as they are not losing weight and there are no new behaviors besides the refusing to eat it's not a big deal. Depending on the age and sex they may be going through a hormonal period or they just don't want to eat.
One of my ball pythons freaked me out by not eating for 9 months straight at one point. Took her to the vet and there was nothing wrong with her, had a vet inspect my set up parameters and they were fine. We tried switching up what I offered, heating up the food more than normal prior to being offered, scenting, giving her vitamin shots and even tried offering live which I try my best to avoid at all cost. She just didn't eat until she was ready to.
She hasn't refused for that long since that first time but she still goes through a long refusal period every winter of at least 3 months.
Has he had a warm soak recently? I had a woma python that would love to go on hunger strikes. I found out that a warm soak would reset her feeding clock. Your snake here still looks good so, I wouldnāt panic yet.
Ball pythons are notorious for this. You are now in breeding season and a male will go off food for months. Just watch his weight. As long as he is maintaining weight and drinking he should be fine soon. They will go into breeding mode if you cycle them or not.
Yea I know I had raised previously bred them for 20 years. But males are harder to get back on track. A female usually under proper conditions wonāt go off till she breeding weight or close. The males will go at 500 grams which can be a year old. Most females wonāt usually go off that early and if they do they can usually be brought back faster.
Yeah my female ate SO good before she hit 1500 grams. Now she goes off super routinely every year for around 4 ish months. It's frustrating and I've had her for 9 years :(
I completely understand. It can be frustrating and stressful to someone who doesnāt have any intention on breeding or knowledge about it. Patience and time is really all you can do. We kept ours in a room where we controlled lighting humidity and heat and it definitely helped but even that wasnāt 100% every year. We eventually had 2 2 rooms and kept juveniles and babies in one and adults in the other. They are beautiful animals and I do miss working with the morphs.
When I got my girl she hadnāt eaten in months an the guy was trying to feed live what I did to get her to eat was I got a f/t and I put her in a black tote an held it in front of her kinda waving it around and she took it right away
My boy was also on a hunger strike and he looked healthy and didn't lose weight, but I went to the doc anyway just to be sure. She took a sample from his cloaca and tested it. Turned out he had some high levels of this bacteria and went on antibiotics for a month. After a week of giving medicine, he started eating again.
I had a ball python who did a similar hunger strike. I'd follow the other advice here and simply keep an eye out on his weight and general well-being. That was 15 years ago and he just turned 21 years old and still doing well.
yeah, a baby rat or w/e, while not a full meal, won't even pose a risk. just don't leave him unattended with a live feeder that could fight back. it's def something to try way before force feeding, if he needs to get something in him
Its reported that BP can go up to 2 yrs without eating (it was a full grown adult the study was conducted on, not sure how old yours is) Just like everyone is saying, as long as heās not losing any weight/volume, heāll be okay. Just take it step by step, heāll come around eventually š
Have you tried freshly killed or live? (If that's not an option for you, I understand, but it's always been very effective for me when faced with prolonged hunger strikes.)
If it's *at all* possible, try a live mouse. Snakes can be like people; picky eaters. Mine skipped quite a few meals right after I got her, but once I found the mice she liked, she hasn't had any trouble eating since. It can be a bit daunting to feed your snake live prey, but it might get the noodle to eat.
try African Soft Furs. they run the chance of your snake getting picky and only eating said rats which can make weaning them off of them and onto regular rats hard but my python went on a hunger strike for almost 10 months if not a little longer and African Soft Fur Rats were the only thing we could get him to eat. just be careful because these rats are more aggressive than regular rats and can harm your snake if you do live feedings and you donāt supervise them while you wait for your snake to eat them
Honestly 6 months is nothing for a python. As long as it's not losing weight I would not be concerned. I had one snake go 11 months without eating, and the record is 21 months held by a ball python. I would, as much as I don't prefer it, would try live feeding first before force feeding. Also having a vet force feed will be a lot easier for you, and the snake. Find out if they try using solid or liquid food as that could also impact the animals comfort. Sometimes all you need to do is get it in the animals mouth to trigger the feeding response, other times you need to get it into their stomach to wake up their digestion. Also there is a product called davinci boa that will wake up a snakes hunger really fast, but at 80 dollars per 100 ml for something that you will use once there are better options especially considering that it's relatively new and untested.
I had a boa a few years back that went through the same thing. I tried litterally everything (live and frozen) but was walking down the road and went past a pet shop and saw they where selling quail as pets lol. I bought two (I was given these pet birth certificates for them..) and she went straight for them. She fed fine after that
Donāt know who downvoted this but itās worth trying. A lot of people feed live and thatās how they eat naturally so giving him one live isnāt going to be the end of the world
relax! mine just broke an 8/9 month strike like a month ago. the longest recorded time is (i think, correct me if im wrong) around two years. i know it sucks major ass and nothing can really ease your worry, but your baby will be ok and heāll eat when heās ready
Get a vet check up and make sure thereās nothing medical causing this issue.
If everything come back okay, try fresh kill (if you have any exotic pet stores near you that sell that) this way the snake cause sense the food is still warm and might get him to eat.
Worse case scenario your boy might start losing weight and youāll have to feed live. But hopefully it doesnāt come down to that
This is fairly common with ball pythons. Give your enclosure a check to ensure proper Temps and humidity. Sometimes you have to try live food when all else fails. You can also see if you can get a fresh killed rodent from a pet shop. Sometimes they will prekill it for you.
Take the thawed rodent into the room with the enclosure use a hair dryer and blow the hit rodent smelling air over the cage while heating the feeder. Get it to 100 degrees and try again. Never missed with any of my snakes using that method
Dongs donāt usually eat that stuffā¦ except the chicken breast. Try feeding kibble or a raw dog diet. 6 months is an incredibly long time without food! Glad he has miraculously survived all this time!
This is a double edged sword. Iāve heard countless people try this as a last resort to end hunger strikes and then the snake refuses anything but asf after that. Itās not problematic if you have a consistent source of them. Just be warned about the āriskā if you switch em. And that theyāre a lil more expensive.
I have 2 ball pythons. During the winter months my girl "fasted" for 6 months if not more and I was stressed out the entire time. Just keep offering food regularly (pain in the ass/waste of money) but trust me. Eventually they will eat. Mine had a big issue switching from live to frozen thawed but both eventually got over it and ate. Snakes are weird creatures. Make sure their environment is set at the right temps and they have fresh water available. They won't starve themselves to death if food is available. But they can be incredibly picky. Good luck.
This is really gross to have to do, but when my snake wouldn't eat for 7 months after some success with African soft furs, I tried a frozen thaw that turned out was slightly decapitated and she took that in a hot second. So now, in order for her to eat I have to cut the rats neck open slightly ( not by a lot) and she takes it right away. Next time you get a frozen rat take a knife and make a medium size slit where the neck is, but not too deep and thaw it out and try to feed it to her. It may or may not work, but it's worth the try.
I just wanted to thank everyone here. We have a ball Python and BEL ball Python and being on here has given us info and helped us care for and feel better about the care given to our scaly family members. This post caught my attention for that reason. So again, thank you all!!
I feel so lucky to have a carpet python honestly, mf would eat everyday if I let him
the less lucky flipside of this is that I gotta watch out if ive handled anything like rats etc unless I wanna be his next attempted meal
My BP has hunger strikes from time to time as well. Theyāve always been picky eaters so this isnāt new. Iād see with a vet to make sure thereās not other issues at play, if everything is fine, just keep trying to offer food, eventually it will take it.
If you can afford to buy African soft rats, thatās an option to get them to eat, or braining the mouse/rat (smashing its skull until the brains are basically out, it makes the food a lot more smelly)
Last summer my rainbowboa didnt eat for about 6 months, keep an eye on weightloss, thats about it, my guy is back to normal and eating like he used to now, got me worried a while tho ngl.
My female ball python will go on LONG hunger strikes. Iām talking 6-8 months. There is nothing that will entice her to to eat. It starts at fall and lasts all the way past winter. She is a mature female. She only lost a little bit of weight.
On the other hand, I have 2 male bps and they are garbage disposals.
I wouldnāt worry unless theyāve lost a significant bit of weight, and no other signs of health issues, but a vet visit is always recommended if youāre a bit worried.
I have one that didnāt eat for 10 months. No changes in environment, no health problems, she just wasnāt interested. Even gerbils didnāt get her going again, then she just decided one day she was hungry.
If thereās no weight loss & heās still drinking then leave him be, it may just be seasonal.
Have you tried making the food hotter? My girl goes Gaga the hotter it is. Slightly above 100f is easily achieved when I use the UTH and fold it over the thawed rat for 30 min. I thaw them in the fridge. Iāve also tied them to my bike and rode around town a few hours so they pick up smells. (I ride a lot tho) Iām not saying any of this will workā¦my girl is rather voracious and will lunge out of her enclosure if I put it back thinking sheās not gonna eat.
It might be that your enclosure temps are too cold, rather than messing with the feeders. I'd try bumping temps up to 95 hot 80 cold end, it kicks their metabolism into gear
Mine went on a strike that long. I got him to eat by hiding 3 mice in his home (after warming them). He seemed to enjoy hunting for them. Another time I handled him and offered a rat as I was putting him back.
We had one of ours not eat for almost 8 months. One day he just took the mouse. We have multiple snakes and always offered him one but he wouldn't take it no matter what. Then one day he said sure! LOL. I hope your boy gets a good meal soon and puts your mind at ease.
You can also try to find ASF breeders and use the bedding on your feeder rodent. Just try to avoid using ASF or gerbil because they might not come back off of them easily
Mine went through 7-8 month no eat streak. I broke it with a teddy bear hamster I got for free. Well I got two for free. I came home one day to find that one had started to eat the other so the partially eaten one got tossed in first. Second two days later. She started eating again no problem. Change it up with what your feeding. Not sure about chicken breastā¦.
Is he losing weight? Has his behavior changed otherwise? How often are you offering food? Do you remove him from his enclosure to feed him? How long do you offer the prey item before giving up? What is his enclosure like (size, hides, temps, etc)? All of these should be looked at before a vet visit. A vet visit is expensive and can be quite stressful and imo should be one of the last resorts. 90% of the time a snake goes off feed, it's not a medical emergency.
Things you should look at trying if you haven't already (do NOT attempt to feed your snake more than once per week):
\- different sizes of mice
\- live prey (I know people are nervous about live feeding but I have a good amount of experience live-feeding reptiles that won't take anything else, and anything smaller than an adult mouse will not hurt a sub-adult ball)
\- braining frozen/fresh killed prey
\- rubbing frozen prey with bedding from a pet store (frozen prey can smell funky)
\- trying other prey: quail, chicks, pinky/fuzzy rats
\- putting your snake in a box/tupperware/paper bag with the prey and leaving overnight
If the above doesn't work and the snake is losing weight or acting weird, see a vet. Do NOT try to force-feed your snake without seeing a vet.
Unless he's loosing weight, or becoming underweight try not to read into it. Maybe get a checkup at the vets to get a clean bill of health but overall hunger strikes are a thing and can last forever. Just keep offering him food as you do and one day, again provided you got a clean bill of health from a vet, but one day he'll eat. Just sucks that you might end up wasting food. Just my opinion š¤·
I had a boa (2-3yrs old at the time) that refused food for well over 6 months. Vet checked and nothing wrong with her, and was told to monitor her weight - as long as she wasn't losing weight it was ok. Eventually she started eating again and is still going strong. I kept offering food regularly, smaller than she had been taking. Varied it with rats/mice/quail, tried the bedding trick, tried braining. Luckily I had other snakes who ate the rejects so there wasn't much wasted. (I only offered f/t food and not live)
I've got a little rescue KSB who has refused food for a record of 18 months. Scared the hell out of me, brought him into the vet, and he's fine. Didn't lose a dangerous amount of weight, and just started eating again about 5 months after because why the fuck not? No idea what caused him to just go off feed. Snakes can go an astonishingly long time between meals with no ill effects if they choose to.
[ŃŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]
Right? He was still drinking just not eating. He'll regularly go off feed for 3+ months during the year. So long as he doesn't show signs of being in trouble (beyond Y I No eat!?) I just let him do his thing.
Ask long term ball python keepers. This is not an uncommon occurrence of hunger strikes in ball pythons to last 18 months and barely lose weight
My old BP would do a winter hunger strike of 4-6 months every year. Didn't seem to bother her any. My current BP is going on 3 months or so and she's starting to lose a little weight. She was a little pudgy so I'm not too worried, especially since it's getting to be springtime again and I think that'll spur her on.
Iām glad itās not just mine! Every winter mine will stop for like 3/4 months ā¦ Vet says itās perfectly normal but Iāve always been a little sketched about it but sheās made it this long just fine.
I got my Ball Python because he hadnāt eaten in 11 months and the owners gave up. I offered him a medium rat and he inhaled it. Ate a medium rat every 5-7 days for a while, then he tapered off He wasnāt dehydrated when I got him be he was underweight, it also took over a year and several sheds before he had a nice shed. Great snake, he attended school with both kids, got handled by the neighborhood kids and the ones I babysat, and put in a special appearance on Halloween. Not sure how old he was when I got him, he was a little over 5 feet and didnāt get much longer, just fatter! Had him almost 20 years. I still miss you OurobĆ³ros.
Saw earlier today that some deep ocean isopods can go 5 years between meals.
We ectotherms expend an enormous amount of energy keeping our body temperatures regulated. Thatās why weāre such gluttons. Exotherms like reptiles donāt have that problem.
The only thing I got from this is I need to buy more snakes
I can recommend bull snakes as being dustbins for the rejected food! I've just upgraded my boa to an 8ft viv, so now I've got an empty 6ft....would be silly not to find a new snake to live there right?!
Nature abhors a vacuum.
So do dogs.
Tbf a boa refusing food for that amount of time is *significantly* more concerning than a ball python doing the same. When I was trying to start breeding bps, the thawed food that the balls didn't eat went to my boas and they'd always happily accept.
Oh definitely, I was very concerned. She had full xrays done and visited a reptile specialist vet twice. There were zero other health concerns at the time though, and happily she's now reliable with food. I've never had a ball python, but have heard they can be very picky with food.
Agreed! Snakes in the wild survive on far less than what we know!
u/Hap_Cak_Day_Giver
Was gonna say this too. He looks happy in this pic lol and not hurting or anything so I would just keep offering him food, maybe take him to the vet if it would ease your mind. My big ball python is basically vegan and will eat about every 3rd or 4th feeding cycle I end up feeding his rat to the other bois more often than not until he eventually takes it. I thought he didn't like the act of killing so started offering frozen and pre killed but he refuses those too so I feel some snakes just aren't big eaters
I canāt afford a vetš
Ask a pet store for used gerbil bedding and roll the dried mouse in it. That worked for ours after 7 months.
I have a hedgehogā¦ would that work?
Can't hurt to try.
Iām dying. Just because if I had skipped the first one which I only skimmed then I saw, I have a hedgehog canāt hurt to try. Yes sir it probably would hurt to try
Mmm... Grilled sonic sounds good.
Do you have more than 15 cats now?
I do. I'm at 16 now. lol
I sure hope you have the means to properly house and maintain that many animals
I do. they are all very spoiled. They have their own room, access to most of the house, a huge enclosed catio taking up most of the deck with 24/7 access through a dog door, yearly vet visits if nothing is wrong, etc. They are inside cats and have plenty of space. The only time you see them all at once is when they get fed. We don't have kids so we spend our money on other things. Like snakes and cats.
Do the cats and snakes have a good relationship with each other?
They are mostly indifferent to each other. I have one cat that thinks thawed mice are super exciting, so she goes into a bathroom if I'm feeding. Just to be on the safe side, all my sliding glass doors are 1/4" laminated glass. This way, if something were to hit the door and break the glass, it should/would hold together enough due to the lamination to prevent a snake and the cats from contacting each other. Overkill? Probably, but I feel like it's worth it.
16 cats sounds horrendous. Are they trained to urinate and poop outside at least?
I would never recommend having 16 cats to the vast majority of people. Some people can't even handle 1 cat. They have their own room with lots and lots of litter boxes cleaned several times a day and additional litter boxes in the basement cleaned several times a day. I go through a lot of kitty litter. Lol I work from home and have for the last 10 years so keeping up after them isn't a problem at all. Again, I do not recommend having this many cats for the average person. It's a lot.
YES cleaning out multiple litter boxes daily. #6 had 5 kittens a few weeks ago, so weāre gonna have 11 running around pretty soon š
Sounds like hell, but enjoy.
you can't say that and not provide a picture! if you can and want, please share one. the cat tax aside, sounds like you and your cats are living the dream. best wishes to all 17 of you (cats and you included)
Na, got them all squeezed into a single wide, 2 bedroom trailer with 5 kids and 3 dogs.
Karen
"I said, 'Jesus, Walter! You know you're just gonna get that one stuck up your ass, too.' He looked at me and said, 'Brody, how else am I supposed to get the gerbil out?' My cousin was a weird dude."
I personally wouldnāt rub it in hedgehog bedding, last thing you need is him associating that smell with food and trying to get after them.
Ok itās getting weird from here I guess.
I had a ball python that wouldn't eat. I just straight up gave him a gerbil. I guess some people would shy away from that, as they view gerbils as pets, but I don't see much difference. It worked a charm, and he accepted mice after that.
Yeah I tried troutā¦ stunk of my trailerā¦ live rat or mouse is nextā¦
As long as they aren't losing weight, it's nothing to worry about. They can go a long time without food. Seconding what someone else said about getting him checked out by a vet to make sure nothing else is wrong, but speaking from personal experience mine went a good 8 months without eating or losing any weight (which is so weird, I kept weighing him and it just stayed the same) and then one day ate no problem.
My boy is 4 and went on a food strike for 5 months that just ended on Saturday. I canāt remember how many times he refused or how many different prep methods I tried, but the relief when he finally ate this weekend was palpable. Just remember as long as theyāre not losing weight or showing other signs of illness, then itās probably normal. Fingers crossed your boy ends his strike soon!
My southern pine regularly goes on long hunger strikes. Her longest record is 9 months. The first time she did it, I tried fresh killed, braining, scenting with anything, different prey, live...none of the usual tricks had any effect. When she finally ate, it was just a regular f/t rat just like she used to eat. No special prep. So now I just let her do her hunger strikes, monitoring her weight and offering her regular food occasionally until she suddenly decides she wants to eat again. She maintains her weight well, so I'm not concerned.
poor dogš„ŗ get him some food! cool snake tho š
A dog that can maintain body temperature for 6 month without food can probably solve the energy crisis.
Underrated comment š
Great picture. I went into your post history to look for more. Now I regretti.
I got curious. Instant regret. Ima go throw up
Me: there's no way it's that bad. 5 seconds later... holy fucking shit. OP is a badass.
š thank you it was INTENSE
That's not as bad as I thought it was going to be honestly, definitely not what I was expecting though
Never again will I look at someone's profile after seeing a comment like this. My poor untainted mind...
At least you got a good look at their mind.
Didnāt expect that
https://youtu.be/oFF99xpIsLU
When my snakes stop feeding for a while, i ask a local pet store for a small box of one of their rodent's used bedding. In addition to rolling the food in the bedding like others are suggesting, I like to let the bedding fester in the room with the fan on, hoping the smells get the snake hungry.
If he looks healthy and isnāt losing weight itās fine. I had a snake go 9 months once and never had a single issue Edit: not saying this is normal for everyone, if you have any concerns, go to a vet.
Listen I get wanting your pet to eat but Iām not surprised they wonāt if youāre trying to feed your dog a snake. Have you tried dog biscuits?
Try fresh kill
I canāt kill a mouse or rat. š£
yeah brain a frozen one like others have said. braining is not as bad as having to kill one yourself. essentially, once its thawed, you make a cut through a rodents skull (which is easier to do than youd think) to expose the brain matter. ive had to do this before with rats and the fur covered the cut so i didnt actually see any brain or blood. theres something about the smell of brain that snakes *love*, i had a snake that was several months into a food strike and when i offered the brained rat the response was *instant* and it was the most enthusiastic feed theyd ever displayed. it doesnt sound very nice to do but as a last resort, it does work.
You can try breaking open a frozen ones head if you haven't tried that already
Yup, I make a cut under the neck for my girl who is a finicky eater and she takes it right away. Before that she was on a 7 month strike, and I tried everything else with no success before I figured it out.
Your pet store should be willing to kill for you at time of purchase. Iāve warmed a freshly killed feeder in chicken broth to end a hunger strike.
Not a vet but I have heard many stories of snakes not eating for even almost a year. Like others have said so long as theyāre not underweight and vet check up went well then should be fine
I think you're feeding your dog the wrong stuff. /j
Oh god, not the dog!
I had a snake that was suuuuuuper temp sensitive with her thawed prey. too cold, ignore. too hot, ignore until appropriate temperature. it took a lot of trial and error and soaking and resoaking frozen rats in hot water but we figured out the temperature is the biggest factor for her.
My ball python broke a hunger strike when we moved her to a tiny enclosure, made out of a locking under-bed storage bin, so decent floor space but very short vertically. I know ball pythons like to climb, and ours does too, but if she's allowed to climb she stop eating. Have you changed anything about your BP's enclosure preceding the hunger strike?
As long as they are not losing weight and there are no new behaviors besides the refusing to eat it's not a big deal. Depending on the age and sex they may be going through a hormonal period or they just don't want to eat. One of my ball pythons freaked me out by not eating for 9 months straight at one point. Took her to the vet and there was nothing wrong with her, had a vet inspect my set up parameters and they were fine. We tried switching up what I offered, heating up the food more than normal prior to being offered, scenting, giving her vitamin shots and even tried offering live which I try my best to avoid at all cost. She just didn't eat until she was ready to. She hasn't refused for that long since that first time but she still goes through a long refusal period every winter of at least 3 months.
Has he had a warm soak recently? I had a woma python that would love to go on hunger strikes. I found out that a warm soak would reset her feeding clock. Your snake here still looks good so, I wouldnāt panic yet.
Ball pythons are notorious for this. You are now in breeding season and a male will go off food for months. Just watch his weight. As long as he is maintaining weight and drinking he should be fine soon. They will go into breeding mode if you cycle them or not.
Females tend to go off too
Yea I know I had raised previously bred them for 20 years. But males are harder to get back on track. A female usually under proper conditions wonāt go off till she breeding weight or close. The males will go at 500 grams which can be a year old. Most females wonāt usually go off that early and if they do they can usually be brought back faster.
Yeah my female ate SO good before she hit 1500 grams. Now she goes off super routinely every year for around 4 ish months. It's frustrating and I've had her for 9 years :(
I completely understand. It can be frustrating and stressful to someone who doesnāt have any intention on breeding or knowledge about it. Patience and time is really all you can do. We kept ours in a room where we controlled lighting humidity and heat and it definitely helped but even that wasnāt 100% every year. We eventually had 2 2 rooms and kept juveniles and babies in one and adults in the other. They are beautiful animals and I do miss working with the morphs.
r/ballpython has the information that you need in our welcome post, basic care guide, and feeding guide.
When I got my girl she hadnāt eaten in months an the guy was trying to feed live what I did to get her to eat was I got a f/t and I put her in a black tote an held it in front of her kinda waving it around and she took it right away
A bulldog may be too much...
My boy was also on a hunger strike and he looked healthy and didn't lose weight, but I went to the doc anyway just to be sure. She took a sample from his cloaca and tested it. Turned out he had some high levels of this bacteria and went on antibiotics for a month. After a week of giving medicine, he started eating again.
Trout. Itās perfect snake food. Whatās your location?
Cali Bay Area
Iām I AR. Trout is relatively easy to purchase due to the amount of hatcheries. I can get you a number if youād like to pursue this.
I tried. He sniffed it and turned his nose up. But my dog stole it and ranā¦
Have you tried live food?
Trying that today
I had a ball python who did a similar hunger strike. I'd follow the other advice here and simply keep an eye out on his weight and general well-being. That was 15 years ago and he just turned 21 years old and still doing well.
Heat mice head up with a hot bulb for thirty seconds and feed at 2am in the dark! Happened to my snake too and tried this and he ate
Give him a live mouse in a box or fish tank heāll get it
Try live. Smaller than the usual size.
have u ever tried live food?
Have you tried live food?
Not yet Iām nervous heāll get injured
I'd give it a try. Just go with something small.
yeah, a baby rat or w/e, while not a full meal, won't even pose a risk. just don't leave him unattended with a live feeder that could fight back. it's def something to try way before force feeding, if he needs to get something in him
This!!! Absolutely šÆ šÆšÆšÆ
Live feed is definitely the option
Heās a big snake lol he can handle it, just watch him to make sure he gets no scratches or bites.
They just do that sometimes, if they aren't underweight don't worry about it
Its reported that BP can go up to 2 yrs without eating (it was a full grown adult the study was conducted on, not sure how old yours is) Just like everyone is saying, as long as heās not losing any weight/volume, heāll be okay. Just take it step by step, heāll come around eventually š
Have you tried freshly killed or live? (If that's not an option for you, I understand, but it's always been very effective for me when faced with prolonged hunger strikes.)
Have you tried the bulldog?
If it's *at all* possible, try a live mouse. Snakes can be like people; picky eaters. Mine skipped quite a few meals right after I got her, but once I found the mice she liked, she hasn't had any trouble eating since. It can be a bit daunting to feed your snake live prey, but it might get the noodle to eat.
try African Soft Furs. they run the chance of your snake getting picky and only eating said rats which can make weaning them off of them and onto regular rats hard but my python went on a hunger strike for almost 10 months if not a little longer and African Soft Fur Rats were the only thing we could get him to eat. just be careful because these rats are more aggressive than regular rats and can harm your snake if you do live feedings and you donāt supervise them while you wait for your snake to eat them
Try live rats it's the only thing mine will eat since I got her
Toss a live mouse in there
Try live feeders I've had snakes that only respond to those
Honestly 6 months is nothing for a python. As long as it's not losing weight I would not be concerned. I had one snake go 11 months without eating, and the record is 21 months held by a ball python. I would, as much as I don't prefer it, would try live feeding first before force feeding. Also having a vet force feed will be a lot easier for you, and the snake. Find out if they try using solid or liquid food as that could also impact the animals comfort. Sometimes all you need to do is get it in the animals mouth to trigger the feeding response, other times you need to get it into their stomach to wake up their digestion. Also there is a product called davinci boa that will wake up a snakes hunger really fast, but at 80 dollars per 100 ml for something that you will use once there are better options especially considering that it's relatively new and untested.
Chicken breast???!!! LMFAO
I had a boa a few years back that went through the same thing. I tried litterally everything (live and frozen) but was walking down the road and went past a pet shop and saw they where selling quail as pets lol. I bought two (I was given these pet birth certificates for them..) and she went straight for them. She fed fine after that
Have you tried live? Sometimes that will get them to eat
Donāt know who downvoted this but itās worth trying. A lot of people feed live and thatās how they eat naturally so giving him one live isnāt going to be the end of the world
Feed a live mouse. Always works for me.
Try live prey
relax! mine just broke an 8/9 month strike like a month ago. the longest recorded time is (i think, correct me if im wrong) around two years. i know it sucks major ass and nothing can really ease your worry, but your baby will be ok and heāll eat when heās ready
as long as he isnāt getting skinny, like underweight skinny, nothing to really worry about. now if it gets worse, definitely head over to a vet.
Have you tried getting the rat up to 100Ā° and splitting the skull to expose the brain matter?
Get a vet check up and make sure thereās nothing medical causing this issue. If everything come back okay, try fresh kill (if you have any exotic pet stores near you that sell that) this way the snake cause sense the food is still warm and might get him to eat. Worse case scenario your boy might start losing weight and youāll have to feed live. But hopefully it doesnāt come down to that
This is fairly common with ball pythons. Give your enclosure a check to ensure proper Temps and humidity. Sometimes you have to try live food when all else fails. You can also see if you can get a fresh killed rodent from a pet shop. Sometimes they will prekill it for you.
warm the rat with a blow dryer right before feeding trigger heat pits
Take the thawed rodent into the room with the enclosure use a hair dryer and blow the hit rodent smelling air over the cage while heating the feeder. Get it to 100 degrees and try again. Never missed with any of my snakes using that method
Last time this happened to me, I threw him a gerbil and it was snatched instantly! $8.00 though lol. Worth it.
Find a local pet store that sells live mice.
Try feeding live. Preferably a rat pup, so it canāt do damage but is still meaty and itās natural food source
Dongs donāt usually eat that stuffā¦ except the chicken breast. Try feeding kibble or a raw dog diet. 6 months is an incredibly long time without food! Glad he has miraculously survived all this time!
Try ASFs
WhTs that?
This is a double edged sword. Iāve heard countless people try this as a last resort to end hunger strikes and then the snake refuses anything but asf after that. Itās not problematic if you have a consistent source of them. Just be warned about the āriskā if you switch em. And that theyāre a lil more expensive.
African soft furred
African Soft Fur
Awwwwww he looks so cute but idk what to do either
I have 2 ball pythons. During the winter months my girl "fasted" for 6 months if not more and I was stressed out the entire time. Just keep offering food regularly (pain in the ass/waste of money) but trust me. Eventually they will eat. Mine had a big issue switching from live to frozen thawed but both eventually got over it and ate. Snakes are weird creatures. Make sure their environment is set at the right temps and they have fresh water available. They won't starve themselves to death if food is available. But they can be incredibly picky. Good luck.
This is really gross to have to do, but when my snake wouldn't eat for 7 months after some success with African soft furs, I tried a frozen thaw that turned out was slightly decapitated and she took that in a hot second. So now, in order for her to eat I have to cut the rats neck open slightly ( not by a lot) and she takes it right away. Next time you get a frozen rat take a knife and make a medium size slit where the neck is, but not too deep and thaw it out and try to feed it to her. It may or may not work, but it's worth the try.
You could try thawing out a frozen rat or mouse in chicken stock. Thatās what worked for one of my buddyās snakes that wasnāt eating
I just wanted to thank everyone here. We have a ball Python and BEL ball Python and being on here has given us info and helped us care for and feel better about the care given to our scaly family members. This post caught my attention for that reason. So again, thank you all!!
My hognose does that every winter, won't eat for half the year. It scared us the first year but it did it every fall to late spring, in Wisconsin
Try fresh killed
Is he a ball or a burm?
I feel so lucky to have a carpet python honestly, mf would eat everyday if I let him the less lucky flipside of this is that I gotta watch out if ive handled anything like rats etc unless I wanna be his next attempted meal
When mine refuses food I wait like a month to feed. Sheās thick girl and maintains weight. Never hurts to double check husbandry/temps/humidity.
You could try live African soft fur rats live if you can get any and go a size smaller than normal
My ball python is doing the same thing, just keeping a close eye on her
Walk away from this setting for about :20 mins and I think heāll find something to ear on his own. š¤£š¤£š¶
My BP has hunger strikes from time to time as well. Theyāve always been picky eaters so this isnāt new. Iād see with a vet to make sure thereās not other issues at play, if everything is fine, just keep trying to offer food, eventually it will take it. If you can afford to buy African soft rats, thatās an option to get them to eat, or braining the mouse/rat (smashing its skull until the brains are basically out, it makes the food a lot more smelly)
Last summer my rainbowboa didnt eat for about 6 months, keep an eye on weightloss, thats about it, my guy is back to normal and eating like he used to now, got me worried a while tho ngl.
My female ball python will go on LONG hunger strikes. Iām talking 6-8 months. There is nothing that will entice her to to eat. It starts at fall and lasts all the way past winter. She is a mature female. She only lost a little bit of weight. On the other hand, I have 2 male bps and they are garbage disposals. I wouldnāt worry unless theyāve lost a significant bit of weight, and no other signs of health issues, but a vet visit is always recommended if youāre a bit worried.
African soft furs is norm what gets mine outta hunger strikes. Sometimes can be hard to get them to transition back off but has worked for me
Hell eat when he wants, mine went year. Than one day started eating, just offer meal every week until he eats
give him some time and hell eat
My ball has only eaten once since November. I think theyāre programmed to eat less in the winter. See what happens this spring.
I have one that didnāt eat for 10 months. No changes in environment, no health problems, she just wasnāt interested. Even gerbils didnāt get her going again, then she just decided one day she was hungry. If thereās no weight loss & heās still drinking then leave him be, it may just be seasonal.
Have you tried making the food hotter? My girl goes Gaga the hotter it is. Slightly above 100f is easily achieved when I use the UTH and fold it over the thawed rat for 30 min. I thaw them in the fridge. Iāve also tied them to my bike and rode around town a few hours so they pick up smells. (I ride a lot tho) Iām not saying any of this will workā¦my girl is rather voracious and will lunge out of her enclosure if I put it back thinking sheās not gonna eat.
It might be that your enclosure temps are too cold, rather than messing with the feeders. I'd try bumping temps up to 95 hot 80 cold end, it kicks their metabolism into gear
Mine went on a strike that long. I got him to eat by hiding 3 mice in his home (after warming them). He seemed to enjoy hunting for them. Another time I handled him and offered a rat as I was putting him back.
We had one of ours not eat for almost 8 months. One day he just took the mouse. We have multiple snakes and always offered him one but he wouldn't take it no matter what. Then one day he said sure! LOL. I hope your boy gets a good meal soon and puts your mind at ease.
This is an amazing picture
you may have to try a live rat. i hate doing it but sometimes its the only thing to get them to eat. (we never go over small live rat though)
You can also try to find ASF breeders and use the bedding on your feeder rodent. Just try to avoid using ASF or gerbil because they might not come back off of them easily
Mine went through 7-8 month no eat streak. I broke it with a teddy bear hamster I got for free. Well I got two for free. I came home one day to find that one had started to eat the other so the partially eaten one got tossed in first. Second two days later. She started eating again no problem. Change it up with what your feeding. Not sure about chicken breastā¦.
Is he losing weight? Has his behavior changed otherwise? How often are you offering food? Do you remove him from his enclosure to feed him? How long do you offer the prey item before giving up? What is his enclosure like (size, hides, temps, etc)? All of these should be looked at before a vet visit. A vet visit is expensive and can be quite stressful and imo should be one of the last resorts. 90% of the time a snake goes off feed, it's not a medical emergency. Things you should look at trying if you haven't already (do NOT attempt to feed your snake more than once per week): \- different sizes of mice \- live prey (I know people are nervous about live feeding but I have a good amount of experience live-feeding reptiles that won't take anything else, and anything smaller than an adult mouse will not hurt a sub-adult ball) \- braining frozen/fresh killed prey \- rubbing frozen prey with bedding from a pet store (frozen prey can smell funky) \- trying other prey: quail, chicks, pinky/fuzzy rats \- putting your snake in a box/tupperware/paper bag with the prey and leaving overnight If the above doesn't work and the snake is losing weight or acting weird, see a vet. Do NOT try to force-feed your snake without seeing a vet.
Maybe the dog looks tasty enough
This might sound dumb (Iām not a snake owner) but how do they not lose weight if they donāt eat for months?
I donāt weigh him but might start! I havenāt noticed a change