Orange ball python won't eat

[Duckboy]

We have an Orange Ghost Ball Python that is about six months old. He has only ever eaten frozen mice or rats. For the last several weeks he has not been interested in eating. He still has a healthy weight, behaves normally and looks good. I have been suggesting that we put a live mouse in there to see if the snake might be interested in it, but I am being told that because the snake has only eaten frozen food he wouldn't know how to deal with something running around the enclosure. This seems off to me. Don't snakes have instincts to eat live rodents? What should we do?

[lady_bug87]

What is your enclosure like? What are your temps and humidity? How are you measuring them? How are you feeding it?

It's breeding season so it's common for boys to lose interest in food.

If he looks good and isn't losing weight I wouldn't go right to live. Eliminate all handling and wait it out offering the same meal every 5-7 days

Yes it would know how to kill a live rat.

[Aaron_S]

As Lori said it's not uncommon for males to go off food right now. Ball pythons in general can easily go off eating for whatever reason.

She is also correct in that the snake will know how to kill a live prey item. They come out of the egg, no matter captive or not, capable of hunting and killing what they need to survive.

[drumcrush]

My dad bp has been off feed for about 2-3 months. He does this every year during winter.

[Duckboy]

Thanks for the info. The snake is my daughter's and she is very stubborn to listen to me. It has been quite a few years since my days of keeping reptiles and I felt I should seek out some more experienced advice, especially when it comes to such a beautiful snake as this one is. I'm going to make sure that the enclosure is proper and the temp/humidity are correct as well. I'm not sure how my daughter is keeping an eye on that.

Thanks again for the advice.

[drumcrush]

Thanks for the info. The snake is my daughter's and she is very stubborn to listen to me. It has been quite a few years since my days of keeping reptiles and I felt I should seek out some more experienced advice, especially when it comes to such a beautiful snake as this one is. I'm going to make sure that the enclosure is proper and the temp/humidity are correct as well. I'm not sure how my daughter is keeping an eye on that.

Thanks again for the advice.

I know how you feel, I basically have to take care of my brothers corn snake like it was my own cause he doesn't pay attention to it -.-

[IW17]

My Male ball hasn't eaten since Oct. He's just now starting to roam his cage "hunting" for food. This is my clue every winter that he's done fasting and ready to start eating. This happens every winter, especially since I moved to a northern climate.