Bp Won't Eat

[monster]

My bp looks in healthy condition and is quite active, but he refuses to eat. Almost 2 months ago, I bought some mice to feed him and he didn't eat them. There have been times where I'd just leave the mice and he'd eat them in a couple days, so that's what I did, but he never ate them and then went into shedding. I was fed up with the mice and just decided to leave them until he shed, and he shed normally, ate one of the mice and left the second one. He never ate the second one, so I returned it to the store. Since then he will no longer eat a mouse. I feed him live mice. I fed him live rats a couple times and he ate them a couple times but then he wouldn't eat a fairly large rat, and since then won't go near a rat. My snake seems very picky doesn't he?.. Also, he doesn't like to eat thawed mice, or never used to. So what should I do?.. I don't have a clue. I know bps can last a fairly long time without eating so I'm not in a panic yet, but just need suggestions as I have no clue what to do next. I was thinking about trying to give him a gerbel, but I heard that they can get addicted to those, and that would suck since gerbel's are expensive. Please don't be mad, I'm still learning! By the way, my BP is almost 3 years old, and 3.5-4 feet long. Thanks for your help!

[TailsW/Scales]

I don't know about anyone else but I need to hear of your setup. What is the setup of the BP's enclosure???
What temps are you keeping it at????

Let me know. I hope I can help you. :)

[ToddBecker]

My greatest concern I see with your brief and vague description of your situation is the fact that you are feeding live rodents to your ball python and leaving them in the cage for days on end. It is no wonder your snake will not eat regularly. He is probably stressed out to the point that he will not eat. If you must feed live then the snake and the rodent must be under constant monitoring. Even with monitoring I would not leave a rodent in with a snake for more then 30 minutes or so. An unattended mouse or rat can kill a snake. I have seen pics of a large boa that had hundreds of bites from a large rat. The snake was eaten alive from its dinner. You need to do a lot of research on the proper husbandry and care for your snake if you plan on having it survive your neglect. It is amazing that it hasn't suffered any injury yet. Have you closely examined your snake for wounds and bite marks. If he has been bit by a rat then there is a good chance that he is traumatized by them and will never eat them again. I strongly suggest that once you get him on a regular feeding schedule that you switch him over to f/k or f/t prey. Besides what I stated, like the previous poster said, What is the set up like including temps, humidty, number and location of hides. The more info you provide the more accurate someone can help you.
Todd

[The Snake Guru]

Indeed I have to agree with Todd, leaving live rodents in the cage with the snake unattended is the biggest "no-no" there is, the amount of damage a rodent on the rampage can do is staggering, I've seen snakes that have had thier skin peeled almost like an onion, just aweful. If you are going to leave prey items in overnight please switch to Frozen/Thawed.

That said, Ball pythons (especially males) tend to go through these little phases where they go off feed for months at a time, I've got a Male right now that is 2 1/2 months from his last meal, it can be nerve racking but they usually come back around eventually.....if he was eating well before, I'm sure he will eat well again, something you might want to try is smaller than normal prey items, such as, my BP usually takes F/T Medium rats, however when he goes into this little seasonal fast I have used small rats or mice and can usually get him to take at least one or 2 during the fasting time.

As for the Gerbils, they are a great way to break a nonfeeding BP, however if you go this route be prepared to offer Gerbils for the rest of thier life....I've had BPs that once they have had Gerbil will eat nothing but Gerbils from that day fourth. Sometimes they switch back, sometimes not just one of those things.

But I would say if he was eating normally and everything before he should back around.

Also bumping up the cage temperatures a little may help snap him out of it....say around 86 to 87 degrees for the coolside 90s hot side.

~B~