My Ball Python Won't Eat

© 2019, Brandon Cornett | All rights reserved

Key points from this article:

  • Ball pythons sometimes pass up to eat, and for a diverseness of reasons.
  • Disease, stress, and improper cage setup are the most common causes.
  • Like many snakes, ball pythons can get a long time without food.
  • If your serpent hasn't eaten for months, it's fourth dimension for some troubleshooting.
  • Effort feeding at dark, when the serpent is more active.

"Help! My ball python won't swallow whatsoever food that I offering it, and it hasn't eaten in months. What should I practise?"

Judging by the emails I receive, this is one of the most mutual concerns among ball python keepers. There are two reasons for this.

  • The commencement reason is that ball pythons (when compared to other pet snakes like corns and kings) tin exist a chip more than finicky when it comes to eating.
  • The 2d reason is that there's a lot of conflicting information on the internet regarding this subject. You read one website, and information technology says to do one thing. Just somebody in a ball pythong forum says to exercise something else.

For case, one snake keeper might have a bad feel with a ball python that won't eat — possibly considering the snake wasn't kept under the right conditions — and and so they'll make a general argument like: "Ball pythons are hard to intendance for considering they don't eat in captivity." These kinds of general assumptions have a way of spreading like wildfire across the Internet.

Let me offer a different view. I have kept several ball pythons in the by, along with various colubrid species and boas. And while the brawl pythons can be a little less predictable with their eating habits, they practice eat on a more-or-less regular ground.

Hither's what it all comes down to:

When kept nether the right weather condition, a salubrious ball python that occasionally refuses a repast will eventually eat a subsequent meal at a later date. Find the 2 key parts of that last argument. You must take a healthy snake to begin with, and you lot must keep it nether the proper conditions . When yous have these 2 things going for you, the snake will swallow eventually. You might take to go through some trial and mistake first (see beneath), but a healthy serpent will eventually consume for you lot.

When Your Ball Python Won't Eat

That'due south Gretchen in the pic below. She's one of my female ball pythons, and she is probably the most finicky eater of the agglomeration. But every bit you can tell from the photograph, she is in perfect health. Sure, there are times when she won't eat no matter what I practice. And in the by, she has gone several months without eating. But as long as she's good for you, I've learned not to sweat it anymore.

Female ball python

If a ball python won't eat (and hasn't eaten for months), there are several possible causes:

  • The snake is going into a shed cycle, or information technology'due south already in shed.
  • The ophidian is suffering from some kind of illness.
  • The cage conditions are wrong (too cold, besides hot, too pocket-sized, etc.)
  • The snake is going though a regular seasonal fasting menses.

For starters, you lot want to make sure you're providing the right conditions for your snake. And this is where some keepers get off class. Ball pythons like warmth and night. They similar to hide during the twenty-four hours and come out at night for food. If you take a salubrious specimen, and you can duplicate these ideal conditions, your ball python should consume on a fairly regular basis.

Merely what nearly those times when the snake simply won't eat — no matter what yous do? When it refuses every meal that you offer?

First of all, stay calm. This is a common scenario, and in many cases it is no cause for alarm. Sometimes brawl pythons but stop eating. Information technology might be due to a seasonal change that triggers a breeding response or a brumation type of behavior. (Even if you control the cage temperature to have the same temps year-round, your ball python could however experience seasonal changes in beliefs.)

Feeding behavior can as well alter when a ophidian reaches sexual maturity. In ball pythons, this can happen when the ophidian reaches two years of age -- or even sooner for males. (That'southward just a rough guide. It can vary.) Information technology's mutual for ball pythons to start refusing their meals when they achieve sexual maturity, even if the snake has been a "good eater" leading up to that point.

But what about those cases when a ball python hasn't eaten in months, and won't eat any of the meals you offer? Now it'due south time for some troubleshooting. And I've created a checklist to aid you through information technology...

What to Do When a Brawl Python Refuses Nutrient

Different snake keepers have different opinions on what to do when a ball python won't eat. Then the troubleshooting steps below are not the only way to handle it. These are just the steps I recommend, based on more than twenty years' experience working with these snakes.

Note: Before going through these troubleshooting steps, consider the fact that ball pythons volition sometimes fast through the wintertime. Not all of them do this, but some do. I have i that typically refuses meals for about two months out of the year, while the others basically eat year-round. Something to keep in mind!

Steps What to Do
i Offer a frozen and thawed rat of advisable size. Offer the meal after sunset, when the snake is more inclined to consume (brawl pythons are by and large nocturnal). If information technology does non eat, proceed to the adjacent stride below.
2 Double-check the snake's environment to make sure everything is platonic. Start with the temperatures. Give your brawl python a warm / basking area of around 90 degrees, with the residual of the cage being about 78 or 80 degrees.
3 Get out the snake solitary for one calendar week, and then offer another frozen / thawed rodent. Endeavour using feeding tongs to jerk the rodent in forepart of the brawl python. Make sure the nutrient item is warm (these snakes have rut-sensing pits along their jaw line). A cold rodent is a turn-off.
4 If your ball python however won't eat, you should triple-cheque its environment. Does the serpent have places to hide in its cage or habitat? This is important. Check those temps again. Make sure the snake is not in shed, as they volition generally refuse food at such times.
5 Await a week and offer some other meal, simply this fourth dimension offer a freshly killed rodent (as opposed to frozen / thawed). Try using the tongs to make it seem alive. Make the rodent "crawl" along the ground, equally if it were live. Few ball pythons tin can resist a fresh and warm rodent that shows signs of "life." If the snake won't eat the rodent, get out information technology in the cage overnight and so cheque in the morning. You lot might notice it gone!
vi If later all of this your brawl python however won't eat, you may want to scent the mouse or rat with gerbil litter (from a muzzle that contains live gerbils). Your local pet store is bound to have gerbils. Ask them for some of the used / soiled gerbil litter, and explain why you need information technology. Ball pythons love gerbils, just you don't want to get them "hooked" on gerbils unless you take to. So effort scenting a thawed or fresh rat with gerbil litter.
7 Just to dominion out the possibility of whatsoever health problems, yous may desire to brand a visit to your local vet. Endeavor to find ane who has experience working with snakes.
8 Continue in mind that ball pythons will oft fast (refuse food) during the winter, even when kept in heated cages. Then if your snake notwithstanding won't swallow later on the steps to a higher place, simply be patient but persistent. Continue to offer a meal about every two weeks. Try offering smaller rodents.
9 If your ophidian is all the same refusing meals, it might be time to offer a alive rodent. This should be your last resort, and you volition accept to supervise the procedure. Never exit a alive rodent in a snake'south cage unattended. The rodent tin turn the tables and attack the snake (especially rats, which can be quite aggressive). If the ball python won't eat the live casualty item, you lot'll have to remove the rodent for safe reasons.
x If your brawl python hasn't eaten a meal for months, and information technology is kickoff to lose weight, you might want to offering it a gerbil. Preferably, it would be a humanely killed gerbil. Y'all should only offer a live gerbil equally a concluding resort, and keep a close heart on it. Information technology bears repeating: Alive rodents can harm snakes. Ball pythons typically become very excited well-nigh gerbils. So it might be merely what you demand to become them back into a feeding routine.

So there you have it, a 10-step troubleshooting guide for a ball python that won't eat and hasn't eaten in weeks or months. Proficient luck!