Does your ball python wheeze or have mucous in its mouth?

Does your ball python appear to have parasites? Indeed many will be ravenous and will seem to always be hungry for the first few weeks after the end of their fast. Good luck! I’ve been trying every 3 days. The point here is that if any UK ball (royal) python owners find this article and are still struggling with what the problem is, it may simply be the normal seasonal pattern. Snakes are like zombies, brain makes it smell more appealing. If you are in any doubt about your pet python you must take it to an experienced reptile vet as soon as possible.

The female ball pythons will go into fasting when developing and holding eggs, gravid. Since he’s in a new environment should I wait until he’s more comfortable with the new set up? But somebody in a ball pythong forum says to do something else.

A few of the most helpful things to do include: Snakes in poor health will often refuse food. And, you might have a hard time providing it with something similar or close to what it was used to feeding on in the wild. Filed Under: Ball Python Daily Life, Ball Python Pet Care, Breeding, Environment, Feeding, Handling, Illness, Shedding, Snake Facts. They’re not just beautiful; they’re also typically docile, reasonably-sized and very forgiving. The first question to ask yourself therefore is whether your snake is coming up to moult.

Preferably, it would be a humanely killed gerbil. Privacy policy. Getting the right temperature and humidity is also essential in having your snake digest its food, defecate and shed properly.

However, it’s not uncommon to hear that a healthy ball python has gone for months without eating.

In fact, this is part of the reason it is so important to begin with captive-bred individuals – wild-caught individuals are almost always more difficult to feed than their captive-bred counterparts. I have a BP too, named Charlie. If your snake is still refusing meals, it might be time to offer a live rodent. If your snake is healthy and his habitat is well-designed, he may simply be fasting. The intention of this article is to look at some of the most common reasons; and what you can do to coax them into eating again. It is kinda gross to do, but it works. Is this too much? It's common for ball pythons to start refusing their meals when they reach sexual maturity, even if the snake has been a "good eater" leading up to that point. So while many pet snakes will be happy with a temperature of around 25’C (give or take) my ball pythons seem to like it considerably warmer.

What do ball pythons eat? Snakes experience the world largely through their sense of smell, which means that it is often possible to entice them into eating a non-typical prey species, by making it smell like something more appealing. And while the ball pythons can be a little less predictable with their eating habits, they do eat on a more-or-less regular basis. However, as discussed, there are also a range of environmental factors that can prevent pythons of feeding; such as cool conditions, a lack of security or a preference for a certain prey item. Adult ball pythons have been reported to go without food for over a year, so if your adult ball python has not eaten in a couple of months, but still looks healthy and isn’t overly thin, try not to worry too much, as he or she will likely not starve any time soon. I experienced this maddening issue firsthand.

In other words, another solution if your ball python refuses to eat is to consider warming up one end of their cage to see if this kicks them into action. Unfortunately, this can cause some specimens will refuse both domestic mice and domestic rats. First of all, stay calm. If you have offered your ball python a frozen and thawed rodent, rechecked the prey size to ensure that it’s the right size for them, offered the meal at night and in the right environment and temperature, left it alone for some days then offered a meal again and still he won’t eat, now it’s time for the three last attempts. If this doesn’t work, you can offer your snake another type of rodents, such as a gerbil, hamster or multimammate mouse. After 15 years of keeping and breeding ball pythons I’d like to talk through some suggestions for how to deal with the situation of a ball python that won’t feed. He is VERY picky about when he eats. Truth is, adult ball pythons, that is one year old plus, can usually go for a while (10-14 days) till their next meal. Instead of a mouse, I gave him a rat, and he had such an awesome feeding response that it made me jump. They’re not just beautiful; they’re also typically docile, reasonably-sized and very forgiving. However, do not leave your snake in a cage with a live rodent unattended. All the best! Almost all of our baby snakes are kept in plastic boxes on heated racks in a temperature and light controlled room so the shipping and new set up can be quite a shock to a baby ball python. However every super hero has their “Kryptonite” – and for ball pythons this is a frustrating reluctance to eat sometimes.