My 1+ yr old BP is not eating!

[Grimslade]

I purchased 2 Ball Pythons about a month ago from a reliable pet store. One is male over a year (that is the one I am having issues with) and the other unknown sex under probably six months (about 12"-16" long). Both are settled into their new home nicely. Humidity and temps are good. They both have their own feeding "boxes", so I do not think there is an issue there or with their home.
Both are handled daily and love it! The littlest one is eating like a champ! She (we think it is a she) is eating F/T mice and loving it! She has shed twice in a month and has not missed a feeding.
The older male has no interest in food at all. I have tried rats and mice. All but one were F/T, but one rat I fresh killed for him. He just finished shedding this week, so I was thinking that might be it. I was told that he eats a rat (small) once every other week, so we are talking about missing only 2 feedings so far. The pet store said that he was eating live rats, but I am trying to avoid that if possible (yeah I know it is not my world it is his).
Can anyone give me some advice to get him to eat F/T? Should I just give up on the F/T? Is there something else that I should/could be doing? I am all ears!

[huntx7]

Ball pythons go on hunger strikes. Nothing to worry about if everything seems fine.

[irishsnakes]

huntx7 is right on. my 4 yr old ball eats when he's in the mood and he hasn't for about 2 months.nothing to worry about unless it becomes obvious that he's losing weight. if i worried everytime a ball wouldn't eat i'd be schitzing constantly.

[gemisnake]

As long as the snake isnt so thin that it is imperative for it to eat immediately then do not switch from frozen. I would suggest NOT handling your ball python every day if he is not eating, that is too much stress for a ball python. Unfortunately you may be in for a tough time because many ball pythons, especially males, do not feed in the fall and winter months. It is just a waiting game. Take him to see a reptile vet if you think he might have parasites or if he starts to show signs of something being wrong. Otherwise just leave him alone more often during the cooler months and wait it out, he should be fine, they can go a long time without food if they are healthy! Good luck!

[unluckyseventeen]

Wait wait wait.... if I am reading this right, are these two housed in the same tank?

[gemisnake]

Oh, I read their own boxes and though it meant their own cages! Yes, if housed together you should really seperate them. They will not have formed a bond with each other that you need to worry about, they will only be stressing each other out!

[JennC]

Older male balls normally go off feed for the winter...My big guy jsut went off for 5 weeks!!! I JUST got him to eat on Thursday.

My Advice:

Dont offer him ANY food for about 2-3 weeks, on the 3rd week, warm up his food really good and put him in a covered box for about a half hour. If he doesnt eat, then try again in another 3 weeks

Best of luck..I no exactly how your feeling. Unless he starts losing weight, there is nothing to worry about

[JennC]

and P.S DONT go to live unless you MUST! For the sake of the snake, keep trying to feed him f/t every 3 weeks as i suggested above

[Grimslade]

1st I would like to thank you all for your replies it really has helped!

To answer Unlucky17 yes they are both in the same tank. They seem (as far as I can tell) to like each other very much. Even when they are out of the tank they both will head toward one another and "cuddle" (for lack of a better word). They were both in the same tank when I purchased them at the pet store (and both where eating well). That is why I was perplexed.

I will try the 3 week plan and then if that does not work maybe another tank. I will keep you all posted. Thanks again!!!

[JennC]

Good Luck

[louise]

best of luck to you.

[leerankin]

best thing to do with royals is seperate them as snakes aren't socialable animals and it could have something to do with that as well as the ocassional fastings royals do
snakes don't share the emotions we do,the cuddling up etc could be preference to a hide and both want to get closer to the hot/cool spot and petshop keep royals together to save viv space etc and it could do more harm than good in some cases particularly in imported royals
all the best in getting your royal python feeding again
to get the royal to eat F/T try heating up the mice in warm water for a few seconds to bring the heat up a bit
lee

[unluckyseventeen]

Yes, I would also separate these two as soon as you can for a number of reasons.

1. When one of them gets sick, they both get sick. In turn this could lead to some major health issues and I think I'd want to dodge that if I was in this situation.

2. How are you going to track which one deficates? This can lead to mixing them up and not even knowing which is having what kind of activity, and can also lead to major health issues.

3. Issues of aggression could occur, which could also lead to health problems. Such as, submissive and agressive behavior over basking spots, hides and water supplies. This is not good for a mental, and sometimes physical health of either snake.

4. Assuming the unknown sex snake is a female, when they pass the whole juvenile phase they could start breeding before the female is ready. If this happens your female could get VERY sick and possibly die simple because she won't have the bulk to carry that many babies at one time. When they are gravid they need to be able to go off feed for almost 4 months, which would also mean you'd need to bulk her up so she could last during that span of time.

I'd get these two separated right away.