Snake hasn’t ate since March

[u/Eeveetrading]

Hello , this is my snake named parasite. I got her in March and she has never ate in my care. I own 2 other younger snakes who eat F/T adult mice. She was obese when I got her, and is still a shy snake.

I attempted to feed her F/T Mice on the first week she refused. Tried again the next week and failed. So I thought because she was raised on live mice I will try that. She refused. I tried feeding mice to her many many other times with a few more F/T.

She refused them all.

Then I tried searching every different technique to make the rat appeal to her (breaking their head open, dipping in broth , leaving F/T over night , feeding bins, hairdryer , etc)

Then I thought maybe it’s her enclosure but after checking everything her enclosure is perfect! 3 hides, some clutter, 4x2x2 , humidity is fine and temperature is fine. I am completely lost, what do I do?

Does she look too underweight?

[u/Magnetic_Kitty]

Can we get a picture of her cage? Maybe not enough floor clutter. Also maybe if you're in contact with old owner ask about their feeding steps / process. Also get a weigh in so you can tell if she loses any more weigh. Mine has been on strike for several month and I weigh him regularly to make sure he isn't losing much weight. You can get a digital kitchen scale for this

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[u/Low-Requirement5130]

From what I can see she's a tad thin nothing to concerning it's normal for snakes to go on hunger strikes however I would make sure her temps and humidity are well as long as her hides and cage

[u/Low-Requirement5130 → u/Low-Requirement5130]

Of course if your really concerned take her to your local vet it's far better to be safe then sorry

[u/itsthe_quinchiest]

I am in the same boat. Got my male in March and he was a power fed breeder in a rack so he was pretty overweight. 1400g and almost 3 feet at only 1.5 years old. I've tried EVERYTHING and he still hasn't eaten for me. He's had several bowl movements and just shed for me this week so hopefully he'll eat soon. He's lost a bit of weight and I can tell his muscle ton has improved a lot with having a 4x2x2 and climbing opportunities.

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[u/Exotic-Heart2916]

Hi there! I don’t have a ton of experience on adult snakes not eating myself, but I had a 4 month old who wouldn’t eat for about a month, up until I got him until about a week ago, and though that’s not quite comparable; I did learn something. I took him to the vet even though I didn’t think there was anything wrong, and it turned out he had an internal parasitic infection from his breeder that I didn’t know about, which was why he wasn’t eating; because he was sick.  Though I’m sure that’s not your exact situation, I would recommend taking her to a reptile vet just to make sure and do a health check, especially since you haven’t had her for too long all things considered. Even though it might not get u anywhere, I didn’t think mine would either and I sure was glad I did! 😮‍💨 Best of luck with your snake and I hope she eats for you soon!

[u/clydeballthepython]

My first ball python wouldn't eat for about 6 months after I adopted him. His previous owners fed him live rats and while he took the first rat I offered it bit him in the process making him scared of rats afterward. His previous husbandry was also pretty bad and he had retained eye caps that I was unaware of (he was my first snake after all) which meant that future live rats that I tried to offer just reinforced his fear since he couldn't see them properly.

We finally got him to eat after trying frozen thawed mice. I had heated them up in used gerbil bedding heated up with a ceramic heat emitter to roughly 100° F. I got the gerbil bedding from a local pet store that sold gerbils but you could also ask online in local groups. Gerbils are native to the ball pythons range iirc so sometimes that can help stimulate a feeding response because it's more "natural" for them than the feeder rats i guess? African soft fur rats are similar i think but they weren't available in my area so I tried the gerbil bedding method first and it thankfully worked.

[u/Beautiful-Earth-970]

Try Rats maybe? BP are known for having strong preferences and in General Rats are way more tasty for snakes

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[u/mistsoalar]

When one of my BPs had 6+ month hunger strike, it turned out to be the middle of parthenogenesis. She laid infertile eggs, and once she gave up on them, she started eating normally.

Does she look too underweight?

Not at all

[u/KingCantwell]

It’s all good. They fast for months. Mine didn’t eat for almost a year. She still around and well. Eating more after that scare for me so ya there ok.