They done made rat nuggets 😒🙄

this is Schgetti we just got him he is 7 month old we gave him his first meal on Saturday he hid in his cool hide for almost 48 hrs after eating and just came out. this is his belly just over 48 hrs was the rat too big it was a live rat pup which is what the breeder said he had been eating no problem. Yes I am aware of the spider on him that is his buddy meatball.

edit: i tried frozen he refused and it is because all he has had his whole life is live. The spider moved in and it is a bio active set up and s far the spood likes the gnats and the occasional cleanup crew snack. temp stays around 85 day and 73 night humididy about 45-50 day and 70-80 night

So I bought snek from pet store, which I know is generally not the move, but she was doing really great. NEVER refused a f/t meal. The shop had her on mice, but she transitioned to rats no problemo!

I screwed up, man. Usually I thaw in the fridge for 12-24h then set under a ceramic heater for 15-20m, turning once. Well, I missed my timer and the damn thing was probably under there over an hour. Didn't feel too hot, so I was like, this is fine! This is totally fine.

At some point she struck and the rat exploded. I wasn't there to witness the big event but when I stepped in to check on the feed there was a bloody rat ass stuck to the front of the terrarium and my snake was balled up in the back like she needed a foil blanket and her mommy.

I let her be with her thoughts after cleaning up the rat bomb and tried feeding her the next day. No interest. A week later I tried again, and she struck but did not attempt to eat. Then she started going into shed, and I decided to order some day-old chicks and colossal mice (old breeders, bigguns) so we'd have options. She had a nice easy shed 2 days ago, I offered her a chick yesterday and she was THRILLED. Nom nom, happy snek.

I'm realizing now that I probably should have used the opportunity to try another rat, but well, I didn't. Honestly I just wanted to see her eat SOMETHING to ease my own anxiety about it, which is a little silly because it's been less than a month since her previous successful meal.

At last weigh in she was 414g, last weighed just prior to her last successful rat meal. Don't know her age. Pet store lists the birthdate as 3/8/26, but she's too big for that.

I could just feed her chicks/mice? The chicks are a bit small for her (29-36g) but the mice are a good range (44-65g). I could just alternate weekly feeds with chicks and the larger mice? How important is it to reintroduce rats? I have almost a year's supply of food here if I just do chicks and mice.

Hi everyone!

So unfortunately I work with a 52year old ball python who was unfortunately diagnosed with advanced cancer- I will be euthanizing him next week :(

However, his last scheduled feed is this Tuesday- I want to make it super special if I can! I’m reaching out to some local feeders to get some ASFs but was wondering if anyone else had any ideas for some fun prey items to offer! (He still has a great appetite!) He’s 1900g and eats mostly XL mice and weaned rats (very picky boy)!
Is this worth doing or do you think it would cause more harm than good?
Thanks in advance for all advice and suggestions!

Photo of a lady I work with for tax!

I got Marshmallow out today for the first time a couple weeks since I’ve been busy and noticed she’s gotten heavier bodied and she has a few wrinkles…is she fat or about the right weight?She eats an adult rat every 2 weeks. This is my first ball python so I’m still figuring out what healthy weight for them looks like so I appreciate any input! (I also am unsure of her age but I’ve had her about 7 months since and not even 100 percent sure on her gender) Also bonus picture of blepblepblep

Hello 👋

I recently moved to Florida and I'm having no luck finding any ASF anywhere. None of the pet stores have any live or frozen and all the websites I've checked are all sold out. My gal will not eat anything else and they have to be large or she won't want anything to do with it, so I'm struggling at this point and she hasn't eaten in a while.

Do you guys know of any websites that have the large frozen in stock or any pet stores near Jacksonville FL? I'm willing to drive a ways if I have to.

I also plan on going back to breeding them myself very soon if anyone knows where I can get a breeding pair or two.

Pic of picky gal in question

I got my BP back in November, he was an adult previously used for breeding, weighed about 1600g, and was eating frozen thawed small rats every two weeks. Ever since I've had him, he has not eaten, though he has shed twice and pooped twice. Ive tried:

-rats, mice, asf

-feeding in enclosure

-feeding out of enclosure

-hair dryer trick

-leaving food overnight

-braining rat

-adjusting temps and humidity (currently 90f and 70%)

-adding clutter

-removing clutter

-changing substrate

-taking him to vet, who said he seems fine medically, and suggested declutterring his enclosure and getting a slate rock for basking

-getting a slate rock for basking

He often inspects his food, and then just goes off in another direction. He is very active at night, climbing all around his enclosure.

I feel like im out of options, I feel like i should try feeding him live just to get him to eat something, but it pains me to do it.

What should I do? Im starting to get really scared.

I got this handsome little man in August (he’s 7 years old) and I’ve so far been feeding him chicken, since the people at the pet store I bought him from said he’s a picky eater and didn’t want mice.

My dad hunts deer and one of my friends asked if I could potentially try feeding him deer meat.

Is this something I could do (after it’s been frozen for a bit and reheated) ?

I’ve dealt with hunger strikes before, my brother’s BP went almost 6 months after getting him before eating, but during that time, he showed zero interest in the rats we offered him. My sweet dumb Mochi hasn’t eaten since before I got him, last feeding date was march 27 with his breeder. I’ve tried feeding him 4 times now, and he does the same thing each time. He sniffs the rat for a solid 10 minutes+ and then ignores it until I end up throwing it out after leaving him alone with it for a few hours. He was super active today so I tried feeding him again, same thing as usual. I’ve tried tong feeding each time before setting it down, I make sure the rat is warm, and he seems interested until he just doesn’t eat it. He has gone from 230 grams on April 10th (the day I got him) down to 219 grams on May 22nd (last time I weighed him). I understand BPs are notorious for their hunger strikes, but it just feels weird that he’s shown interest and then decided not to eat anyway. Any advice or should I just continue to wait it out until he finally decides to be hungry enough to eat?

Hello,I am from The Netherlands and have Banana BP who is about to turn 1 yr old in few months, I have two questions regarding feeding rules, 1) Is it illegal to feed live mice to ball python? I couldn’t find much information about this on the internet. 2) If there is any information about it could anyone share it with me?

I took in a small BP that has no eyes. It’s been two weeks since he’s been in his enclosure so I tried to feed him. He wasn’t interested at all. I’m assuming it’s just a little too early still. But I am worried his eyesight (lack thereof) messing with his eating ability. His other senses should be enough to let him know there’s food, right? I just want to give him the best life I can. He was on a clearance table at a show. Should I wait another week?

Picture 1 is 5 months ago while picture 3 is today. As you can see she hasn’t lost much weight so far but I’m still worried.

Temperatures are okay, her day heat lamp went out so I need to get a new one. Before that I had the problem of it getting too hot so I’ll be making sure to get a less powerful bulb. Her cold side is only 76 F tho which is too hot I believe? Not sure what to do about that. Humidity is good I make sure to pour water consistently. Her shed is coming up so I’m hoping maybe that will help??

The past couple times I offered she immediately stuck her head out and looked very interested, even getting into striking position, but still no dice. I’m hoping maybe once her eye caps come off she’ll be able to see more clearly. She’s always had these weird cracks on her eyes which I thought were stuck eye caps but even when her eye caps came off the cracks remained.

While I’m aware snakes can go very long periods on time without food I just wanted to check on here again to see if there’s anything I’m doing wrong that I can fix.

Has anyone had this issue with a bp before? He’s not my first by any means but the first Iv had with this specific eating issue. He has an excellent feeding response and is out and ready as soon as I enter the room with a f/t rat. He will strike and throw coils with not hesitation every time, but then lets go and barely attempts to eat. Iv tried over warming the rodent, offering different sizes, drying with a hair dryer, feeding with the lights off, and feeding late at night so the house is completely silent with no distractions. But almost every morning when I check to see if he’s eaten the rat/ mouse is just laying there and he’s retreated to his hide. Or, he’s lying on it in his hide 🫠 he's had many successful feedings and a few concecuativly but it's never consistent. He's small for his age but not under weight and in time he will eventually eat. But I'm so tired of him stressing me out, giving me hope, and then wasting food 🙄

This is long, my apologies, we've tried so many different things and are at our wits end. I'm writing all the things we've tried that didn't work so hopefully someone can recommend a new approach.

We got Morticia (Tish) in the 3rd week of January. She's a Pastel Pinstripe and hatched around late October My boyfriend has kept snakes for almost 20 years (his 24yo rescue ball died on Christmas Day 💔 of age related issues) including some very hard to keep snakes, and he knows we'll what he's doing (I'm new to this) Tish is lovely, curious and energetic (as far as snakes go) with a couple bouts of "zoomies" each day, not overly shy or overly spicy. And would really be considered 'happy' & healthy in every way

Except She will not eat.

We gave her about a week to settle in before the first feed attemp, and continued to offer food every couple of days over the next 10 days but nothing.

The boyfriend has force fed her 2 times since we got her because at 3&4 months old we were too worried about her going 2½-3 weeks + between meals 😓 After the first force feed she shed within about 10 days or so, and we did not bother her during that obviously.

We have frozen thawed food, have tried small mice and rat pups. We have tried warm water defrosting, fridge defrosting, room/counter defrosting, combined with warm water to warm it then drying with paper towels, laying it on a hot water bottle, putting it in front of the fire (I just read about the hairdryer method, I will try that next), we have opened the skull slightly to get the scent of brains, opened the chest to expose the heart, almost everything. We have wiggled it, held it still, laid it on the basking rock, put her in a separate container with only the mouse, daytime, evening, nighttime feedings. Tried when she's already out explain exploring, tried when she's in one of her hides, everything we can think of (except live feeding because it's very hard for us to get them) Even tried nudging her with it until she was pissed off enough to strike so she if she'd bind

She shows interest sometimes, sometimes she strikes out of fear/annoyance, but literally just bangs it and his back to strike position. One time she did almost eat but she had her head cocked at a weird angle and I think she cut off circulation because after a minute or so she went completely slack (like she passed out) then dropped it and slithered away 🤦🏻‍♀️🤦🏻‍♀️🤦🏻‍♀️

She's at a healthy weight if a little small (165g) but she's not skinny, and has grown since we got her, but I'm just really concerned about this and I HATE forcing her to feed (which is why we have only done it 2x 3ish weeks apart) -- before you come at me for this I trust my boyfriend he's had to do this before with other snakes, so while unpleasant she was not harmed and her jaws are fine. When it has come to that we've specifically used a smaller mouse/rat that is a good bit smaller than what she can take (if she wanted to)

Her vivarium holds around 65-75% humidity - though I kept it a bit higher when she was shedding - her warm side is set to 31(87.8f) her dry hide is 31c & 40-60% humidity - her wet hide is holds around 22(71.5f) and 80-90% humidity Her substrate is mostly cocoa and a bit of Aspen, the pants are real, in buried in containers that can be taken out and cleaned. Her vivarium is cleanand there's no decaying plant matter in there. She was staying in behind her plants in the coldest corner for a while, but I had no thermometer back there so I don't know exact temperature, and it was very damp. I was worried about mold growth and fungal lung infection/rot/health problems so I ended up blocking it up, since then she pretty much stays in her wet hide and comes out to bask for a while each day.

I don't take her out too often <1x week (and didn't take her out at all the first couple weeks except for health checks, then straight back in) Other than misting to keep up the humidity and changing the water (and of course feeding attempts) I don't bother her or open the viv.

Is her vivarium too warm maybe? She seems to prefer the cooler side and only likes to lay and bask for a while each day. Should I put more stuff (fake plants maybe) on the warm side?

Sorry this was so long, just wanted to explain what we've tried... Which is ... A LOT Here's a couple photos of my spicy danger noodle and her vivarium.

I’ve decided to start ordering food for my boy online, because I’ve been spending 9 dollars on a rat every month and I realized that was bs. My question is should I also get some birds or something to add sone variation to his diet? I know that sone people do this for other snakes but is it a bad idea for ball pythons because of their tendency to be picky? Would it be beneficial to him if I could get him eating different things or is it pointless?

hi! just successfully fed my new 6yr old bp for the first time on thursday (it’s monday now) and he’s been acting different than usual ever since. when i come near him he’s tracking my movements and in an S shape and very alert. also sniffing a LOT. when i fed him i did drop the mouse a couple times in his tank - is he smelling that and expecting more food? is he stressed out? he did shed between the feed and now. he’s only doing this at night - sleeping normally during the day. i just want to make sure he’s chill and that being alert like this isn’t stressful for him. in the video pictured he’d been on the ground of his enclosure looking outside of his hide until i came by and he raised right up to meet me.

I got her on the 10th of May and she hasn't eaten once since, she was roughly 9 months old when I got her ans the store owner told me she was eating regularly once a week

​

After getting her I haven't toucher her for a week and an half to give her time to adjust to the new environment, I then started handling her in short 5/10 minute sessions once every 48/72 hours while making sure to never pull her out of her hide or make her feel stressed in any way, all seemed good and she looked rather curious and calm while outside of her enclosure as she slithered around left and right on top of my desk

​

At this point I had tried to give her food once but she refused it opting to hide after smelling the rat

​

She definitely noticed it as her tongue flicks became a lot more frequent and seemed on high alert, still she then went into hiding for the day even tho the rat was at the right temperature and definitely smelled like one(I even bought a laser gun to check temps)

​

After that she started shedding, and for the whole shedding period(counting even the pink days so for around 12 days) she never left her hide, the most she'd do was poke here head outside of the warm hide and head back inside after an hour or two of this, refusing to eat even on my second and third attempt at feeding her(2nd time she hid deep inside as I was preparing the rat and didn't want to disturb her, 3rd time she just checked the rat from close up before putting her neck and head back into the hide after she was done with it)

​

And then we get to today, she finished shedding 4 days ago and today she went out of her hide for the first time in 16~17 days, she then proceeded to get back into her hide after noticing how I was walking around the enclosure to prepare her rat, at this point I was mildly tilted as this was the last mice I owned, so for the first time I took her from inside the hide and placed her on a rock beside it, I presented the rat to her and once again, she noticed it, got closer, and then decided to ignore it and got back into her hide

​

I tried again this time removing her hide completely and she just nonchalantly slithered in her cold one

​

I am aware that Bps are notorious for their hunger strikes but I can't shrug off the feeling that I'm doing something wrong, she is young and I'm worried for her health as she is refusing to eat, I now have to buy more mice for her(just to clarify it is the same type she was eating without any issue at the pet shop) and I'm honestly pretty mad about it, I hate to throw the away because a mice had to die, what am I supposed to do?

​

Everything in her enclosure is following the sub guidelines

Hi everyone,

I brought home a new banana clown ball python recently and I’m having some trouble getting him to take his first meal. I’ve tried feeding him three times now (spaced out), and his behavior is confusing me.

Attempt 1: Zero interest. Completely ignored it.

Attempt 2: Showed some interest and tongue-flicked. I left it overnight, but he didn't eat it.

Attempt 3 (Last night): He seemed super locked-in. He
came partially out of his hide, was tongue-flicking heavily, and was even rubbing/pushing his snout against the rat. But he wouldn't strike. I left it right at his hide entrance, and he literally just hovered his head over the rat for two full hours without doing anything. I eventually took it out before bed.

I heat the prey up well, but after two hours of him hovering, it definitely went cold. I even tried a quick reheat with a hairdryer last night, but he just went back to hovering.
Is he just taking a long time to settle in, or is this "hovering loop" a sign of something else? He clearly smells it and wants it, but won't pull the trigger.

Setup details for context:
Enclosure type: 40 gallon glass (36x18x18)
Warm side ambient/surface temp: 86-88
Cool side ambient temp: 75-76
Humidity: [e.g., 70-80%]
Prey item: F/T Rat pup (warmed up)

Also note from breeder:
“His last three meals have been rats—live pup, frozen thawed pup, and then last night live weaned rat. He did refuse the frozen rat pup he was first offered, then slammed the live one. He will always take mice, live or frozen thawed, and apparently is now happy to eat live rats”

Any insights on how to get him past the hovering phase would be amazing! Also would it be better to try live or just stick with trying to F/T rat?

Also in the picture he is in blue but he shed a few days after I got him, all in one piece.

Hello everyone, Im in need of help again. Today I was gonna feed Tiramisu their rat (frozen thawed) I always leave it in a bowl of room temperature water to warm it up before offering them to my bp, but these time my brother’s cat took the rat with the bag, and started running away with it when I caught him, and had to struggle with him so he would let it go. The rat itself doesn’t seem to have been punctured, but the bag was torn apart when he bit it and when I was yanking it away from his mouth. Can I still feed the rat to my snake, or is it safer to throw it away and buy another one to feed my snake tomorrow? Photo tax included.

Was told string bean was born last December and was already eating frozen mice when i got him… then when i got him he was severely underweight and dehydrated (75 grams when he shouldve been at the very least 90-100g) figured out when he wasn’t eating frozen that he wasnt fed at all. Breeder wasnt any help and kept giving really weird advice (like heating the rat up to 200° F (????)) and was also saying he was feeding full mice and large rat pups when that was way too big for Bean at the time. Hes been eating live consistently but not transitioning to frozen at all.

Hes struck twice at two different frozen but has let go both times. Ive stopped feeding him for 2-3 weeks now and have offered frozen twice to no avail. Hes the only time he’s interested in the rat is when its 150°+ but when it cools down in around a minute, he drops interest. Idk. I knew they were picky but i thought i was careful enough to find a good one because they guy had great reviews but i guess not

Still working on getting Stringbean to eat and whenever she has refused I’ve just refreezed the rat and tried again on a different day. Some of them have burst to which I then stop using those ones (obviously) but I’m wondering how many reuses is too many. Like should I trash it after three or keep going until it pops? Also am I gonna waste all these rats on a snake that won’t eat??? I want to give her the chance to eat again especially seeing these past couple tries she’s shown more interest in the rat but I also don’t want to flush 100 bucks down the toilet.

I’m sorry if this didn’t make sense I wasn’t entirely sure how to word it.

EDIT: Okay no refreezing got it. When I asked before about Stringbean not eating a lot of people said “try again later” and I interpreted that as try again with the same rat. Is there really no way to avoid wasting all that money though??? These rats weren’t cheap :(

So i had a post last night about this python and i still have some unanswered questions but i have made some updates i just failed to mention it lol so like i changed the housery i removed the long log and added a moss I also home made a plastic box house for her so she can go hid. I seen some hate on the don julio being in there I personally thinks the snake likes to go chill and wrap around the lid and warm up my light bulb is 150W but the picture only goes up to 100W. when she was going thru her stuck shed i helped her by putting her in a box with a warm towel(steam bath) it helped a little i’m also CONCERNED because she hasn’t been eating but left 2 stinky rocks ones is white and other is green i also been misting the enclosure whenever I can but she still refuses to eat im prepared to leave her alone for a while i jst be worried

I know it's a long shot, but I'm a young autistic women who's desperately wanted a ball python for some time. The problem is the feeding. I have hyperempathy, (to the point I feel minority guilty for eating plants. Because the plants can feel. Yes it's that bad.) and hoped that maybe I could get over the idea of feeding the snake a mouse. I tried watching videos of feeding, but it made me sad, squeamish, and uncomfortable.

From what I've heard, reptile links are the only real alternatives and they suck for the animal. Please tell me I'm just missing something or there's some amazing niche alternatives that popped up in the last year or so or something so I can have a happy healthy sweet baby ball python without having to see a dead mouse? I can handle feeding meat, but not if they have a face or animal features.

Thank you.

Okay, so due to unfortunate circumstances, I had to leave my snakes in my mom‘s care for about 6 months. During this time, my mom fed ivory (my BP) a small frozen rat once every two weeks.

I’m now home and I took her out just to do some general maintenance and just to say hi, and OH BOY SHES GOTTEN THICK!

July 25, she weighed 662 g

March 15, she now weighs 940 g

From what I can see and been told, the humidity and the temperatures have been right where they’re supposed to be. (89 ish degrees on the hot side and 80% humidity)

My mom said that Ivory has had no problems with shedding, drinking, pooping/peeing and it has been eager to eat every 14 days. So overall no huge health issues except the obvious.

My question is what feeding schedule/feeders should I get her on to help her become a more healthy weight?

First time feeding a snake, I had a small frozen mouse, I defrosted it and let it warm up evenly, I did a TON of research and ultimately decided to feed her in her normal tank, she was under her log on the hot side and was checking it out, did some weird stuff like rubbed her face against the mouse but never coiled up or got to a point where she was interested enough to attempt to eat it

I was holding the mouse with some tongs, had the head towards the snake and was lightly moving it, playing like it was alive, did I do anything wrong?

I know of course that she may not eat the first time being in this new enclosure but I just want to know for next week when I attempt again and should I try live next time or stick to frozen just because she’s young?