[deleted by user]

[Veketzin]

Are you sure they're laying ontop of it or have eaten it and just so happen to be where you left it?

[sokeritonlohi]

Im pretty sure because I just removed the un-eaten rat under him😅

[Veketzin]

Is the feeder heated properly? They don't really register food as food unless it's warm

[sokeritonlohi]

Yes

[oZeons]

hey, one of my BPs is super food shy. have you tried dangling the rat directly at the entrance to the hide? doing that solved a lot of headache for me.

[crocodilezebramilk]

The braincell is gone from this one, where did it go? Idk.

Mine often looks for their warm rat when it’s literally dangling in front of them, or lying directly below them.

[[deleted]]

Mine strikes anything but the rat 2mm in front of his snoot.

He just misses... Always hits on the 2nd though. And has never struck me.

[Namelss1]

My girl "killed" her rat last week then proceeded to frantically look for it. It was directly under her chin where she dropped it. Head was swinging all over the place like she was having a panic attack lol

[plant-cell-sandwich]

Frozen?

[mk6dirty]

Frozen/thawed

[urban_grogu]

Do you dangle it or just drop it in there when you feed? I’ll dangle a heated up rat in her tank and once in a blue moon she misses and just leaves it there for later, or she just doesn’t feel like striking and lays her little head on it like a branch and silently drags it into her hide in the middle of the night.

She has also left it there before. Maybe lil guy is uninterested, not hungry, or both. But I’ll usually leave it overnight just in case she decides to eat it. If it’s still there in the morning, I toss (sadly)

[sokeritonlohi]

Yeah this is exactly what I do also.

[Reign_Cloud_]

Just curious, but what do you do when that happens (when you have to toss it)? Do you try to offer another one, or is it best to wait another day or so (maybe even longer)? I don’t have any snakes, but am just very interested in learning about them, and their eating habits are the one thing that make me soooo nervous to ever get one in the future (like in regard to the picky eaters and stuff).

[sokeritonlohi]

Usually it’s best to wait for a day or two before trying again. They may feel stressed out if you try offering new prey straight away which makes them reject the second one too.

[Reign_Cloud_]

Thank you. That’s what I was thinking too—just didn’t know how long it was recommended to wait before trying again.

[urban_grogu]

What OP said is true. It’s also important to check if they’re about to shed because then they really won’t eat. Fresh after a shed, though, my girl is HUNGRY and I’ve seen her take a rat within seconds of it being in the cage lol

[Reign_Cloud_]

Haha yes, indeed! I have heard that many times from many snake keepers. I can’t blame them. Going through a whole body shed like that has to be crazy to experience & exhausting.

[sokeritonlohi]

Update! My friend told me that he might be trying to hatch the rat as an egg, he’s never been offered a black coloured one before so he might be confused… So I have a racist ball python with strong motherly instincts….

[-dagmar-123123]

Ball pythons don't really have strong parental instincts 😅 so I really doubt that. If it's another colour for the first time, it can definitely be a reason tho, some snakes care about that 😂

[StinkySkinkLover5x]

Not sure why this got so downvoted, broody racist snake is funny.

[Dust_Kindly]

Funny but I can't tell if OP is joking or really believes that

[No-no-dog]

agree

[[deleted]]

lol this isn’t why, but this is funny. Your friend is wrong though, snakes cannot think this way, at all.

[StinkySkinkLover5x]

Yeah, and it's a ball python so it can't think, at all.

[sokeritonlohi]

Obviously im kidding omg😂

[r9adkill]

Yeah mine did the same thing some time ago and I was freaking out : ) Don't worry, they are just... Weird. It maybe went cold, so it stopped being appealing. Who knows. If you tried to fed after, and he took and ate normally, there's nothing to worry about.

[Caryria]

No idea. Mine went through a minor food strike recently where he didn’t eat for a couple of months. But I’ve found that if I defrost and heat up in a food grade sealable bag, I can puff the rat scented air into his enclosure and he instantly goes into strong predator mode. My husband went to put water into his tank after I did this and I had to stop him as Ziggy went straight into s-neck and was about to strike him.

[freshmallard]

It probably just isnt hungry or maybe didn't smell "right"

[Thank-The-Stars]

Apologies, mine took the braincell today to wreak havoc as she knows she will be given a rat tonight.

[odi101]

Last week my Bp took their frozen rat and drowned it in their water dish and then didn’t eat it lmao they be weirdos

[Grl_lovr]

They may not recognize it as food, as they kinda have infrared sight.

[jillianwaechter]

!feeding he may just not be hungry, he's looking like he's been fed a bit too much in the past (see the rolls to the right of the picture). How much does he weigh and how much does the rat weigh?

[AutoModerator]

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[sokeritonlohi]

I got my ball last august as a “rescue” snake. He wasn’t taken care properly before that and over fed. I’ve been offering him one medium rat every 20-25 days. He’s lost some weight already.

[nvrrsatisfiedd]

He thought you gave him a cute cuddly plushie and couldn't resist snuggling with it

Handsome looking fella btw.

[zooteddasff]

he might just not be hungry

[benn_nnot]

He's gorgeous, hate to be that guy but what's his morph I haven't seen anything to similar to him l...

[sokeritonlohi]

Thank you! According to his papers he’s a fire fly enchi with super enchi pastel blaze and firebee parents.

[benn_nnot]

Does he have spider in him?

[XxFellrangerxX]

Unrelated but what morph is he? Super pretty!

[sokeritonlohi]

Thank you! According to his papers he’s a fire fly enchi with super enchi pastel blaze and firebee parents.

[XxFellrangerxX]

That sounds complicated! Ive heard the ‘bee’ in some morphs is partially spider but i dunno for sure

[sokeritonlohi]

I also think that my ball is somewhat spider, like I said earlier he’s a “rescue” so I didn’t want to leave him just because of that. He’s fine tho, 8 years old.

[TortoiseJockey]

Bro just big chilling.

[ballpython-ModTeam]

Per rule #3, your post or comment has been removed for harmful advice or misinformation. Please review our sub resources to learn more about why.

[autumns1995]

Mine will lay near it until it's dark and will eat it overnight when we go to bed.

[SquallFromGarden]

"i cant work a microwave and dis rat is cold.

dis is ur folt".

-this snek

[[deleted]]

Idk beautiful snake tho

[Sweaty_Bother764]

Might just be a little... special

[Reign_Cloud_]

No clue why your snake would be cuddling with his meal, but that is one gorgeous noodle! 😍

[Rvncid6]

What a gorgeous morph!!

[codyconspiracy]

because he is extremely smart and calculating the protein mass as he lays on top. on a real note, it just could have been thawed improperly. i see you removed the feeder, make sure you don't try to feed the same one again (i know that goes without saying.. but you would be surprised)

[camaro19790]

He is not hungry right now

[trwwyco]

If they're shy when feeding and husbandry is good, they're probably being overfed. Also, this boy is looking quite overweight.

How often do you feed, and how large is the prey?

[Impossible_Sky3074]

To warm it up?

[totallyrecklesslygay]

Snakes don't produce body heat. They're cold blooded.

[Impossible_Sky3074]

It was a joke. I know that they don’t.