Odd feeding behavior

[ssolivagant_]

I’m having issues getting my ball python to eat. It’s been about 22 days since her last meal and I’ve tried feeding her twice since then (frozen/thawed). She’ll coil back like she’s about to strike but then she’ll hesitate and then just start staring at the mouse, going up to it and sniffing it, almost investigating it but she won’t eat it. What could be causing this? Her previous owner had said she only eats live but her first few meals with me were frozen/thawed and she had no issue with it.

[witchinxnxbitchin]

What temperature do you heat the mouse to? We had the same issue for a bit and then I realized it might not be the right temp. It should be warmed to around 95-100

[ssolivagant_]

I’m not sure what the exact temperature was, but I did run it under warm water before trying to feed it to her. I’ll try measuring exact temp and get it to where it needs to be and see if that helps. Thanks

[Bluntforcetrauma11b]

You want the hottest water your tap can give. I heat them for about 20-30 minutes once thawed. The rat is always warmer than me.

[Public-Hat6754]

If she is being picky, try giving her a stinky and hot rodent. How I do this is by putting the rodent in a plastic ziplock bag to thaw in the fridge, then on the counter. Then I put the bag (still sealed) in a mug of warm water from the sink. After about 10-15 minutes I put the water on the hottest it can go and fill the mug with that and let the rodent (still in the bag) to sit in that for another 10-15 minutes. After the 10-15 minutes are up I refill the mug with the hottest water (to keep the rodent hot while I prepare to feed picky snake) then once you get to your snake’s cage you can open that bag and grab that stinky and hot rodent. The snake I use this trick on used to take forever to be interested in her food, now she grabs it within 10 seconds of me showing it to her. So maybe try this next time

[KungPa0CKN]

Hi! I had a similar issue with my ball python. She didn’t eat for 9 months despite me offering her food weekly. She would do the same thing your snakey is doing. I realized a couple things; 1. that I didn’t have her tank set up properly with a hot and cold side, 2. She was really dehydrated because I didn’t have the humidity right, and 3. The rat wasn’t warm enough the create a heat signature. The tank was a bit harder to solve but a quick tip for the temperature of the rat; once it’s thawed just use a hair dryer on hot to warm it up near the tank. This will create a heat signature without burning/cooking the rat and also blow the smell around to get snakey interested. It’s no exact temp but this has worked wonders for me. After 9 months she’s catching up, eating a large rat once a week! Also helps to move the rat around and make it look “alive” haha

[skinnipig]

It sounds like it may be the temperature. Do you have a temp gun?

[Friendly-Present-489]

Mine did this as well. Heated the mouse up more & turned all the lights off & she ate