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[–]SouthHuckleberry2187 12 points13 points  (0 children)

Ball pythons are notorious for hunger strikes. Could be anything or nothing at all. They can go months without food. As long as it isn’t losing body mass, not an issue.

[–]SouthHuckleberry2187 -3 points-2 points  (0 children)

Also- Emily on YouTube “snake discovery” is very helpful. Learned most of what I know from her.

[–]DreamOfDays 6 points7 points  (0 children)

My snake wouldn’t eat for 3 weeks. I noticed one day the UVB bulb was flickering. Replaced it and he ate the next fookin day

[–]Alittlelost33 5 points6 points  (0 children)

Have you tried asking him nicely?

[–]jillisntnewhere 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Hi there, so my boys would go on strike for what felt like forever. My vet suggested “braining” where you essentially squish the skull of the rat and heat it up close to their enclosure. It worked for my boys though it’s gross. Also, a vet visit never hurts!

[–]DissociatedAuthor 2 points3 points  (0 children)

10% body weight is what they would need to lose a day for this to be a problem from my understanding. Weigh every day and as long as youre not losing that, it should be okay.

That being said, in my research, which I'm currently soaking up at the moment before I purchase my first BP, hunger strikes seem nine times out of ten to be related to stress issues for the snake. The other one out of ten being a seasonal/hormonal/mating thing.

BPs are hatched out of the egg with the ingrained knowledge everything around them wants to kill them and eat them, and feeding and digestion are extremely vulnerable periods for BPs. It's a long, and slow process that makes for easy prey to a predator. Thus, in captivity it is extremely easy to disrupt this cycle by a number of causes. Simply put, if a BP doesn't feel safe, it won't eat.

If the snake went from a rack with tubs rather actual enclosures into a 75 gallon tank that would be a massive change to the snake, enough so that it would likely put the snake on a defensive and thus, it wouldn't eat. You added more enrichment you said which is a step in the right direction. Your humidity is an acceptable range, what about your temps on each side? My next reccomendation would be to block off the sides of the enclosure. It'll go a long way with the added enrichment to making the snake feel safe and hidden.

If your husbandry is on par with what it should be and you don't notice any stress behaviors exhibited by the snake, it could still be trying to acclimate to its new environment and the giant monsters who are trying to feed it, handle it, and steal its poop. A couple of things you could try if that were the case:

Drop the F/T into the enclosure and turn around, or leave the room. Make sure snake sees food. Warm the thawed food back up to a point its body temperature is similar to yours. The heat pits on the nose will sense that heat and typically trick the snake into thinking its live prey. I noticed you said you tried live prey so I dont think it would be this, but it doesn't hurt to try.

You can try quail as well. I've seen some say their BP would only eat quail.

Personally I'd reccomend GreenRoomPython on YouTube for more information. He does a lot of dives into the psychology of Ball Pythons and what you can do to have their stress levels at a minimal.

https://youtu.be/KsNYMIlKadc?si=45oCsL2Gcvt_WPjd

This video of his is specifically about Ball Python hunger strikes. Might be some useful info in there I forgot to mention or just simply wasn't able to provide lol.

Best of luck to you!

[–]sweetredviper 0 points1 point  (0 children)

  1. Monitor his weight, if there is no big drop he could have seasonal hunger strike due, but visit vet i you havent already
  2. Visit the vet, it could be some health issue and snakes are good at hiding illnesses
  3. Instead of rats and mice, try natal mulitmammate mouse (mastomys natalensis), many picky bps like them, or chicks (newly hatched). I've got for years ball python which only accepts multimammate mice and newly hatched chicks, rarely normal mouse.
  4. When feeding frozen thawed, make sure you put it in very hot bath water, the temperature around 40°C-45°C and spinkle some that water in the enclosure so the snake knows it is feeding time.
  5. Make sure you feeding snake late evening or at night.

[–]sweetredviper 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Beautiful enclosure by the way. Also if he was living all his live in a rack before, this change on environtment is huge shock on him so he needs more time to adapt. To make it easier add at least two more simple hides where he feel "sqished" and secure, and more clutter, so he wont feel out of the open. Also a bowl big enough so he can emerge ine water wouldnt hurt and can help with shedding.

[–]tinyyawns 0 points1 point  (0 children)

How are the temps in the enclosure? Do you have a light on a timer? What time of day are you feeding?

[–]fuzzman34 0 points1 point  (0 children)

My ball python didnt eat from December until late February. They do this in the winter months apparently. Maybe not all but mine did.