[Skeletor]

OK so as I have posted before I discovered that my BP regerged a rat after mistakenly (without me knowing) being handled by my sister in law the day after he ate. Well we had tried to feed him the next week and he wouldn't take a medium rat, so I reverted back to a small rat and he did just fine. The next week came and no problem, so I figured he wasn't having problems due to the regerged rat. Well week 4 came around and he wanted nothing to do with the rat. So after dangling it for 20 mintues and then leaving it in for a few hours in the dark with no one around, still no go. So then I put him back in his tank. Well I waited a couple days just incase it stressed him out any. Well when I went to pick him up, he was begining to shed. So after two more weeks (and finnaly having a perfect shed!!!! lol) i tried it again yesterday, again, he wanted nothing to do with it. I dangled it in front of him for 20 mintues, then proceeded to leave him alone with it in a dark room, and no luck after a few hours. Well I decided to leave him in overnight, and still no luck. Just bam bam moving around searching for an exit. Luckily I went duct tape crazy on it.. So we're heading for week 5 of no feeding, and I didn't know if anyone thinks that this would have anything to do with him regerging the rat, even though he ate twice since then. Or if he is just been a typical picky eater.. So I know im gonna get the good ol list of questions so i'll get it out of the way now..

Our BP is roughly a year old as of now. He is in a 40G Breeder on the compressed coconut fiber. Temp on the warm side usually stay a consistant 92º during the day and the cool side sits at 78º. At night the temps are that of the house which is 76º (house temp). Humidity fluxuates between 45%-55%, but I usually shoot for 55%. He has two hides, one under the basking light, and one on the cool side. I have two water dishes (one small for drinking and the other large one for soaking or deficating) A small branch that he uses as leverage to try and escape... I do feed f/t small rats and in a seperate 10 gallon or slightly larger rubbermaid. The last time he deficated was about 3 weeks ago (which im sure is due to lack of food).

[ryanpb]

Sometimes they need the heat to be up to eat, if your moving him to another container make sure its warm enough, if its well below the heat he needs he's going to be more interested in finding somewhere warmer then the rat. Though I have heard of ball pythons going quite awile without feeding. I've never had any captive snake regurge after I fed them, so im not sure about that, but you never know. Id keep an eye on his weight, if he starts looking too thin, you may want to contact a vet.

[titus]

It's not likely to be related to having regurged since it ate well since then. It could be that it's too soon after the shed, I noticed from time to time some of my snakes don't have intrest in food shortly after they shed though within a week after all they want to do is eat.

[Merlin]

Since the snake ate subsequent to the regurg I seriously doubt that its connected.
My male still has not come out of his winter fast and my female was picky the last 2 feedings.
Darn BPs! They are just a pain sometimes!

[Skeletor]

Originally Posted by Merlin

Since the snake ate subsequent to the regurg I seriously doubt that its connected.
My male still has not come out of his winter fast and my female was picky the last 2 feedings.
Darn BPs! They are just a pain sometimes!

Yes I know! Im just starting to find this out. Ok. So I will attemp to feed him again tonight. I just wanted to wait a day or two because I didn't want him to stress as much as I am lol. Since I found his shed Saturday and tried feeding him sunday, im thinking it very well could have something to do with that. I was almost 100% positive that it wasn't because of him regurging since he ate that very next week. I just wanted to see if anyone had any simular expierences like this..

I will give it a try and keep this thread updated.

Also since the subject of winter fasting came up, when is a ball python typically ready to breed? I vaguely remember something about after a year old... maybe im mistaken..

[Merlin]

Its really more a matter of size than age. Males 16-18 months old and at least 650 grams are capable of breeding but not very reliable. Approx 3 years old and exceeding 1000 grams for both snakes is your best bet.

[Skeletor]

So he appears to be gettin down the small rat right now (THANK GOD!!!). He's working on the head/shoulders right now.. so i'd say it was due to his shedding...

Originally Posted by Merlin

Its really more a matter of size than age. Males 16-18 months old and at least 650 grams are capable of breeding but not very reliable. Approx 3 years old and exceeding 1000 grams for both snakes is your best bet.

ok cool. that will give me some more time. becuase ive been thinking about breeding my bp. I read the caresheet and thought it would be a great expierence and isn't all that complex. Just time and money consuming.. but thats nothing new for a herp lover lol. We're actually going to be looking to buy a house hopefully next year.. I just have a few bills and otherstuff to clear up. We're gonna look for a 4 bedroom, or at least a 3 bedroom with a furnished basement and make a large enclosure (that will be built onto the house as if it was apart of the it) for the boa I will be gettin in april in either the smallest bedroom if we get a 4 bedroom or the basement.. And I wanted to get things set up and prepared to breed both balls and boas... untill then ive got plenty of reading up to do and saving up to do as well.

[BlackJack]

I'm glad he ate for you!
My male BP hasn't eaten since the 6th of December. He just shed and still doesn't seem interested in food.
It's just one of those things. With time, you learn that it's not worth worrying about. If the snake is healthy, he'll eat again eventually. I usually wait at least a week between feeding attempts. (The night before garbage pick up is my usual time -- that way the uneaten F/T rat doesn't stink up my house.)