I have a Ball that is from what I was told about 10+ years old. She was given to me by someone who just had to get rid of her. If someone didnt take her then he was going to drop her at a construction site ( because all those strong men one of them would surely take her home ) so I took her.

She was eating great for the first 2 years I had her and for the past 5 months she has not wanted to take anything. She was raised (again from what I was told when she was given to me) on live, and that is what I have fed her. Any idea's? I'm getting very worried. Saving up the money for the trip to the Vet, that is going to take me a little time, but until then anything anyone can offer would be great. She killed a rat 2 weeks ago but then ignored it.

She is still very active and loves to get out and be held and slide around the bed. She is roughly 4.3 feet long.

aside from the feeding help, is there any way to tell the age of an adult Ball?

It's difficult to tell the age of a snake really, they all grow at different rates depending on how much or little they were fed. If she was improperly cared for as well, that will affect her growth, even if she was not cared for right before she came to you.

Can you tell us about her enclosure? Temps, substrate, humidity, etc? Also, have the temperatures outside changed drastically? That might also have something to do with not wanting to eat.

Generally many snakes do go off food for a time, mostly during the winter. my rosy boa goes off food from about July/August until about February/March.

I would however, start trying to get her to accept frozen/thawed prey. Once you get past the stage of pinkies and fuzzies, live mice and rats can actually be quite dangerous to your snake, especially if your snake is not interested. Mice and rats have been known to nibble and bite on snakes that are not hungry at the time. And these rodents will fight back, they have the teeth to do so. One bite from them can lead to infection, as well as death if not treated. Plus stress out the snake more and further keeping it from wanting to eat. Frozen/thawed or even prekilled are much safer than live.

We need more information about her care if we are to help point you in the right direction. Good luck!

If you haven't already, please check out the ball python caresheet.

Ball Python Caresheet (Python regius) - Reptile Information - Caresheets Database

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yes i am a she ^_^

~My Babies~

1 Rosy Boa (male) Chaos
1 Snow Corn (male) Blizzard
1 Anertherystic Corn (male) Bullet
1 Senegal Parrot (male) Shadow
2 dogs (male) Spot and Bear

Sorry Yes I meant to include the Enclosure details

- 20 Gallon Long
- Aspen Bedding
- Waterfall in one corner (she absolutely loves playing in the water), water changed every 3 days, it is filtered and dechlorinated
- Cave for her to get under
- Day and Night bulbs (roughly 12 on 12 off)
- Overall Day temp at about 80 to 85
- Basking at about 90 to 95
- Night temp 75 to 80

The temperature in TN has been fluxing from ice cold to warm, finally staying warm now for the past few weeks. But her cage temp has been closely watched and regulated. I had moved her into a 40 gal. And she didn't seem to like it. Amped up the lights and replicated the conditions. After about 4 months of her not moving around much or exploring I moved her back into the 20 and now she is active again. I've had her for coming up on 3 years.

If you still need more info let me know

thanks

Kat

Even when the temps in their enclosures are monitored and kept perfectly, the temperatures outside will still effect them too. When the temperature drops they seem to sense it and are less active. It may just be the screwy weather that is affecting her.

Do you have more than one hide in her enclosure? You should have at least one on the warm side and one on the cool so they are not forced to decide between security and regulating their body temperatures.

As I mentioned with my boa, he went off food around July last year and our winter was particularly screwy this year, being warm for a long period of time then getting snow, then rain, then cold then warm again. My poor guy must've been so messed up! lol. He didn't start eating again until the middle of march! That's a long time for him.

I'm not an expert on ball pythons since I myself never kept any but I do know they can be picky eaters and they can also go off feed as well. depending on when and how often you moved her around from cage to cage might also have had something to do with it. It was almost like she had to adjust to a new home each time. It might have stressed her out some.

As they mature, snakes don't eat as often as they did when they were little because their metabolism slows down because they're not growing as fast. When my snakes were babies, they ate every week. Now they only want to eat every 2 weeks for my corns and every 2-3 weeks for my rosy boa when he's not on his winter hunger strike.

Maybe someone else who reads this can come up with something I haven't thought of.

__________________
Professional Pet Sitting/Dog Walking
http://niksscalesandtails.com/



yes i am a she ^_^

~My Babies~

1 Rosy Boa (male) Chaos
1 Snow Corn (male) Blizzard
1 Anertherystic Corn (male) Bullet
1 Senegal Parrot (male) Shadow
2 dogs (male) Spot and Bear