hey all ive had my snake for about 5 or 6 weeks now and none of the time ive had him will he eat. Ive tried many different methods of feeding him his rat and none seem to be working. All the temperatures ect are ok in his tank and ive left him alone for quite a while only changinh his water and making sure the room he is in is as quiet as possible for him so hopefully that might convince him to eat. I honestly dont no what to do with him hes starting to panic me. Im scared he will never eat and he will die. He is my 1st ever snake he is a 2 year old ball pthon and is fully grown, hes ever such a friendly guy and enjoys watchin telly and watching me do my hair and makeup hehe bless him. Any 1 else had problems with a snake not eating and whats the longest they have gone??

Some of the pythons are famous for not eating. It could be the temperature, season, he may just not be hungry. There's a good link here: Feeding Habits of Ball Pythons - Picky Eaters

We had to rehome mine cos he just would NOT eat even after all we tried and force feeding wasn't my forte, he eats just fine with his new owner though which is typical. The longest mine went without a food item was 5 months, but it varies greatly from snake to snake.

have you tried braining the food item? Sometimes if you warm the item in warm water (never hot, it gets messy!) and then pierce the skull a little it can help.

We've got Royal pythons at college, and they are horrible for going on hunger strikes. If they don't feed when they are supposed to then they won't be fed again until they're next due to. They're normally hungry by then, but if they're not then the whole process will be repeated.

Remember, snakes can go a very long time without food, so I wouldn't worry yet

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Cara,
Owned by Fern, Heidi, Asteroid, Bubbles & Fizz
Missing Snippet, Frost, Willow & Nix


Opinions are like armpits. Everyone has them, and some stink.

Try putting him in a pillow case or something similar with the rat and tying the top up then leaving him overnight

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Ah yes...you have 2 problems here

1) He's a royal python

2) He's a boy

Royals are notorious for not eating well, and most male snakes stop eating during the winter months in preparation for the breeding season in the spring. My male royal(and my male boa) both stop eating in November and often don't start again until February, it's 100% normal so i would leave him for a couple more weeks with no attempts at feeding him.

There are plenty of ways to attempt restarting feeding, try different ways of defrosting/warming, braining(messy but it can work) or try giving a chick, day old chicks have a yolk sac and if you burst that they become nigh on irresistable to snakes, it's how i got my burm/scrub/royal and boa eating when they stopped. You will be able to move from feeding a chick to feeding rats/mice with yolk on them and then your snake should be fine with plain rats/mice again

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Owned by Tummel the rottaridgeador and Dante the Italian Spinone

thnk u all for the advice
hes my 1st snake so its a little worrying but all you advice is a little more reasuirng ill give it a go. I never knew about males going off food for breeding season that might explain his not eating as ive done so many different things to try and get him to eat. The braining sounds bit mank i might get my boyfriend to do that if it comes to it
he is due to eat on saturday should i get him a rat or not bother and try him the following saturday?

I personally wouldn't bother trying to feed him for a week or 2, you may find it puts him off eating for longer. Braining is disgusting, i've only had it work for 1 snake, i find chicks work much better, gerbils can be good too as they're very smelly and closer to what a royal would naturally eat but i've found not many reptile shops stock them Like i said though i'd just try a day old chick first, if he doesn't eat it then he's probably not ready to feed yet.

If you do get really worried you can assist feed(basically putting the food in the snakes mouth) but seeing as he's your first snake i'd ask the people in your local reptile shop to show you how as it doesn't look nice at all(it doesn't hurt them though, my royal was a sod for eating properly but he was easy to assist).

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Owned by Tummel the rottaridgeador and Dante the Italian Spinone

ill give him a week without putting food in and see how that goes i hope i dont have to brain or anything like that it sounds icky.
would he eat the chick he has only eva ate dead rats never anything else, plus where would i get one from no where round me at my petshops do them, they do only mice and rats and there is noooooo way im killing anything

Ask the petshop if they can order them in.

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Cara,
Owned by Fern, Heidi, Asteroid, Bubbles & Fizz
Missing Snippet, Frost, Willow & Nix


Opinions are like armpits. Everyone has them, and some stink.

Day old chicks are about the most irresistable food known to snakes, it makes sense seeing as chicks would be such an easy meal in the wild for them. As snippet said ask your local shop if they could get a few in, if not i think theres a few places you can buy them online

I got 4 snakes eating using chicks, all had only eaten rodents before

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Owned by Tummel the rottaridgeador and Dante the Italian Spinone