Ball pythons are one of the best choices for reptile keepers.They live well in captivity and are easy to tame. The exotic pets are known for their habit of curling their body into a ball shape, hence the name ball python.Under supervision, it is completely safe to wrap this python around yourself and take pictures. While these snakes do not have a complicated or demanding diet requirement, they can give nightmares to their keepers. This happens when you don’t know that ball pythons go on lengthy fasts lasting several months. Those times are emotionally hard for the keepers who feel like the python is ill or under stress.Here, the question arises, how long can ball pythons go without food? You won’t find a simple answer to this. It varies greatly from snake to snake. But, at a rough estimate, you can say a ball python can go for about six months without eating. Some pythons can go over a year without food. The number depends on their age, habitat, metabolism, and other factors.At Kidadl, we don’t only have fun facts about snakes. We have spooky facts about chickens and fish too. So why not consider how long can a chicken live without a head and how long can a fish live out of water as your next read?Reasons Why A Ball Python Is Not EatingA ball python displays behavior that could be hard to interpret. Not eating once in a while is one of them. As already stated, snakes do not eat frequently.But at times, they can refuse to eat for days or even months in a row. Every effort of feeding may fail. So, as a pet owner, where do you draw the line between this behavior being usual and unusual? First, it helps to understand the reasons why a ball python may go without eating and then correlate that with your current scenario. If you find any abnormalities, you know it’s time to consult the vet. Below are some of the reasons for ball python not eating for months.They don’t want to eat. The first obvious reason is that the ball python simply doesn’t want to eat. As mentioned earlier, they’re animals with a slow digestive and metabolism system. That’s how they’ve evolved. After consuming food of a considerable size, they don’t need to feed again for several days. In fact, the ball python will even reject the food offered to it. That’s a sign that it hasn’t yet completely digested previous food. When you observe that it’s rejecting food and has eaten in the last week or two, give it more time. To go without eating for another week can be good for the python and its health.Maybe they don’t like their meal. When surviving in the wilderness, ball pythons have limited options. They savor anything they come across. But in captivity, some of them do turn into picky eaters. They start rejecting food they don’t like. One reason could be that they’re exposed to a wider range of food. For example, many reptile keepers feed pre-killed animals to their ball python. That’s not the kind of food the snakes find in the wilderness. Some snakes may not eat it unless they’re trained. Furthermore, they may not like the smell, shape, size, or look of what’s being offered so they will turn away and refuse the food.The snakes may also stop eating if there’s a change in temperature. When the winter season starts, their food processing power drops further. They find it harder to swallow and digest food. It’s quite normal for a ball python to go without eating for a longer duration during the winter months. Also, if the tank or the room temperature is too cold, they start to lose appetite. As a rule, you should maintain 88-92 F (31-33.3 C) for the basking area and around 77 F (25 C) for the cool side of the enclosure. Ensure the temperature on the colder side never drops below 75 F (25 C).Snakes can suffer from several illnesses. Just like us, they may stop eating. Ball pythons can suffer from digestive malfunctions, skin issues, breathing problems, and anorexia. Digestive malfunction is more common among snakes. They, at times, eat prey that is too hard to digest. They end up vomiting it back up. In captivity, you should feed a snake only selected food items that are permitted and safe. As a precautionary measure, if your snake doesn’t defecate within 10 days of having a meal, you should call the vet for a checkup. Exposure to pathogens can lead to digestive, skin, and breathing problems among snakes. Respiratory issues can cause labored breathing and wheezing. Call in a vet to properly diagnose your pet snake.The snake may be under stress. Stress can also impact a ball python’s feeding habits. So, how can you tell that a python is under stress? Drops in warmth during the winter season are one sign that a snake might be stressed. So it will go into the habitual ball shape. Or, they may hide their head when handled. The snakes will also be overly active and move around anxiously.Ball pythons can also be under stress when moved to a new place or in the presence of another pet. The snakes need to get familiar with their environment. So, if you transfer them to a new enclosure or change the substrate, give them time to get familiar. Ideally, you should never keep two ball pythons in the same or adjacent terrarium. They feel threatened in those kinds of settings. Also, if you have other pets like dogs or cats, prevent them from going near their tanks.It could be preparing to shed its skin. All snakes shed their outer skin layer. A ball python will shed every 4-6 weeks through a process called ecdysis. As the snake prepares for it, its skin will turn bluish and its eyes will turn opaque. That’s when you should know that a ball python is about to shed its skin. During this time, it’s usual for them to avoid food and refuse to eat. They go without eating for several days. As soon as the shedding is over, they regain their appetite and start eating. There might be other reasons why a snake would refuse to eat. Consult with the vet or herpetologist to learn about them.How long can a ball python go without eating in the wild?Ball pythons, just like other snakes, have evolved in the wild. They have evolved to adapt to their conditions. These snakes are native to the Sub Saharan region. It is the region just below the Sahara Desert and includes countries like Senegal, Cot D’Ivoire, Chad, and Sudan.The python is primarily exported from these countries. The regions where they are found are quite hostile. Given the fact that they are the smallest python species with a length of 4-5 ft (1.2-1.5 m) long, these snakes are often hunted by bigger animals for food. So they spend the majority of their time hiding. In the wild, they mostly eat anything they come across. Since they’re carnivores, they usually prey on rodents, birds, and other smaller animals. When they’re not hiding, they go on a hunt. It’s normal for the ball pythons to look for food only once per week or once every two weeks. When they get hold of something, ball pythons will return back to their hiding spot or find a new one. In the wild, nothing is guaranteed. Their body has evolved to survive without food for a longer period of time.At extremes, ball pythons have been known to survive as many as 21 months in the wild without eating. Since the snakes look for food once every week, most do not go hungry for that long. If needed, they may not eat for several weeks or months. Not only ball pythons, but all snakes eat infrequently. And there are a couple of good reasons for that.The first reason is their slow digestion. Snakes, including ball pythons, process their food really slow. They always eat their prey in full. So they consume the furs, flesh, bones, and everything. Their stomach acids will take a long time to break everything down. Depending on the size of their prey, it can take 4-5 days. Larger prey will take a couple of weeks to get digested completely. Not only digestion, but the metabolism in snakes is also on the lower side as well. Once they digest their prey, their body will take another week or two to metabolize.Another reason is the snake’s inactive nature. Once they’ve had their food, they usually stay immobile with limited activity. So they don’t need to utilize their stored energy at a rapid pace. Furthermore, snakes don’t need body heat to survive. So they don’t spend energy on producing body heat which we humans do. Because of all these reasons, ball pythons don’t eat frequently and don’t need to either. It is essential to their survival.How long can a ball python go without eating in captivity?Many reptile lovers love to keep ball pythons at their homes in a terrarium as pets. They’re also popular among zoos. When you do bring in a ball python, it’s important to know what to expect.Just like in the wilderness, ball pythons do not eat frequently in captivity either. On average, they can go for several weeks without food. In captivity, there are even fewer reasons to move around. There’s no need to hunt either. So, they may take longer to digest their food. Moreover, the eating schedule is different for an adult and baby ball python, simply because of their size and lifecycle. Adult ball pythons are fully-grown. They don’t need surplus energy to keep growing even though they grow throughout their lifetime. At the 3-4 years stage, they also have large fat reserves to store energy for later use. So it’s not uncommon for them to go without food for several weeks in one go.But that’s not the case with baby ball pythons. Ball pythons measure around 10 in (25.4cm) when they hatch and weigh 1.77-3.53 oz (50-100 g) on average. By the third month, when they enter the juvenile phase, they measure 16-24 in (40.6-61 cm) and weigh 2.82-10.58 oz (80-300 g), almost double their initial size. In their first year, ball pythons grow at a rapid pace. So they need food at a higher frequency.While adult ball python snakes can go for up to a month without eating, younger ones can only go for a week or less in captivity. Adult ball pythons can stay without food for long, but not infinite time. They are biological creatures that need the energy to function, which comes from food. So, how much time will it take before a ball python starts to starve? Adult ball pythons may start to starve as early as 3-4 weeks of not eating. They would have digested their food in a week. Also, snakes do not use their energy reserves unless they need to. That’s why they get fat when overfed.When your ball python is deprived of food, it will lower its metabolism to lower the energy demand. It may starve to death if left without food for more than 6-7 months. Some may survive for a year. Juvenile and baby ball pythons will last even less. That’s why you shouldn’t keep your pet python hungry for too long.Tips For Ball Pythons That Won’t EatA ball python goes without eating and that’s normal. But, after some amount of time, their health starts to deteriorate and they lose weight. You need to figure out a way to get your pet snake to eat.Before trying anything, you should consult with a vet and not make judgments based on intuition. Following the wrong method can worsen the situation. That being said, below are a few tips for an adult or baby ball python not eating its meal:Feed it warmer prey. The first thing you can do is increase the temperature of the prey you’re feeding it. A snake senses its prey with heat-sensing pits. These pits detect infrared radiation to get to their food. So, if you’re feeding thawed, frozen rats or mice to the snake, it may not sense the heat and hence not eat them. So, place the rats in boiling water or under steam before feeding them to a snake. Their food needs to be warmer than the room temperature.Change the prey type and scent. Another thing you can do is change the food type. As said earlier, snakes can become picky eaters in captivity so you need to figure out what they prefer to eat. The most common food to feed them is a rodent. You can change the size to see if the ball python starts eating the mice. You can also try feeding chicken cubes with the rodents to see if it excites them. Some reptile keepers even suggest opening the skull of the rodent wide to release the odor. It could be tempting to some ball pythons that won’t eat. While changing the food type, you should stick to frozen, pre-killed animals. Feeding live prey can pose a danger to the snake who could get bitten or attacked by its prey. So feed pre-killed rodents and switch to live prey only as the last resort.Change the feeding technique. You can also try changing your feeding technique. If you’ve been placing the prey directly inside the terrarium, try wiggling it in front of the snake till it gets excited or starts to move towards the prey. Another technique for a snake not eating is to feed during the night hours. Place the warmed prey inside the tank and turn off the lights. Snakes can hunt at night so they may become more active in the dark. To entice the snake to eat, you can bring the prey closer to it. So place them inside a paper bag with pre-killed mice inside it overnight. But, if your snake is already stressed out, refrain from this technique.Change the surroundings. The final tip for ball pythons that refuse to eat is to change their surroundings. Maybe there’s something inside the terrarium or within their sight, that’s uncomfortable for them. The presence of another snake or animal is one obvious thing. So getting rid of those things can help the snake to start eating. If you can’t find something, call the vet or herpetologist to look into the matter and recommend changes. The bottom line is you should create a safe environment for your ball python and listen to its needs. That’s what good pet owners do.Here at Kidadl, we have carefully created lots of interesting family-friendly facts for everyone to enjoy! If you liked our suggestions for ‘How long can a ball python go without eating?’, then why not take a look at ‘How long can a bearded dragon go without eating?’, or ‘Python facts’.
Ball pythons are one of the best choices for reptile keepers.
