My Ball Python isn't eating

[MEXICOYA415]

So it's been over 6 weeks now since it's eaten and I'm a little worried. It usually eats every week but now seems to have no interest in food. It doesn't seem to be skinny or malnourished but I just want to make sure it's ok. Any info would be helpful. THX

 

[Morax]

well im not sure why he would not be eating but i would have to tell you to check all your temps and humidity cause balls need perfect temp and humidity or they wont eat. and do you feed him live or pre killed food? if pre killed food give him a live mice or so depending on his size...if he still doesnt eat after all this then all i can say is he has to eat sooner or later..im sorry i hate when things like this happen..

 

[MEXICOYA415]

Well the temp is at about 80-85 degrees during the day and at about 70-75 at night. I'm not sure about humidity but I have a big water dish which I keep directly under the lamp. I feed it live which it's never had a problem with but it just hasn't seemed interested in the time span of about 6 weeks give or take.

I have it in a closet and it doesn't get much light so I'm wondering if that might be affecting it. Do they typically fast for any given amount of time?

 

[Mushroom Spore]

Well the temp is at about 80-85 degrees during the day and at about 70-75 at night.

I think I found your problem. You can't keep a BP this cold. 80 should be the MINIMUM temp in the tank, with the warm end at about 90.

I'm not sure about humidity

You need to find out, these are hugely humidity-sensitive snakes. Heat lamps also tend to dry out the air like crazy, and a water bowl can't totally cancel that out.

As an example: the winter before last when I lived in a really cruddy apartment, despite having a gigantic swimming pool of a water bowl and a covered tank, my own ball python was constantly developing wrinkled skin due to dehydration and I had to soak him almost every day. Just drinking water won't make everything okay, they just don't do well with dry air. (I wasn't using a lamp, but the dry winter air had the same effect as the lamp I keep around for emergencies. Any attemps at raising the tank humidity myself lasted for an hour or two at best. Yeesh, that was a bad winter.)

I feed it live which it's never had a problem with

I'd switch it to dead prey ASAP. It only takes one unlucky day to scar, maim, or kill your pet. Especially if it's big enough to be eating rats, those things are nasty. (Plus it's cheaper to buy frozen in bulk and I've NEVER seen a pet store keep live feeders in any kind of sanitary or healthy conditions. Frozen rodents from a good dealer won't be carrying diseases or internal/external parasites.)

Do they typically fast for any given amount of time?

How much research on this species did you do, again? That's like the first and foremost thing any site or BP owner will tell you about 'em. However, I wouldn't write this off as "just bp weirdness" since your temps are too low and you don't know what your humidity is.

Low temps and possible bad humidity could mean a respiratory infection too, which will also usually put them off their food.

 

[Meaningless End]

mushroom spore is totaly on point.... one more question though.
whens the last time it shed?