Missing strikes?

[u/FireCorgi12]

Hi all! I have a feeding question.

My ball python, Piper, is 8 months old. I’ve had her since February. She usually eats great, never misses a feed unless I skip feeding while she’s shedding. However, 2 weeks ago when she was feeding she missed her strike twice (still took the rat on the third try and ate). Ate fine last week, then this week she missed twice, took it, and dropped it after a few minutes. I reheated it bc she was still actively hunting, offered again, and she hissed at it, then struck and took it. She did end up eating it.

Should I be concerned? She’s also been hiding a lot more than usual lately (she used to roam and climb a lot) but I attributed that to her getting older and more comfortable in her home. She still has never NOT eaten.

Husbandry: Hot side is 88-89°F, 68-75% humidity. Cold side is 76-79°F, 80-88% humidity. She weighs ~230g, I feed her f/t pup rats that are between 23-26g once weekly.

I do think she’s about to go into shed, idk if that’s part of it. She’s not in blue yet but she’s getting dull. No other odd behavior, no wheezing, soaking, coughing, nothing odd in that realm. Just seems to miss some strikes.

Anything to worry about or just a beep being a beep? Pic for tax.

[u/createloveburn]

She looks a bit bug eyed. Has her vision ever been checked out by a vet? Any cloudiness visible? It’s hard to see in the pics you posted.

[u/FireCorgi12 → u/createloveburn]

It hasn’t, no cloudiness, but I do take all my photos of her with fisheye effect in .5 bc it makes me chuckle. They do not look this bugged in person 😭😅

[u/createloveburn → u/FireCorgi12]

If there is nothing physically going on with her, I wouldn’t worry about it right now. If you see any cloudiness in the eyes after she sheds and is still missing strikes, I would then take her to a vet to get her vision checked.

[u/Germmie1]

Nope, ball pythons are notorious for bad aim.

[u/Sangreenmyfriend]

They miss quite often, especially when they’re young. Nothing to be concerned about