Snake Not eating

[Alexiel03]

my 2012 female Mojave hasn't been eating for almost 2 months now, she started refusing her F/T rats on August 28th and still refuses them, i still offer her food every feeding day. shes supposed to be on medium rats but since shes been refusing and we have been wasting food i just thaw out my males food (small rat) and basically offer it to her first and if she refuses i give it to the male and he eats like a pig. when she starts taking food again ill be feeding her the mediums though. they are on the same heat regulator and their temps are the same as they've always been, 89 on the hot side and 78-80 on the cool side. she roams her enclosure just about every night and sometimes even in the day, i last weighed her in July at 1369 grams and shes 1334 now. she usually eats every meal i give her and had never refused a meal since I've gotten her as a hatchling. she has no mucus in her mouth, havent heard any wheezing or seen any bubbles so i know she dont have an RI, shes been pretty active and healthy but i dont know why she keeps refusing her meals. my only guess is that she wants to breed and shes of age to breed but not of size yet. i did plan on breeding her this year but she didnt gain enough weight to do so but i will be breeding her next year when shes the right weight. if she keeps refusing ill try a live rat even though i really dont like feeding live, but thats only if absolutely have to,as a last resort. Any advice would be much appreciated. Thanks

[bcr229]

Sounds like she hit the "1000 gram wall" a bit late.

Since she's active in the evenings, try feeding her then. Also, thaw the feeders in the same room as the snake enclosures to scent the room, it helps get them into feeding mode.

[Alexiel03]

Sounds like she hit the "1000 gram wall" a bit late.

Since she's active in the evenings, try feeding her then. Also, thaw the feeders in the same room as the snake enclosures to scent the room, it helps get them into feeding mode.

yeah i forgot about that 1000 gram wall lol i usually thaw the rats in the bathroom, ill try thawing them in the room next feeding day (friday) i usually feed her at night, and shes usually roaming but she doesn't seem interested in food when i offer it to her, i try multiple times that night but she just goes the opposite direction of it. i also try leaving it in the enclosure overnight but shes never taken her food that way even when she was little, she likes to strike her food lol my male eats his if i leave it in there with him cuz he used to be a shy eater but hes been striking now and eating like a beast. ill also try feeding her earlier in the evenings too.

[Alexiel03]

so i finally got her to eat again last night i fed her a live mouse which she gladly took and offered her a f/t rat after she ate it and she took it too. i had to scent the rat in the box the mouse came in but im happy she finally ate for me again, hopefully she will continue to eat for me now.

[Alexiel03]

well sadly my female mojave is still not taking food since i fed her the mouse and rat i dont know why she isnt eating, when i offer her food shes usually out roaming her enclosure and she has no interest in the rat when i offer it to her, i even skipped 2 meals hoping she would take it next time. she hasnt lost a dramatic amount of weight, maybe a couple hundred grams or so (ill get her weight later today) shes not going into a shed either so i dont know whats up with her.

[SnakeBalls]

Have you tried another live?

[lawnchaircrisis]

I had a male mojave that was acting similar this year, and also thought it might be because he was in "breeding mode". It actually turned out he wasn't happy with the way his enclosure was arranged and it took the addition of some more hides, sphagnum moss and different substrate for him to settle down and eat. He had been in the tank for a good 8 months and never had a problem eating, but for whatever reason he didn't feel secure suddenly.

Could it be that there is something else going on with her? Maybe look over everything in her enclosure to make sure that she feels warm, hydrated and secure, because it seems that if they are evenly slightly unhappy, they don't eat. Also, when was the last time she went in to shed?

[Stewart_Reptiles]

Pair her, what comes into play with breeding is age and size while I would not breed her at that size if she was 18 months, I would at her age, not all females become massive some stay on the smaller size.

By pairing her she might resume feeding again.

I have bred 1100 grams females in the past that were finicky eaters and they still went on to lay eggs just fine it also triggered their appetite and they went from picky eater / fasting snakes to ravenous age in my decision of breeding those was the main factor.

[Alexiel03]

Have you tried another live?

i was thinking of trying another live, but with a live rat. the only thing is that i dont want her to get hooked on live food because of how expensive it would be and i dont have the space to breed my own rats right now and i cant because the people im living with dont like rats

[Alexiel03]

I had a male mojave that was acting similar this year, and also thought it might be because he was in "breeding mode". It actually turned out he wasn't happy with the way his enclosure was arranged and it took the addition of some more hides, sphagnum moss and different substrate for him to settle down and eat. He had been in the tank for a good 8 months and never had a problem eating, but for whatever reason he didn't feel secure suddenly.

Could it be that there is something else going on with her? Maybe look over everything in her enclosure to make sure that she feels warm, hydrated and secure, because it seems that if they are evenly slightly unhappy, they don't eat. Also, when was the last time she went in to shed?

i check her temps and humidity every week and i mist her enclosure about 2 times a week so i know shes hydrated. the last shed she had was after she ate last.