Hey everyone I have some great news to share!
Sorry this post will be so long I just hope this gives someone hope if their snake hasn't been eating.
I got my first BP from a lady last week and she had told me she couldn't get him to eat and he hadn't fed in over 3 months.
I took him to a local breeder who told me he was thin and suggested I go ahead and try to feed him after giving him a couple days to settle in to his new home.
I found out she hadn't been keeping him in the proper enclosure and he had been living in horrible husbandry with zero hides, 0% humidity, and unstable temps in the seventies and low eighties. I got his tank set up to perfect conditions and gave him a couple days to settle in.
Tonight I warmed up a pretty large rat and made it "zombie dance" all over in front of my BP for a LONG time with no interest on his part. I was so disappointed and started to worry since the spine of my snake is clearly visible I know it is important I get him to eat and get some weight on him fast.
Even though I had no hopes of him taking the rat, I left it laying on a rock under the light in his cage and closed the cage up and got in bed. His tank is clearly visible from my bed and as I was laying here watching TV I noticed him going up to it, flicking his tongue at the head then the feet then the tail and back and forth. Then he would rest his head on the rat, as if he thought it was a pillow. He would return back to the tongue flickering then back to laying on it for a good while. After about 2 or 3 hours I looked in the tank to see the rat had moved from it's place on the rock! My snake was trying to eat it. The only problem was he had started with the rats back foot. After wrapping it up and wrestling with it forever and getting part of it down he released and and moved around it a second. This time he went for the head and slowly opened his mouth and started to eat it.. Exactly 23 min later he got every last bit of the rat down. His big bulging belly is full and he looks EXTREMELY happy. I imagine he feels like I do after thanksgiving dinner. When he was eating it the second time he didn't wrap it up, wrestle with it, or anything he just slowly opened his mouth and grabbed it and swallowed it up. Actually, he didn't even "attack" it the first time he tried to eat it he just was very slow and calm about it.
So if your snake isn't eating, I'm sure it is slim chance, but maybe you could try leaving the food in the tank and seeing if you will get as lucky as I did.
I am so happy and relieved now and I'm sure my snake is too to have a big meal in his belly. :-)
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He'll come around!
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