Weight loss during a fast

[whatsherface]

How much weight loss should I be concerned about? One of my boys has been on a fast for two months and has gone from 833g to 813g. I tried feeding him a f/t small rat last night and he struck (which he's never done, I usually have to leave it in his tub), but he didn't eat it. Husbandry is good, so I think he may have been freaked out by the noises of my feeding the others? He also shed ten days ago, so I'm not sure I need to be that concerned about his weight if he's still shedding. I feel like I might be worrying over nothing, but I just needed a bit of reassurance.

tl;dr: Is there a 'safe' amount of weight for a bp to lose?

[greco]

That's kind of hard to quantify in terms of actual weight, especially without more info like age, length, what he eats and how lean/fat his build was at the beginning of his fast. I've seen pythons that are too fat to begin with and could stand to lose a little weight, lol. Maybe someone could come up with a reasonable percentage but I'm not going to hazard a random guess.

I would watch for visible signs that he's becoming underweight. Is he lethargic (even for a BP)? Slow movement and reaction time? Does his spine make a distinct ridge on his back? Do his muscles seem more slack when he grips you, like he's losing strength? Can you feel or see his ribs? Does his skin crease or fold on his sides, down near his belly?

I understand your concern but it takes a BP a long time to starve themselves to death. I have an adult male pinstripe who hasn't fed since March. He was fairly chunky to begin with, and he does look less fat now, but he's definitely nowhere near underweight yet.

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[whatsherface]

He's not as bulky as he was, but he was kind of a sausage before. Still pretty active whenever I handle him, no noticeable change is his muscle/grip. Again, I'm sure I'm worried about nothing but I'm a worrier haha. The fact that he struck at the food this week is good (I'm assuming), because it means he's interested. I'll trying feeding him last next week. Hopefully the smells and such will get his feeding response going, and he won't have to deal with the jumble of me feeding the others. Eat boy, eat!

[kc261]

I've heard the number 10% before, and yours hasn't lost that much yet. Also, the 10% would only start once your snake is "empty". They can poop big poos that are more than 10% of their weight.

But, as has been pointed out, I'd go more by how he looks, acts, and feels than by any number. Sounds to me like yours is perfectly fine. Remember there have been cases of BPs going over a year without eating, then starting eating again, and being perfectly fine the entire time.

As far as the striking then not eating thing, I believe that is almost always a security issue. Snakes are very vulnerable when they are in the middle of swallowing, so if they don't feel secure enough, they may decide not to eat. Double check everything to make sure you husbandry is spot-on. Make sure he has at least 2 nice snug hides if he's in a tank or other open type set-up. Lots of people don't offer hides to their snakes in tubs, but I always do to anyone who is on a hunger strike. Another good thing is to clutter up the enclosure with stuff like crumbled newspaper or artificial foliage, which allows the snake to feel partially hidden even when not in a hide. Offer food to this guy last, then turn out the lights and go out of the room. If you are concerned that he is stressed enough by you feeding the other snakes that it might be affecting his eating, consider feeding him on a different day.

I also advise that you offer food less often to a snake on a hunger strike. Maybe once every 2 weeks. Offering food that the snake does not want (or does want but isn't feeling secure enough to eat) just stresses the snake. And there is also some speculation that it just gets the snake in the habit of refusing. The only upside to continuing to offer food on the normal schedule (whatever it was for the snake in question, weekly, every 5 days, whatever) is that maybe the snake gets it's first meal at the end of the fast 7 - 9 days earlier. 7 - 9 days is NOTHING to a fasting BP, and not worth the potential risks on the flip side.