Greetings,

I have an '04 Bob Clark male. He's always been a conservative eater (eating a small f/t rat every 2-3 weeks) but this is the longest he's gone without. He's a small boy- about 3 feet long and currently weighing in at 933 grams. He hasn't lost any real weight (maybe a couple grams) but he feels 'squishy' as though he's losing some muscle mass.

To answer all the standard questions...

He's in a Vision cage
Repti-bark substrate
Herpstat thermostatically controlled (awesome device BTW)
Cool Temp ~78
Warm Temp ~85
Basking spot in low 90's
Humidity % - averaging high 40's to mid 50's (It's dry in Alaska right now)
Handled rarely - once every couple of weeks.
He's never had a bad shed
He feeds in his cage- usually on paper
He's been spotted drinking water in that last couple days
Last Feb. '06 was the first time he ever refused a meal

That last time I tried to feed him was last night at 11:00pm. I scented the room with the thawing rat. I chose a smallish weaned rat. During the scenting he poked his head out of his hide. After placing the rat in the cage he came completely out and move around as though her were interested but he didn't strike it, or even :cens0r::cens0r::cens0r::cens0r: himself for action. I left the rat in his cage overnight (not something I usually do, but I thought what the hay).

I have a couple of snakes and, of course, he's my favorite so he has to be my problem child. ;-)

I guess my concern is whether or not I have the ability to accurately assess his reason for not eating. If he's just burned out on rats and doing the standard, let's make our BP owner worry thing, well that's fine. However, if has some other underlying issue I would like to be able to identify and correct it.

My questions for the 'experienced' keepers are:

How do I assess his overall health during his hiatus from furry friends?
Should he feel a little squishy while of feed?
How much, if any, is a normal amount of weight to lose? Is there a formula for this?
Any advice in gernal is greatly appreciated.

Next week, I may try a pre-killed mouse. Maybe a very small, smelly and perfectly warm critter will get his appetite kickin' again?


Thank you in advance,
Jason