Very worried...

My bp hasn't eaten since middle of April... We've tried everything: we've bumped up her temps, we've taken her to the vets (she had a fungal infection in her throat, which we treated), we've fed her in her tank, out of her tank, with the lights on and the lights off. We've fed her large mice, medium mice, and we even bought rat pinkies recently, since she's so thin now... We've kept the prey warm, we've cooled it down to room temperature... She has a distinct triangle shape to her and I'm very, very worried for her... It's like she'll get the prey down most of the way, then suddenly seize up and freak out, and then she spits it up. Could this possibly be a worsening of the "spider wobble"...? She's not lethargic in the least, and when handled she's active. She just won't eat no matter what I do.

I know snakes can go a while without eating, but she was small to begin with... She's obviously hungry, and she doesn't hesitate to strike and coil and attempt to eat. What haven't I done that I can try? Should now be the time to learn to force feed her? I'd take her back to the vet's but I'm afraid stressing her out even more (she's been to two vets at LEAST 5-6 times in the 1 1/2 years we've had her) giving her more antibiotics will do more harm than good at this point...


I'm even throwing around the idea of giving her up to someone more experienced, if that will save her... I just can't stand watching her starve and I don't know what to do anymore. :( I'm desperate for help, and if I can't get her to eat very soon it will be back to the vets.

I would consider assist feeding. I hope she eats for you!

I've tried trying to guide her when it looks like she needs help, but it scares her into a "flight" response and she'll drop the prey item. Know of any good assist feeding videos I could take a look at?

How much does she weigh? Assuming all husbandry is correct. Leave her be for a week or two, no handling. Then throw in (maybe at night time) a properly sized (eyes still closed, though) live rat pup. Turn lights out and let her be. As long as rats eyes are closed, go ahead and leave her be all night. Hopefully its gone in the morning.

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She's been hovering around 600g's for months. That's what worries me the most is that she's grown longer (she's about 3ft now) but she's dropping weight steadily. I just can't understand the whole seizing thing. I've never heard of any snake doing it.

What exactly are your temps? surface temps under the hides warm side and cool side as well as the AIR temp from about the middle of the enclosure (1/3 up the side on a tank 1/2 way on a tub)

What are you using to measure temps and have you checked it against multiple other thermometers for accuracy? (digital ones often are 2ºF out but over time they can become much worse... I have one that reads 15ºF lower than correct.

I am guessing that there is either a husbandry issue or a health one. You have seen the vet often enough to lead me to either a husbandry issue first or a very poor vet second. I am guessing husbandry. My suggestion would be to get a new set of thermometers and check the old against the new ones. I would suggest to buy 3-5 new ones so that if you get a poor one out of the box you will find discover it before you rely on it. I have tested a huge number of thermometers and find that in the sub 100$ ones about 25% are wrong more than 1ºF and one third of those more than 2ºF. One of the reasons I don't like accurites the 5 now I have checked are 50% 1ºF and 25% more than 2. Add the over priced and it creates an issue to have enough to check against each other.

Hi,

Are you watching her while she tries to eat?

It might be worth closing the tub and leaving the room once she has struck and coiled to see if it is simply her getting stressed at being vulnerable while eating ( doesn't happen often with established snakes but I've seen it with hatchlings ).

Or it may be worth having the vet look at her throat again in case there are any problems that would cause her pain when food reaches it. Try something a lot smaller like a hopper mouse?

Ask the vet about carnivore diet if nothing else helps.


dr del

Have you considered moving her to a tub set up? My first snake was in a tank and also had an extended fast. Moved him to an appropriately sized tub and let him settle in for a week and he ate.

You can also try the newspaper trick. Fill the tank with crumpled up newspaper to the rim. After a week, drop in a mouse and leave the room. Check back in 30 minutes and mouse should be gone. You can then slowly wean your snake off the newspaper by removing a piece a week.

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Assist feeding involves picking up the snake, putting the prey item deep into their mouth (slightly into their throat), pressing their mouth down slightly to hook their teeth into it, and then setting them down.
Then you sit very very still until they decide what to do about it. (Any movement, and they spit it out and flee). They will either swallow it, or spit it out. If they spit it out...repeat.
I've had to fight with a few of my more stubborn snakes up to 10 times until they get tired enough to give up and swallow it, but after they get worn out, they eventually do it.
I use this to start hatchlings that won't eat on their own.
I've only had a couple of snakes that simply would not swallow the food, no matter how many times I tried.

I also second the recommendation of tube-feeding Carnivore Care. I had a female who went on a huge hunger strike, and we gave her Carnivore Care to try to get a fecal sample...2 weeks later, she started eating. :P

Using my temp gun, temps on the bottom of the tank are 83F (I've been keeping them a little higher in case) and 90-92F on the hotspot. Ambient air temp about 3-5 inches up is 80F.

Well after thinking over the last couple tries to feed her, I'm gonna lay down paper towels throughout the tank. She gets the pinks down (I know they're too small, but right now I want her to eat SOMETHING) but she tries to "push" them into position using her tank, and gets aspen on them. As soon as the aspen gets in her mouth, she tries to get it out and ends up spitting out the pinkie in the process. After that she has no interest in eating again.

I'm going to try this tonight. Crossing my fingers. :please:



It's especially disheartening because I watch my boa eat like clockwork. I know it's two different matters, but sheesh, why can't my bp eat as well as she does? :/