Uggh Feeding Issues....

I purchased a female Lesser in January. I put her in my quarantine rack which holds 28 qt tubs. In June I moved her to my 41qt tub rack. Since then she hasn't eaten. She has 2 hides. Temps are 92 on hot side. 80ish on cool side. Ambient all summer has been 80-86 in day time. Humidity is about 50%. She was eating like a champ before I moved her. Almost doubled her weight in 6 months (595 to 1200). I always fed her F/T. I have tried P/K, live, and even scaled down the prey size. No dice. Any suggestions? Thanks.

My clown female took 3 months off of eating. She was by best and most consistent eater in the beginning!

I tried everything to get her to eat. Consistently offered once a week. Tried a variety of sizes. Moved her to different locations in my rack. Tweaked her temperatures. Offered mice instead of rats. Put her in a paper bag with a thawed rat for a couple of hours. Thawed her meals differently. Messed with humidity levels. Prayed to various deities. Sacrificed a goat...

She slowly started to eat again on her own schedule and started off on mice and is now back on rats with gusto. I chalk it up to the famous Ball Python hunger strikes and figure I wasted a lot of that time thinking it was something I was doing. In the future, I will offer once a week, monitors weights and just wait it out. =)

Hopefully someone will have some helpful advice, but if nothing else maybe I've mentioned something you haven't tried.

P.S. Just kidding about the goat....

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Originally Posted by FoxReptiles

My clown female took 3 months off of eating. She was by best and most consistent eater in the beginning!

I tried everything to get her to eat. Consistently offered once a week. Tried a variety of sizes. Moved her to different locations in my rack. Tweaked her temperatures. Offered mice instead of rats. Put her in a paper bag with a thawed rat for a couple of hours. Thawed her meals differently. Messed with humidity levels. Prayed to various deities. Sacrificed a goat...

She slowly started to eat again on her own schedule and started off on mice and is now back on rats with gusto. I chalk it up to the famous Ball Python hunger strikes and figure I wasted a lot of that time thinking it was something I was doing. In the future, I will offer once a week, monitors weights and just wait it out. =)

Hopefully someone will have some helpful advice, but if nothing else maybe I've mentioned something you haven't tried.

P.S. Just kidding about the goat....

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Lol...maybe I should sacrifice a goat. I don't want to get too crazy with her. I have moved her to a different slot in the rack but that hasn't helped. Its not like I haven't had a BP go off feed before. She hasn't really lost any weight, maybe a little. Its just frustrating and it doesn't help when my wife thinks something is wrong every time she doesn't eat. Perhaps it was the change to a bigger tub. 28 to 41 is quite a difference. She does have the hides though. I guess I'll just be patient and offer a small rat each week. Darn BPs.

Put her back in a smaller tub. 95% likelihood your problem is solved.

My year old male pinstripe is doing the exact same thing. This past summer it was a scorcher in So Cal. and he was real picky on eating a f/t rat pup once a week. His most recent meal was Sept 1st of this year. I know it's only been a month, but it does get frustrating. I've tried moving him to another place in the rack, f/t mice, smaller prey,etc.....it will happen eventually..

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Originally Posted by Annarose15

Put her back in a smaller tub. 95% likelihood your problem is solved.

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Well, problem with that is the smaller tub is on a different rack. Its my quarantine rack so I really don't want to keep her there, especially if I get something new in the next few months. Putting a 28qt tub in a slot designed for a 41qt also makes it difficult to access since the heat is further back. Has anyone tried that?

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Originally Posted by CeeJay

Well, problem with that is the smaller tub is on a different rack. Its my quarantine rack so I really don't want to keep her there, especially if I get something new in the next few months. Putting a 28qt tub in a slot designed for a 41qt also makes it difficult to access since the heat is further back. Has anyone tried that?

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I have some 28qt tubs in my 41qt rack. I just slide the tubs far enough so the back hide is sitting over the heat, but there is still enough room for the snakes to get off the heat. Works fine for me... It's not an ideal situation IMO, but this was a rescue situation and I decided to keep them in the tubs they were used to so I could get them eating and up to weight. I just haven't changed them out to 41qt tubs yet because they're all doing so well...

EDIT: I'll snap a pic in about 30 minutes when I get home from work so you can see what it looks like with the 28qt tubs in the 41qt rack.

moving her into a much larger tub is what most likely made her go off feed. moving her back might not get her feeding right away. I would clutter up the tub with crumble up newspaper for her to crawl under. making her feel more secure and when it's time, she'll eat. you can try feeding her in the dark, which will also help her feel more secure and hopefully going back on feed. once she starts feeding. slowly remore the newspaper one at a time. the key here is slowly. good luck don

Here is a quick snap of part of the rack I was talking about. You can see a 41qt in the bottom two slots pictured. The rest of the tubs in the pic are 28qt. They just sit farther back on the shelf so they are on top of the heat.

http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y28...-29-50_276.jpg

Thanks for the pics Ink. I appreciate it. That could definitely work. Although I may have to use the lid if the fitment isn't snug. No biggie though.

Thanks Don for that idea. I do like it. It will cut down the open areas and provide her with more security. May try that first.