BP won't feed...

Grrr...

So, here's the deal. I adopted Kismet, female/3.5 years old, back in May. This is my first Ohio winter with her. On Thanksgiving weekend she refused to feed. :(

She is a live feeder, unfortunately...so that meant my daughter got a new pet rat.

I rechecked all of her temps...gave her some time, talked to the vet, offered up two fuzzies. No dice. Gave THOSE to my friend with a kingsnake. Waited some more....tried offering a F/T when I was feeding my other BP, and still not feeding. After 11 weeks of no food, she shed and I threw in a live small rat (as she was acting quite alert). She nipped at the rat to keep him away from her, but not a full on strike.

I had enough, took her into the vet. She was diagnosed with a lower GI infection (presumably from an infected rat) and given a dose of panacur as a precaution as well. We completed 9 out of the 10 dosages of her antibiotic, increased her heat...tonight she'll get her last dose. The vet said we'd probably be able to toss in a rat and get her to feed at this point. Yup, the rat is in the corner and Kismet is having nothing to do with it.

She seems fine. She doesn't look or feel like she's lost weight, she's in great temperament and alert. Nothing is "off" about her other than her NOT EATING. I'm just frustrated. I have her not working right now (I'm a belly dancer, my snakes perform with me) to decrease any possible stresses.

My other BP, Persephone, eats F/T and normally eats two small frozen rats every couple of weeks...but she's lowered her feeding to one rat these last three feedings. I was talking to the girl at the pet store where I buy the rats and she said her BP is doing the same...in fact, she said in the Spring they typically have a run on rats because everyone's snakes are coming out of their Winter funk. I also just had a girl on FB I know who breeds cornsnakes say that all adult snakes go off or reduce feed in the Winter to hibernate. Which I was under the impression in pythons brumation isn't necessarily a guaranteed thing?

So, while I'm glad we identified that Kismet had an infection and that (hopefully) is cleared up...I'm leaning towards this being a partial brumation deal, due to the weather. Persephone has never done anything like this...I've had her for all 2.5 years of her life and this is the first time she's decreased her feed (she's a piggy). So, knowing that I KNOW Persephone and this is a first for her...I'm guessing Kismet is just going off feed entirely?

This would be far less stressful if she wasn't a live feeder...I running out of stuff to do with spare rats! :)

Any thoughts or experience with this???

Sexually mature ones go off feed frequently in winter. It's not brumation, they just give up food for a while.

OK, that helps! As the BP I've had the longest is still youngish, I was wondering about that as well....

It is normal for this time of year (breeding season). I have had adults go 6+ months.

My first question is how much weight has been lost during this fast?
Next statement is she is acting like a ball. That time of the season to go off of feed and with all the extra stress added to her because you are worried didnt help anything either.
Also whqt size rat do you normally feed her?

No weight lost (per in my original post) or at least none that the vet was concerned about. She's my fat snake, and she's still just as plump as ever. She normally eats medium sized rats, but once she went off feed the medium I threw her basically bullied her (repeatedly tapped her on the nose, once he figured out she hated that) and stressed her out. I removed him, and he is now my daughter's pet. So, per the vet's advice, I have offered smaller prey to lower the risk of injury to Kismet.

She is otherwise acting normal for her...remember, I have only had this particular BP since May...this is my first Winter with her, so I have no clue what is normal for her in the Winter. My other BP is far from normal, she thinks she's my other daughter... LOL! So, she's hardly a measure for me on what is normal with a BP.