Are Hunger Strikes Gender Related?
As the title says-
Are females more prone to hunger strikes or males? Or, no difference?
and if no difference, do you believe that one gender tends to go on longer durations than another?
My snake has not been sexed, so I have no empiric data.
Only that while in my care he(?) has had a 4 mo and a 6 mo tour of duty under his belt.
Thoughts?
Re: Are Hunger Strikes Gender Related?
We have had several of both genders go off for upwards of 6 months. So in my experience, there is no difference. But that is a small sample set.
Re: Are Hunger Strikes Gender Related?
As juveniles, no, no real difference.
As adults, the timing and length of time are slightly gender biased. My males are bit more unpredictable as far as length of time for the hunger strike, and it is often related to how many females I am cycling them through for breeding. Females it's definitely tied to specific things within the breeding season, and often specific females have specific habits - some girls eat all the way up until ovulation (occasionally even up to the pre-lay shed), some stop eating as soon as they start building follicles.
hope that helps :)
-Jen