GTP not eating

I have my boy GTP who is not eating. We have had him kill the mouse eat it and regurgitate it later. Also changed his cage to see if it was a environment issue. Alas no luck. I keep my GTP's around 83 degrees day/night my girl has had no issues at all.

Any ideas/ tricks? It got to the point where we force fed the snake and he kept it down for a day and then left us stinky surprise.

Thanks in advance!
Jeff

Are you thawing them out all the way? If its a regurge problem, and your thawing the prey items out all the way, then it could be a parasite's maybe. How long have you had them? Have they ever given you problems eating, before? Besides the regurge, males are known to go off feed during the breeding season. So if he isnt eating i would offer a prey item every 14 days or so, if he doesnt take it then leave him alone. Anyway, try and have a fecal done. Who produced them? Just curious. Good luck.

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Originally Posted by rellek

Alas no luck. I keep my GTP's around 83 degrees day/night my girl has had no issues at all.

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Almost forgot to ask, but im curious what you are taking your temps with? Temp gun??? If so, i would take the temps of the snakes as well as surface temps of perches etc... But the animals temp is very important too.

I feed my gtp's fresh killed. i breed my own rodents for all my snakes... I use a infared thermometer (not the tempgun ones... good ones) as well as dial thermometers with digital. I trust my infared, just use the others for a quick reference. What should the temp of the snake be? Like i said.. room is 78 degrees and i keep my chondros and emeralds around 84.

I will have some rat pups coming real soon so ill put one in his cage then. I like the idea about trying it every 14 days. ill keep doing it.

I would try to get fecal done if he would eat.

I have no clue who produced him unfortunately. I got him from someone who was desperate for cash($100) he was eating for a good three months after we acquired him and he just stopped. I know they stop eating for breeding season but he stopped eating way to soon IMO.

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Originally Posted by rellek

I have no clue who produced him unfortunately. I got him from someone who was desperate for cash($100) he was eating for a good three months after we acquired him and he just stopped. I know they stop eating for breeding season but he stopped eating way to soon IMO.

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I'm not quite sure what you mean by saying it stopped eating way too soon. I've had animals stop feeding in September and not resume feeding until April of the following year. Do you have an idea on age? You could just have a male that is wanting to breed.

is he male and 2 years old..lol... they always stop eating at breeding time...at least for me.. around 2 years in age.:snake:

i knew they were supposed to stop around september but he stopped eating around early august.. ill give him till march... lol and yes he is just about 2 years old

thanks for your input.. much appreciated.

I have a friend that has chondro's and his male went 7 months without eating he was loosing alot of weight he would show no interest in rats or mice. I got a just hatched baby chicken and took it over there he ate it. Right now I actually have a chicken egg in my incubator to try to feed him another one. It still has about two more weeks before it hatches but I am hoping he is going to eat it too.

Emeralds are from the opposite side of the world from chondros. Raise the temps up for the green trees. 87 to 89 in the hot spot with room to cool down to 83 is good. Sounds like he might be developing upper respiratory infection. It could just be male fasting. Higher temps will make him more prone to eat and if RI is setting in it should help that a lot too. It will also trick him into thinking it's summer time again. 83 is too low for a chondro IMO. It could just be male fasting, but if it's RI and it gets severe it will kill a snake quick. See my "sad day" thread.

Did you ever figure out why he regurged on you? That would be driving me crazy. Good luck buddy.

Thank you david. I upped his temp for this weekend.. she how he reacts.

juddb I am trying davids suggestion and Im gonna probably try to feed him next week. If not I might force feed him with a fuzzie with pani-cure . I'm gonna try my best to keep him alive and well.. I like all my tree dwelling snakes..

Btw.. Picked up two breeding groups of amazon tree boas. yay..

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Originally Posted by DavidG

Emeralds are from the opposite side of the world from chondros. Raise the temps up for the green trees. 87 to 89 in the hot spot with room to cool down to 83 is good. Sounds like he might be developing upper respiratory infection. It could just be male fasting. Higher temps will make him more prone to eat and if RI is setting in it should help that a lot too. It will also trick him into thinking it's summer time again. 83 is too low for a chondro IMO. It could just be male fasting, but if it's RI and it gets severe it will kill a snake quick. See my "sad day" thread.

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David, I will respectfully have to disagree with your low temp theory. ;) I have routinely dropped room temps with my chondros into the upper 60's to low 70s with little effect on the animals. I have kept babies and adults in the same room during the process. The only animals that have had night heat are babies. The rest get their heat turned off at night year round. IMO, 89 is too high. In my observation, my animals prefer temps in the low 80s, right around 82....which is why I shoot for a hot spot of 84-85.

I'm going to call this one plain ole seasonal fasting. I have noticed most males will continue to fast even if temps are raised. Outside barometric pressure can make these animals behave in ways we wouldn't normally think of.

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Originally Posted by rellek

Thank you david. I upped his temp for this weekend.. she how he reacts.

juddb I am trying davids suggestion and Im gonna probably try to feed him next week. If not I might force feed him with a fuzzie with pani-cure . I'm gonna try my best to keep him alive and well.. I like all my tree dwelling snakes..

Btw.. Picked up two breeding groups of amazon tree boas. yay..

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I dont think you need to force feed him at all. He will eat when he's ready. Also with the panicure, your not even sure if he has parasites or not, if he does have parasites you dont know what meds will take care of them. I was suggesting a fecal exam to determine if parasites were an issue. I hope this makes sense. Brandon is a well of knowledge by the way, i would take any advice he gives me, just sayin:gj:

Brandon is more experienced than I am, without question. People keep chondros different ways and a lot are successful. I think you should consult a vet before medicating or force feeding. Just extra stress on the animal and might not be necessary.

Well unfortunately Mal(the green tree) passed away today. ugh sad.

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Originally Posted by rellek

Well unfortunately Mal(the green tree) passed away today. ugh sad.

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I am so deeply sorry! :(