Anyone who has had a snake off feed for 7 months + please respond

I have a male that is getting close to 8 months off feed. My question is, those of you who have had snakes go off feed for this long how did you get them going again?

He bred this season for the first time and hasn't eaten since he started breeding back in November or so. He hasn't bred in almost 2 months now.

His weight is still pretty good. A bit over 1000g now, he was about 1400g prior to breeding.

As of now haven't tries anything too drastic. He was a great feeder on frozen thawed prior to this strike. I have tried frozen thawed and live about every week or 2 with no luck.

When is it time to worry... ?


Thanks!

i had a female not eat for 6 months. i got her in january and since then she did not eat for me. i tried everything then after 6 months she ate a mouse for me then in two weeks i had her eating rats already and is currently pounding food.
well i had a male go off feed due to breeing and when i stoped he still would not eat i had to clean him and his tub good just in case he had a little female scent on him then few days later he ate.

I've always been told 15%-20% weigh loss = a vet trip.

I had a WC male back in 94 that was eating rats but then went off feed for over 9 months. Tried mice rats gerbils, finally got him to take a hamster. I don't remember time of year or anything and he wasn't breeding, just not eating. Ate fine after that but I sold him a couple months later.

I have had a male go 6.5 months or so, then finally eat come summer. I have heard a change of scenery can help like a different tub or enclosure moved to another area. Years back I remember people saying take them for a car ride. I have also heard moving females to different tubs/racks to get them to begin cycling. I think the logic behind this is a change of enviroment may simulate a seasonal change and get them to switch gears.

I usually move my problem feeders to smaller tubs jammed with hides, keep ambient temps in the 80's and that usually does the trick.

I had a male go off feed for 10 months. But he wasn't losing much weight at all. I think combined it was like 100-200g. He was over 1500. I ended up having a friend of mine that is a knowledgeable person on forcefeeding feed him a rat pup and he resumed eating the week after. Hasn't stopped since. I also tried everything before that. Smaller box, washing him and the box, bumped the heat up a couple degrees, smaller prey, everything I could think of. Sometimes they get stuck in those fasts. That was a troublesome male.


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My big male spider went off feed during breeding. Was off feed about five months. Prior to going off he was a solid ft rat eater. After breeding he would not touch them. I threw a large live mouse in with him and before I closed the tub he had it. I fed him mice for a few weeks. Several weeks later warmed up a medium ft rat and he took it with no problems. Been back on ft rats for awhile now.

Give him smaller hide one where he can feet nice and tide.... bump temp for couple degrees... and buy small weanling rat 35-40g and leave it over night... if this dont work try again within 2 weeks bumping humidity a little 2-3 days prior feeding... Worked for me for fasting female..:gj:

8 months and she fed last week :D On live but still a feed she should now hopefully start pounding food weekly and getting some weight on. I had another female who also didn't feed for 8 months ish I managed to get her onto defrost again but that was more down to patience, I place her into a 33ltr rub popped a defrosted rat inside with her and then covered her with a towel and waited. She ate and then started eating weekly and even got up to strike feeding :)

Never give up hope they will eventually feed if theres no under lying conditions. I was worried about my last female because she lost alot of weight I shouted at the top of my voice when she fed to let the wife know :) Talking about that need to try her again tonight :D

Good luck and I hope you get him feeding.

Thanks for all the info! I will try some of these suggestions.

i had a female go 7 months for me from the time i purchased her. not sure how long she was off prior to me getting her. i noticed her activity level had changed one day and i offered her a frozen thawed rat. she attacked and wrapped but never ate it. i then offered her a live small rat a week later and she ate with gusto. mice also do the trick regardless of what they ate before. mice tend to activate something in them to eat.
hope she starts to eat for you.
adam jeffery

my female that I bought last august ate like a pig until about november or so, then began refusing food. From November to May, I'd offer pinky rats, small mice, large mice, and NOTHING. Then I remembered that back in November, I offered her a weanling rat because it was all I had at the time- I was sure it was "too big" for her- but she took it. So I finally offered her a small weanling rat in May (maybe 1/4" bigger than her widest part) and she took it. She has eaten consistently as long as I offer her prey that I think is "just a little" too big for her. If I go by the recommendations of the pet store, I wind up with another frozen rat or mouse that she doesn't want. Feeding "too big" worked for me, but I can't recommend it to anyone else.... what I would suggest is just experiment with different prey until they take it. Also make sure temps and humidity are just right, not too much activity around the cage, etc.

11 months and then resumed for two months and is 4 months into his next binge. I think he might be self conscious about his weight, albinos are weird.

15q tub for 3 days did the trick. :)