Male BP refuses to eat been 5 wks...HELP!

I have an EXTREMELY head shy male BP, and nothing that I do works. He has eaten a few times since I bought him a while back, but now it's been a month. I have left him alone (no handling) for a good amount of time so that he could adjust to his enviroment. The tank is located under my beardies which has a skirt which helps keep his enviroment calm from all the busy people walking by. I have even given him a smaller hide, which seemed to improve his mood for a short while. He was constant fresh water, and humidity varies but is check regularly (my house is very dry). He's had medium temp mice and hot mice. The last thing to try in MY books is a larger mouse. Tonight (he has blue eyes so he's going to shed) but since it has been so long since he's eaten, we figured we'd try. Once we got the mouse hot he struck, but since he missed it, he would not try again. I'm so frustrated with this snake! :rolleye2: Can anyone help me?


Thank you!

I have a frustrating male as well.
He is EXTREMELY shy and as a result, I've tried many things.

The one thing that gets him to eat very consistently is a small live rat pup, one that is not crawling yet.
Even though he should be eating larger sized items by now, the small rat pup is the only thing that won't scare him.

Good luck!

One month isn't TOO bad, but wait until he's out of shed to offer again. Can you give us exact temps of hot and cool side, humidity at the moment? Is our heat regulated or unregulated? What is your heat source? He should ideally have two hides and lots of close cover.

Have you tried live?
How much does your snake weigh?

I cannot give any specifics...His heat is unregulated. He has a 10 gal. glass terrarium which is not roomy, a water dish to soak or drink from, and moss to help with humidity. He does roam, though lately not as much. Our house is really dry so I keep up with the water levels constantly. I have even put a calming agent in his water bowl to see if that may calm him down like I do with my new chameleon. He's blocked off from any distractions, especially our other snakes. Yet is by the porch door which we have open and can sometimes get chilly. I wonder if I should move him to a flat plastic container like my female is in? Her humidty is much better regulated in that container and I have never had a problem with her since I bought her (long before him).

I do not know how much he weighs, I'm sure he has lost a little since I bought him but it's not noticeable at all. I feed only frozen to all my snakes and we check first to see what they have been eating, we try to buy snakes that already eat frozen.

So, UTH or bulbs or ceramic heater? You don't have thermometers? How about a picture of his enclosure? Explain "calming agent" you drug your snake?

Sent from my MB855

4-5 weeks is nothing, and is completely normal this time of the year. I once had a female, that didn't eat for 8 months, then you can start to worry :)

You really need to have the heat source regulated with a thermostat. I don't think I would be giving any "calming agent" to my snake, especially since the snake is not eating. You may have to resort to feeding live.

Is this for real? Lol.

I hope not..

Sent from my MB855

Thank you Brian Fobian Osowski, I am going to look into buying bigger mice for him, possibly even her since she's so close to his size. I do not have the heat regulated because the cool side of his tank is the same temp as the apt, and our apt is so small so it is easy to figure out if the room is too cool or not. Most of our snakes (all in the same area) are away from their heat source the majority of the time. The calming agent I used is healthy for reptiles and came recommended for the chameleon and since he has been so nervous about eating/handling/cleaning his cage, I figured it would help. It certaintly helped the chameleon. Thank you for everyone's help.

ESU Reptile Stress Ease is a spray for reptiles and amphibians, and to help calm them for their new enviroment it replenishes essential fluids in newly acquired reptiles. It provides essential vitamins and electrolytes necessary to combat stress, stablize metabolism and replenish bodily fluids in newly acquired reptiles and amphibians. Ideal for: green iquanas, bearded dragons, geckos, chameleons, water dragons, tegus, monitors, skinks, boas, pythons, corn snakes, milk snakes, king snakes, frogs, toads, red-eared sliders, box turtles, tortoises, hermit crabs, and all small lizards, snakes andamphibians. - This is straight off the bottle guys. If anyone wants to use it, I bought it at my local reptile store, I am not sure if they sell it at petsmart or petco. It was only $10 for me.

That sounds like snake oil, so to speak.

Thank you Brian Fobian Osowski, I am going to look into buying bigger mice for him, possibly even her since she's so close to his size. I do not have the heat regulated because the cool side of his tank is the same temp as the apt, and our apt is so small so it is easy to figure out if the room is too cool or not. Most of our snakes (all in the same area) are away from their heat source the majority of the time. The calming agent I used is healthy for reptiles and came recommended for the chameleon and since he has been so nervous about eating/handling/cleaning his cage, I figured it would help. It certaintly helped the chameleon. Thank you for everyone's help.

It smells like watermelon- supposedly. It actually smells very similar to the vitamins we add into the water for our birds.

I talked to one of my vendors and he said since it's around mating time that the males will not eat as much. He as been introduced to my female, thought nothing has come about. I will try not feeding him for a month like the man said and will keep everyone informed of the progress.

He finally ate today!!

Glad to hear he ate for you. However, you really need to get a reliable thermometer, and a thermostat if you are using an UTH. If you don't, you are just going to have more issues in the future.