Blast and Damnation!

I want to sincerely apologize to anyone here to whom I said any smug version of, "My snake eats just fine! I've never had a problem."

Yeah, about that.

Skull, my 15 month old normal boy has been on a hunger strike since August 12.

I know that BPs just do this from time to time but still is maddening and worrisome. He always used to zap and gulp his food with such alacrity. Now, he looks at it, tongue flicks a few times and then literally turns away.

:(

His temps are fine 80 - 90 on the warm side, 80 - 75 on the cool side. After his first refusal, he spent a solid two weeks on the cold side then moved back over to the warm side. My husband keeps the habitat clean and changes water every 2 days or so. Skull is drinking water but he's just not interested in food. His last weight on August 31 was 802 grams. We're offering prey about every 10 days.

Blast and damnation! I hope he eats soon!

Ah, he's growing up. I'm sure he'll come around when he's ready. Welcome to the cool kid club! :)

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Originally Posted by Garnet

Skull, my 15 month old normal boy has been on a hunger strike since August 12.

I know that BPs just do this from time to time but still is maddening and worrisome.

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Is it wrong that I find your worrying over a 47 day feeding strike adorable?

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Originally Posted by John1982

Is it wrong that I find your worrying over a 47 day feeding strike adorable?

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Seriously, get back to me when it's been six months... I have a female that hasn't eaten since June.

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Originally Posted by bcr229

Seriously, get back to me when it's been six months... I have a female that hasn't eaten since June.

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This x2. My spider girl only just started eating again, since May.

Not looking forward to my first hunger strike. Just curious, is it usually the bigger ones that go off food, or should I prepare for the babies and juveniles to be finicky as well? Also, has anyone noticed more/less skipped meals among live or F/T eaters? My current theory is that my live feeder is less likely to skip a meal than any of my F/T snakes, but I only have 4 (soon to be 5) snakes and a few months of observation to go on.

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Originally Posted by John1982

Is it wrong that I find your worrying over a 47 day feeding strike adorable?

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I think its adorable too. Like someone else said, this means your baby is growing up!

Shoot, you should meet my 18 year old. By that age they just dont care about food any more...

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my boy had his first month long fast at 600g, ate once then fasted for another month then ate again. he's over 800g now so they know when they need it ha :snake:

my girl is on a 7 monther right now...

All, thank you for your replies. They really help! (Six months without eating? HOLY CRAP!) I'm a wee bit less worried about my boy now. Also, his belly is pink now so he's getting ready to shed. We'll wait until he sheds before we offer again.

I apologize for taking so long to get back here. I had a family emergency to deal with.

Thanks again, y'all. (6 months?? YIKES!)

My one BP Petey will start a strike soon and it'll last until Feburary or March.

Also have a 4 year old, 1200 gram Mojave that I got in January that hadn't eaten since October. He started eating in July so that's a 9-10 month strike between 2 owners. He now eats his ASFs regularly. :)

Longest I've heard on this forum was 18-24 month food strike.


OP- Watch his weight, if he starts dropping significant weight, then be worried. If he hardly drops anything between meals, he's doing fine. :)

I used to worry about my snakes fasting now I don't even care/worry anymore. You just have to think, "He/She is not hungry right now he/she will eat whenever they feel like it" lol that's how I think about it now. I just follow their weight closely and let it run it's course. It's remember when it was really weird seeing my snake eat because he hadn't eaten in so long I almost forgot what it looked like to see him eating something.


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Last night I offered a small mouse to Skull. He refused so I placed it on top of his cold hide for the night.

Reason being, he once took a mouse inside his hot hide and kept it there for a later feeding.

Well, getting up this morning he still hadn't partaken of the feast. Oh well.

Seems like constantly buying rats they don't eat would add up do you guys re freeze then if they don't take it? Or just suck it up as part of cost of ownership lol seems wasteful to just toss them

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Originally Posted by lurch9

Seems like constantly buying rats they don't eat would add up do you guys re freeze then if they don't take it? Or just suck it up as part of cost of ownership lol seems wasteful to just toss them

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When I offer F/T, I usually thaw about half as many rodents as I have snakes. The ones who didn't eat last week get offered first.

Good plan but what if you only have one or two

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Originally Posted by lurch9

Seems like constantly buying rats they don't eat would add up do you guys re freeze then if they don't take it? Or just suck it up as part of cost of ownership lol seems wasteful to just toss them

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When my male fasts I just don't thaw him out a rat at all because I know he won't eat it. I know when my snakes will eat and when they will not. When my male is fasting he will stay in his hide and show no interest at all in eating while I'm feeding all the other snakes, but when he's ready to eat hes in full strike mode ready to eat like everyone else. Once I start seeing subtle signs of interest from him while the others are getting fed I will start to offer and go from there. But I don't offer weekly when my snake is fasting so I don't waste feeders. I just know my snakes feeding habits. Lol rats are too expensive not too :P


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Originally Posted by lurch9

Good plan but what if you only have one or two

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Get a boa.

You hasssssssss nom nomsssssssssss, yessssssssssssssss????????????????
http://i477.photobucket.com/albums/r...ps57b68cd9.jpg

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Originally Posted by bcr229

Get a boa.

You hasssssssss nom nomsssssssssss, yessssssssssssssss????????????????
http://i477.photobucket.com/albums/r...ps57b68cd9.jpg

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Lmao best picture/caption seen in long time haha

Yeah hopefully I can learn my girls feeding habits that well and get more snakes to eat when one doesn't :)

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Originally Posted by bcr229

Get a boa.

You hasssssssss nom nomsssssssssss, yessssssssssssssss????????????????
http://i477.photobucket.com/albums/r...ps57b68cd9.jpg

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Hahaha this is so perfect! I love how he looks like he's smiling [emoji4] Ratssssssss for meeezzzzz plzzzz??? Lol.


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Back about 1993 my 1st BP went 11 months without eating. I had him outside one warm summer day on my shoulder and he lifted his tail and poo'ed out what looked like a rock. (That rat was petrified) He started eating again after that.

Jayare

Well, at least the op's only dealing with one, i had so many go off feed last winter I ended up being over run with live rats because I didn't scale back rodent production soon enough. Now I have the opposite issue, suddenly everyone is earing again and now they're ahead of me on production. Good thing some of them will take frozen. And the longest fast I've had so far is 8 months. Had several go 4 months too.

I just suck it up and trash what isn't eaten.

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Originally Posted by lurch9

Seems like constantly buying rats they don't eat would add up do you guys re freeze then if they don't take it? Or just suck it up as part of cost of ownership lol seems wasteful to just toss them

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I just suck it up and trash what isn't eaten.

Yeah, we only have the one so we just trash the F/T that isn't eaten. I buck or two every 10 days or so isn't going to break us.

We're also varying the times we offer so that we're not on any kind of schedule anymore. This last time, we thought he'd eat because he just shed and dropped what had to be the last of his poop from his last feeding. He was also acting hungry, hunting and doing the S thing. Nope, no go.

I loved the picture of the boa, by the way. Made me grin. :D

HE FINALLY ATE! Two-hundred-and-freaking-ninety four days later!

Whew. We are so relieved.

Congratulations, Relief!
http://images.tapatalk-cdn.com/15/06...d537b23b95.jpg

Ha, I thought this was going to be one of those things where someone accidentally replied to a dead thread! Glad he ate again :D

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Originally Posted by John1982

Is it wrong that I find your worrying over a 47 day feeding strike adorable?

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Remember this? LOL! Now you know, a 47 day "hunger strike" is like you or I skipping lunch one day. Of course, the first time you experience one like this it can be worrisome. I have 2.0 22 year olds that would shock me if they ever ate between Nov and Apr.

This reminds of wiseman advice. Never brag about a living dog. They will make a liar of you the first chance they get.

These are amazing creatures. He actually didn't lose that much weight given how long he went without eating.