My boy skipped meals when he shouldn't

Hi everyone! This is my first post in the forum but I've read a lot of threads from here and it helps me and my boi Mi a lot, so first of all, thank you guys so much.

However, my snake has not eaten in 2 weeks and he just shed last month. He has always been a good boy, never skipped a meal unless he's going to shed. My bet is that he's too big for his cage now and it stressed him out, I have a 20-gallon tank and he's about 83 cm and weight 730g.

It's winter here so I try my best to keep the humidity at 50 (I know it's still low) and the temperature in his tank is 90.https://ball-pythons.net/forums/cach...ur.com/VWwyWFu

He has been very active so for a second I thought he had stargazing symptoms, thank god he didn't have it.https://ball-pythons.net/forums/cach...ur.com/VWwyWFu Still, he keeps refusing meals and I'm worried.

Anyone can suggest any ideas? That'd be helping me out a lot. Thank you!

https://ball-pythons.net/forums/cach...ur.com/VWwyWFuhttps://ball-pythons.net/forums/cach...ur.com/VWwyWFu

Here are his pics:
https://imgur.com/a/IXEhEx0
https://imgur.com/yjE0nV6

Is his entire tank 90 degrees, or just his hot spot? I'm not an expert, but I know that husbandry can put snakes off feeding.

Hello and welcome to the forum.

Two weeks is absolutely nothing in the world of a snake. They can go months very easily with no negative effects.

You only mention the 90 degree temp. Is there any temp gradient? How are you heating the enclosure? And how/where are you measuring temps?

Also, how often are you offering food? Offering too often can stress the snake and lead to more refusals.

As for the tank being too small, that shouldn't stress him. However I don't see any proper hides in the pics.

Are you handling the snake?

Also, humidity in the 50s is perfectly fine.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by mandymg86

Is his entire tank 90 degrees, or just his hot spot? I'm not an expert, but I know that husbandry can put snakes off feeding.

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Oh sorry for not specify, that's his hot side. The cool one is 75.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by mebemi

Oh sorry for not specify, that's his hot side. The cool one is 75.

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Okay, whew! While 75* is a bit too low (really should be closer to 78-80), I'm glad your ambient isn't 90!

Sent from my Moto Z (2) using Tapatalk

Quote:

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Originally Posted by craigafrechette

Hello and welcome to the forum.

Two weeks is absolutely nothing in the world of a snake. They can go months very easily with no negative effects.

You only mention the 90 degree temp. Is there any temp gradient? How are you heating the enclosure? And how/where are you measuring temps?

Also, how often are you offering food? Offering too often can stress the snake and lead to more refusals.

As for the tank being too small, that shouldn't stress him. However I don't see any proper hides in the pics.

Are you handling the snake?

Also, humidity in the 50s is perfectly fine.

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Thank you so much for your reply. I got a heating lamp on top of the tank and two thermometers inside. The cool side is around 75.

I used to offer him once every 2 weeks but since he switches to medium rats I fed him once per week. He got 2 hides but he prefers the one on the left more.

I used to handle him a lot since I got him and I can see that it stressed him out, like almost every day. Now I handle him once or twice a week.

Here is a pic that I took that show the whole tank: https://imgur.com/a/ivGuqCL

Quote:

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Originally Posted by mandymg86

Okay, whew! While 75* is a bit too low (really should be closer to 78-80), I'm glad your ambient isn't 90!

Sent from my Moto Z (2) using Tapatalk

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Oh no I don't want to fry him yet :)) Thank you so much for your reply. I'm going to offer him a rat again tonight, hope he got the appetite.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by mebemi

Oh no I don't want to fry him yet :)) Thank you so much for your reply. I'm going to offer him a rat again tonight, hope he got the appetite.

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Good luck! He's a very pretty pied!

Sent from my Moto Z (2) using Tapatalk

Quote:

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Originally Posted by mebemi

I used to offer him once every 2 weeks but since he switches to medium rats I fed him once per week

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Ah ok. I think that's your answer right there. Most males never need anything larger than small rats. Im guessing he's just not hungry. Feeding larger meals also causes them to go on food strikes.

Oh sorry, I mean small, not medium. I did try to feed him a medium last week but he was not interested. I'm planning on feeding him a small one today.

Thank you, I'll notice that in the future

Quote:

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Originally Posted by craigafrechette

Ah ok. I think that's your answer right there. Most males never need anything larger than small rats. Im guessing he's just not hungry. Feeding larger meals also causes them to go on food strikes.

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Ding Ding Ding, there’s your answer! 😉 And the tank size is fine, I got four males each in its own twenty gallon. My biggest boy is over 1700 grams. Check my gallery for a pic!

If it were me, if hold off on offering. If you've offered in the last 7-10 days It's likely that you'll get another refusal.

Also, offering too often just adds stress. If a snake doesn't want to eat, don't offer again for at least another week. And stop handling until he's feeding
regularly at normal intervals, that can add stress too, or at least interrupt their thoughts about eating.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Bogertophis

Also, offering too often just adds stress. If a snake doesn't want to eat, don't offer again for at least another week. And stop handling until he's feeding
regularly at normal intervals, that can add stress too, or at least interrupt their thoughts about eating.

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Yeah, thank you. It's just that he's roaming quite a lot so I thought he's maybe hungry. I always wait a week before offering again.

Hi everyone, thank you so much for all your comments on this thread. A small update for you guys: Mi hasn't eat for 2 months even though I took your advice to offer him every 2 weeks. After a month, he shed, so I wasn't worried too much about him skipping meals. But it's been 3 weeks since shed, I offered him once last week but he still turned down. He did yawn and roaming after heard me warming the rats so I figured he was a bit hungry, yet he didn't take interested in the meal at all.

Asides from that he's totally fine, he's bit stress when I'm around (which makes me really sad, considering that I could only stay with him for a month before selling him to another owner). The temps and humid is the same, I'll attach pictures if needed.

I almost have to say goodbye to him so I want it to end on the high notes and see he's back to his schedule again. Plus I don't want to appear irresponsible to the next owner aka selling them a python that she could not feed. I having a 3 months break back in my home country and none of my friends like pythons so that's the best option for me. If you guys could take a look at my situation, it'd be so great. I really hope that I don't have to bring him to the vet :(

Thank you for reading this.

Have a good night!