BP Feeding/Vet Question

I have an adult BP that suddenly went off feed. She’s gone almost two months without a meal. I’ve checked the husbandry and it seems to be good. There haven’t been any changes to her enclosure environment. I know BP’s can go off feed from time to time. I’m handled her the other day to inspect her and she doesn’t look like she’s lost weight. No mites or other noticeable health issues. How long should I wait before I take her into the vet to be checked out?

Monitor her weight and offer every week or so. I have an adult female that finally ate last weekend after not eating since mid-November. She only lost 5% of her body weight.

Hello! Do you mind telling us more about your setup? Are your heat sources regulated by a thermostat? Does she have adequate hides? I'd wait on the vet visit for now because that might make her more stressed out.

She’s in a 40 gallon breeder with an UTH and heat lamp on the right side. There is a hide on the hot and cool side as well as a water dish and some drift wood. A few fake plants as well. I have a Zoomed thermometer and humidity gauge in the tank. The hot side stays between 90-95 and the cool side low 80’s. Humidity is 55-60.

I've had her about a a year. It took me about a month to get her to take her first meal (frozen thawed). After that, she ate really well and then about 1.5 months ago she started refusing food.

I should add, she used to come out of her hide around 9 pm, which is when I’d feed her. Now, she doesn’t come out of her hide much at all. I tried feeding her tonight and she won’t even come out of her hide to entertain a meal.

Just to clarify, do you have your heat sources connected to a thermoSTAT to control the temp? Unregulated heat sources can cause burns so I'd just like to make sure that you have both a thermometer and a thermostat.

Is it possible that she might shed soon? My female refuses food sometimes when she is in the blue. Also, how often are you offering meals? Sometimes offering too often can lead to stress which leads to more refusals.

I hope you don't mind all the questions!

I don’t mind the questions at all. I don’t currently have a thermostat hooked up. I’ll look into adding that to her set-up.

I don’t think she’s getting ready to shed. I handled her Friday and she didn’t appear to be getting ready to shed.

I usually feed her on Friday’s. I skipped feeding last Friday since I handled her earlier in the day, so I attempted to feed her tonight.

Please unplug the UTH until you get a thermostat to control it. Those can easily spike to temp that can cause burns to your snake. 95 is way too hot also, I would shoot to closer to 88-89 at max. Not eating for a few months isn't a big deal as long as they aren't loosing large amounts of weight, especially if she was eating regularly before. How old/large is she and what were you feeding before? If she's an adult and eating weekly still, she's plenty well fed most likely.

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Originally Posted by GoingPostal

Please unplug the UTH until you get a thermostat to control it. Those can easily spike to temp that can cause burns to your snake. 95 is way too hot also, I would shoot to closer to 88-89 at max. Not eating for a few months isn't a big deal as long as they aren't loosing large amounts of weight, especially if she was eating regularly before. How old/large is she and what were you feeding before? If she's an adult and eating weekly still, she's plenty well fed most likely.

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Beat me to it! OP you can get a relatively cheap Jumpstart thermostat on Amazon for like 30 bucks. Also I highly recommend getting a heat gun for double checking temps.

I ordered a thermostat on Amazon this evening. What’s the ideal temperature to set it at for the heat mat?

Aiming for 88-90° at the base of enclosure. The snake will move substrate out of the way to access the heat as it wishes
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She may have not been eating because of stress due to the possibly overheating UTH. I'd wait at least 2 weeks before offering another meal. Best of luck! Keep us updated please and let us know if you need anything.