BP Hunger Strike Help

[MayerReptiles]

It's been 4 months since either my Lesser Mojave female or my Phantom male have eaten, and i'm starting to get worried. Their usual hunger strikes last about 2 or 3 months during the winter and their weights don't seem to fluctuate too much during that time. But since this 4 month strike started in the middle of September, they have lost what I think is a chunk of weight. Looking at my records the Phantom male, he weighed 870g when he last ate, and now his weight hovers around 720g. As for my Lesser Mojave female, she weighed about 1850g when she last ate, and her weight is now hovering around 1630g. Both are still active and they don't show no signs of illnesses or even sheds, although they seem to be a little bit skinnier than their usual selves. I've been offering them f/t small rats every 1 1/2 weeks or so, but they don't seem to show a bit of interest in them.Their temps are gauged with a infra-red temperature gun, and the cool sides stay at about 74F-76F where their hides are, while their hot spots stay at about 85F-92F with the humidity ranging from 50%-60% with daily mistings. However, this has been the first season I've introduced this pair together which I started at the end of October where he was introduced into her cage about every 2 weeks and kept with her until I witnessed a lock up, or 3 days had passed. At which point he was put back in his cage to recuperate and rest. Thus, i'm thinking that the breeding season and idea of mating has got the better of them, and that's why this fast has gone on for so long. I'm just really concerned about these drops in weights are over this 4 month hunger strike and if this is normally seen in other breeding pairs during the breeding season. If you need current pictures of them or their housings, I will be more than happy to upload some some if it gives you a better perspective on my situation. Thank you again, and your help and advice is greatly appreciated!!!!

[shadowsnakes]

Very common during breeding season, and it sounds like the male is in that 600-1,000g "wall" where a lot of BPs go off feed for one reason or another. Your temps and humidity sound good. Perhaps try a smaller meal to see if that intices them? You can also try a small live item if they gets them interested again.

[MayerReptiles]

Very common during breeding season, and it sounds like the male is in that 600-1,000g "wall" where a lot of BPs go off feed for one reason or another. Your temps and humidity sound good. Perhaps try a smaller meal to see if that intices them? You can also try a small live item if they gets them interested again.

Thank you! I was thinking that if they don't eat a f/t weaned rat in the next 2 or 3 weeks, that I would offer up a freshly killed or live prey item. Though, that option is always an absolute last resort sort of thing with me. But if it gets those two eating again, i'll be more than glad to bite the bullet and do it.

[Crazymonkee]

Actually I would up the temps a couple degrees. Aim for 88-90 hotspot and 78-80 cool. Why is there such a fluctuation in your temps, it's better if its consistent. The cool side should not be below 75 and that's minimum.
I would try the fresh killed or live. Personally I'd try live... but I feed live

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[MayerReptiles]

Actually I would up the temps a couple degrees. Aim for 88-90 hotspot and 78-80 cool. Why is there such a fluctuation in your temps, it's better if its consistent. The cool side should not be below 75 and that's minimum.
I would try the fresh killed or live. Personally I'd try live... but I feed live

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The cages are in my basement and it depends on the outside weather here in Western New York, which this season has been pretty static day to day from mildly warm to bitter cold, so I use a small personal space heater to up the temps during the day when it's much colder. But the lower temps are largely equated the ones I've gauged and recorded during the night time when the space heater is off. I will definitely try for some more consistency of the temps if it will help. Also, I think I'm going to have to do the live feeding if they don't take in the next couple weeks. Thanks again for the advice!

[Crazymonkee]

Let us know how it goes
What are you using to heat the tank itself? Any type of heat bulb or ceramic heat emitter?

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[MayerReptiles]

Let us know how it goes
What are you using to heat the tank itself? Any type of heat bulb or ceramic heat emitter?

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I use 75 watt zoo-med basking bulbs during the day, and 75 watt zoo-med infrared night bulbs in their Vision V332 cages. In those cages, the bulbs drop-ins are much closer to the basking area than what would be usually seen in the screens covering commercial 40-gallon breeder aquariums which is why I use the lower watt bulbs. I use the vision cages for all my snakes, and found that the use the lower 75 watt bulbs seem to work the best for the ball pythons as far as temperature gradients go. I definitely will let you know how it goes though!

[MayerReptiles]

Well it's been almost a month and absolutely no luck with getting either of them to feed. I've tried a smaller live meal for them which they showed no interest in and I wound up having to give it to my boa constrictor. I also tried smaller f/t meals and they just look at it and then go back into their hides and want nothing to do with it. They have both lost about 10g since the last post and are still relatively active for the most part. At this point however, I think I'm just going to have to wait it out until they decide to eat, but this is the longest fast both of them have gone on since it's now going on almost 6 months now without them eating. If anyone has other suggestions, I'm open to any and all helpful advice about breaking ball python fasts.

[J.P.]

try dangling prey near your snake, within striking distance but not in it's face. i'm not saying this is a guaranteed solution, but this has kick started the feeding response of some of my reluctant snakes on a few occassions. i think it's because they are not stimulated by dead prey yet they are scared of a prey that is strong enough to defend itself, but they cannot resist a strugling and helpless prey.

[MayerReptiles]

try dangling prey near your snake, within striking distance but not in it's face. i'm not saying this is a guaranteed solution, but this has kick started the feeding response of some of my reluctant snakes on a few occassions. i think it's because they are not stimulated by dead prey yet they are scared of a prey that is strong enough to defend itself, but they cannot resist a strugling and helpless prey.

Thank you for the advice! Sorry I didn't mention this in a previous post but I actually use a pair of feeding tongs to jiggle the F/T rats around to try and stimulate a feeding response and make them think it's live prey. But they still haven't taken any food as of yet. I think at this point i'm just going to continue on with with the weight monitoring, daily temp and humidity checks, food offering schedule, and just wait them out till they finally decided to end this seemingly forever long fast they both have been on.