Troublesome feeder losing weight

[AlexisFitzy]

Hey guys I just really need some advice about a little guy that has had me worried from the day I unboxed him. He's a male bumblebee ball python that had not eaten in 225 days or about 7 months. He's always been an on and off feeder but took to f/t rats well after trying for a while when I first acquired him. He's two years old now and at his heaviest weighed 877g but now he's only 618g (weight taken 08/03/15). I've always been able to get him eating again but this is his longest fast ever. He's lost a noticeable amount of weight and is pretty thin but still active and strong. He just doesn't look very good which worries me a lot. I have 4 other snakes that are kept at the same conditions he is in and they are all eating fine so I don't think it's husbandry related. I'm thinking of putting a small divider into his 41qt tub (not lengthwise but along the width) to make it a bit smaller and maybe make things more comfortable for him. I'm also thinking of trying African soft furs because I've already tried mice but they have been unappealing to him. I also want to try live but I'm not sure what sort of live rodent to get or what size. He seems so thin and a bit weak that he wouldn't be able to overpower a live rodent but that may just be me being paranoid. I just really want to get this little guy eating again and back on track because it seems like he is never going to eat again and just wither away eventually. And advice will be greatly appreciated. Please help this very worried/concerned snake momma.

[bcr229]

If you don't have a regular supplier for ASF then I wouldn't try one. Sometimes they can be hard to find.

I would try a large-ish weanling or small-ish small live rat, something right about 50 grams, and see if that interests him.

Also, do you have hides in his tub? Even my 1500+ gram snakes in my 41-qt rack stuff themselves under their hides.

[AlexisFitzy]

Thank you so much for your reply! And yes I put hides in all of my snakes tubs. One one the cool side one on the warm. He's got two medium sized reptile basics hides and two vines so it's not super open. At one point I even put some extra hides in there to clutter it up even more but that seemed to stress him out more. Thanks for the advice on the asf at this point I'm willing to try any source to get him eating again since I've heard that they usually gobble those up.

And that's exactly what I needed, I'll go out and find some live rats around that size and see if they spark his interest. His original owner/breeder fed him live but the switch to f/t wasn't too hard now I feel like he may be reverting back to wanting live rats now so I definitely want to try it out.

[Stewart_Reptiles]

2 things I would do and have done in the past for animals being off feed without specific reasons, I downsize the enclosure (15 quarts tub even for a 1000 grams animal) and took said animal on a car ride (yes it sounds weird but it's an old timer trick).

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[AlexisFitzy]

Thank you so much Deborah, I will try anything to get this little guy showing the faintest amount of interest in food. I've definitely thought about downsizing so I may just do that and see how he reacts to the move, and take him on a little drive to see if that gives him a jump start

[Megg]

2 things I would do and have done in the past for animals being off feed without specific reasons, I downsize the enclosure (15 quarts tub even for a 1000 grams animal) and took said animal on a car ride (yes it sounds weird but it's an old timer trick).

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Just curious, but is there a reason behind the car ride? Do you bag/box them during?


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[AlexisFitzy]

Just wanted to give an update on Bubo after 8 months of fasting I finally got him to take a rat on Saturday!! Yippie! I hope he keeps it up and continues to eat to gain all the weight he lost back. Thanks for all your help guys! ️

[Albert Clark]

Congrats AF, good work!

[MidSouthMorphs]

Just wanted to give an update on Bubo after 8 months of fasting I finally got him to take a rat on Saturday!! Yippie! I hope he keeps it up and continues to eat to gain all the weight he lost back. Thanks for all your help guys! ️

Great news! What did it take to get him to eat?

[AlexisFitzy]

Great news! What did it take to get him to eat?

That's actually a Long story lol but after him losing even more weight in about months time I took him to the vet to get some tests done on him. I had tried live mice, live rats and he would look interested but would never strike just stare at it then eventually go back in his hide and completely ignore it. So after getting tests done and everything coming back clear they recommended assist feeding since I had exhausted all options. I even tried the car ride! So I assist fed him a fuzzy mouse that he actually wrapped up and tried to kill (even though it was already dead) and started taking it down after he got the mouse most of the way down I followed it up with an appropriately sized rat for his size and he swallowed that one down along with the mouse and after he ate he seemed like a totally different snake. Very very alert, and active and didn't even want to go back in his tub when I tried to get him back in there. It was amazing how he transformed so quickly with only one meal. I wanted to cry I was so happy to finally see him eating. I'm just hoping that he will eat on his own this Saturday. The vet was pretty surprised by his weight loss and how he had nothing wrong with him. I'm sure he probably would've starved himself to death if I didn't help him get started again.