When should I worry about weight?

[AKA Dave]

So Texas has been home for about 3 weeks now. She's eaten once and refused the last 2 weeks. She shed night before last and is doing all the "normal" BP stuff...hiding and lurking at night. Temps and humidity are good. Shed was perfect. She's drinking, and has had a couple of big poos. All this seems right, but she's lost 300g since she's come home and is now at 1482g. Like I said though, she seems OK and her muscle tone is still there when I brought her out today. So, when do I go from concerned, to worried? I've been leaving her alone accept for cleaning and only brought her out today to check on her and give her a bit of a stretch.

Dave

EDIT TO ADD: I've tried both F/T and live. The one time she ate was F/T.

[Eric Alan]

I'm going to assume that you weighed Texas when she arrived and this is the number you're basing the 300 gram weight loss to, correct? The most accurate way to compare weight is to look at their "empty" (after a poo) weights - this is pretty much the only time I weigh my own animals anymore. My guess is that she was probably full of poo when you got her, and since then has gone down a bit to a more normal weight for her.

As long as her body shape still seems good to you, I wouldn't be concerned after only 3 weeks in your care and only one meal during that time - especially with the "big poo" factor. The big ones can take a bit longer to adjust to a new home. Just keep track of empty weights going forward - if these show signs of decline, then there may be a reason for concern. Until then, I wouldn't stress over it if I were you.

[AKA Dave]

I more or less agree with you Eric. I just needed to check. I'm only 4 months back into the hobby and feel like a beginner again in many ways. It was just a little disconcerting when all my other snakes, especially the larger girls, are trending up on their weights. I'm going to offer food again tomorrow evening when I know she'll be active. The other pythons don't seem to care what time of day they are fed. Perhaps that's just part of her personality. Thanks for the reply.

Dave

[AKA Dave]

UPDATE: Tex has fed the last two weeks in a row on small live rats. Her feed response was so aggressive today that I thawed another rat for her and she hit it without so much as a blink...as if she has eye lids. I'm feeling much better about her now.

Dave

[C2tcardin]

Nice, that's always a relief!

I missed this thread earlier but I think Eric was likely on target. In January when I picked up my Pied he was at 1104g's but one month later he weighed 956g's, the next month he went as low as 925g's. So even with eating he lost about 150g's in his first month with me. In checking his records I saw where he pooped about two weeks after I got him. The other thing not mention which I would say is a plausible explanation too is I had no idea what the original owner was feeding him or how often, he was a spur of the moment show pick up. I wonder if a lot of it was because I was under feeding him, especially given how picky he was at first insisting on live mice which meant he really wasn't eating meals the right size, normally my 1100 gram snakes are taking medium rats. In the last month or so I have finally been able to get him switched over to f/t rats and he's been putting the weight back on. I should be getting measurements on everyone tomorrow but he is now easily over 1150g's.

Just a few thoughts and my $.02 to toss into the discussion.

[AKA Dave]

And it's much appreciated. The other factor may have been temps. While it's all been "correct", I bumped up her hide temp a couple of degrees and that's made all the difference. Coincidence? Maybe. All I know is that she's eating again and that's good enough for me.

Dave

[Bigfish1975]

Great job Dave of keeping up on it. I missed this post as well but it seems as though you've got some things figured out. I can be tough to figure out why they go on and off feed at times but persistence usually pays off.

Mike

[AKA Dave]

Texas has fed four weeks in a row now. The past two I gave her a small live rat followed by a small F/T. Yesterday she took a medium F/T and only that. Over that last 3 weeks she's also put on almost all the 300g she lost. I bet she'll be there in the next week or so and then some. It just feels good to have things going right with her.

Dave

[Bigfish1975]

Great to hear bro. It's always great when they're eating well