Kindly reassure me?

[mamaodie]

This is Juju and he's a jerk. He's a year an a half old sitting at 751g and has eaten 8-10 times since January. He's put on a WHOPPING 19g since late September.

I keep ambient temps right around 82 hot spot right around 90 gice or take 2 degrees on both given time of day etc. He's on a cushy bed of ecoearth and forest floor mix and has nice snug idential hiding spots. He's been spotten taking a dip in his water bowl, but never for long periods. He poos rarely but in a fair amount of time relevant to feeding. He sheds infrequently, but they've all been beautiful full pieces. Humidity runs about 60% give or take 5. I do suppose I could cover a good portion if his tub, and that didn't occur to me until I started typing this...

His spine has become noticable and he's thinner than I'd like, but he's not scary thin I don't suppose. He's become visually thinner over time, but his weight has slowly increased, about 200g this year I suppose. He was a rough start, and very scary thin when I got him. Had him up to chunkeroo then he decided it was diet time. He's a chore, but I'd do anything to keep him confortable.

Photos attached. What do you think of my boy?

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[Aerries]

Hey actually looks good from what I️ can see....watch his weight weekly or bi-weekly, my girl went on her fast in February this year and didn’t start eating again till July and she dropped to 480 and now is over 800g so u may have just gotten a picky eater like me lol how are u feeding?


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[mamaodie]

Hey actually looks good from what I️ can see....watch his weight weekly or bi-weekly, my girl went on her fast in February this year and didn’t start eating again till July and she dropped to 480 and now is over 800g so u may have just gotten a picky eater like me lol how are u feeding?


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Thank you! He was rough to get started. After a couple months he ate religiously for months hard striking super interested. I warm his meals to appropriate temps, offer with tongs with a little bit of a dance (minimal so not to scare him), and then I leave them overnight because he absolutely won't strike anymore. He decides they're edible with no specific timeline about once every 6 weeks or so on average. The feedings have gotten much less frequent as time went on. I know fasts are normal and as long as they don't lose weight and act rather normal it's fine. But, he's my only bp and I tend to worry given his rough go at life from the beginning.

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[the_rotten1]

I'm going to second that he looks like he's in good condition. Beautiful boy. Some males just never get very big. It's a shame he's not eating regularly for you though. I know people often try to discourage feeding live, but have you tried? It might get him more interested.

[Zincubus]

Well he looks perfectly fine to me tbh .

I have a couple of Royals that will only eat every 2 weeks ... They're all so different I guess . Have you tried the hairdryer method ?? Wait until the snake is in a hide , blast mouse , offer immediately whilst still hot dangling it in front of the hide entrance using tongs ..and repeat and repeat ..

I'll send details by PM ... Worth a try just wait a week or so before you try again ..


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[cchardwick]

I wouldn't worry too much, he looks like he has some good weight on him and could fast for a long time. You could try feeding a live weaned rat to get him in the mood. I started feeding live to all my ball pythons a couple months ago and all of them started eating except one of my pied girls. She won't eat anything live or pre killed, not even a rat crawler left in there for hours which surprises me. I'm not worried about her, just bummed that she probably won't lay this year.

[John1982]

Don't sweat it, Juju is in no danger of starving.

[Aerries]

Well he looks perfectly fine to me tbh .

I have a couple of Royals that will only eat every 2 weeks ... They're all so different I guess . Have you tried the hairdryer method ?? Wait until the snake is in a hide , blast mouse , offer immediately whilst still hot dangling it in front of the hide entrance using tongs ..and repeat and repeat ..

I'll send details by PM ... Worth a try just wait a week or so before you try again ..


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Lol looks like I’m not the only one!


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[Godzilla78]

Juju looks nice and huge to me. Probably he got a bit too fat, and now he's getting back "in shape."

[mamaodie]

I'm going to second that he looks like he's in good condition. Beautiful boy. Some males just never get very big. It's a shame he's not eating regularly for you though. I know people often try to discourage feeding live, but have you tried? It might get him more interested.

I have been giving thought to buy a pet store mouse to try. He's been on small rats for almost a year, but I can't get live rats anywhere. I've tried, but the guy I used to go through got out of the business. It's on the list though!

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