5 month feeding strike-- kinda getting nervous how long it's been .. .

[FollowTheSun]

This is Lucy our 3 year old BP. She is very moody and nippy but has always been a pretty good eater. She has not eaten since December. I know they go through strikes but it's going on awhile. It's my 15 year old's snake. Husbandry is very good, snake is pretty active, and I took her outside for some UV light and photos and she was curious and active. We don't weigh our snakes so I don't know if she lost weight but I think she looks pretty good still.

As far as feeding we've tried everything-- hairdryer trick, feeding at night, etc. She looks at it and acknowledges it's there and then moves away from it.

Just need some reassurances and any tips you can think of. Thanks!




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[JodanOrNoDan]

She looks healthy to me. Unless she starts dropping weight, there is no a lot to be worried about. This is not unusual at this age. The only way you can be a little more certain about what is going on is to track weight. If she drops a significant amount you can try live.

[Moose84]

That snake has plenty of weight on it so if those pictures are recent... “We don’t weigh our snakes” but you want info when they don’t eat is a little negligent in my opinion. If the snake ate regularly for three years and now hasn’t eaten in 5 months and you haven’t weighed it then how would you know the snake isn’t sick and dropping weight?

If I’m you I would invest in a scale so you can track the snake during these times. Since you don’t know how much she weighs, we have no clue what’s she’s eating, how often she is eating and the fact that you told us she is nippy and mean it sounds like you might start reevaluating how she is being cared for.

[Moose84]

She looks healthy to me. Unless she starts dropping weight, there is no a lot to be worried about. This is not unusual at this age. The only way you can be a little more certain about what is going on is to track weight. If she drops a significant amount you can try live.

Unfortunately “they don’t weigh their snakes” so they won’t know any of this.

[JodanOrNoDan]

That snake has plenty of weight on it so if those pictures are recent... “We don’t weigh our snakes” but you want info when they don’t eat is a little negligent in my opinion. If the snake ate regularly for three years and now hasn’t eaten in 5 months and you haven’t weighed it then how would you know the snake isn’t sick and dropping weight?

If I’m you I would invest in a scale so you can track the snake during these times. Since you don’t know how much she weighs, we have no clue what’s she’s eating, how often she is eating and the fact that you told us she is nippy and mean it sounds like you might start reevaluating how she is being cared for.

This ^^^^ approach to "helping" is not productive.

[Moose84]

And giving “advice” with no information whatsoever is? “That snake looks good to me” is what you said. You have no information whatsoever other than a picture. Answering just to answer isn’t helping anyone.

[Moose84]

There is a reason a sticky is dedicated to giving as much info as possible prior to posting. When an owner says “I know nothing about the health of my animal other than it’s mean and hasn’t eaten in 5 months” I don’t think that is an opportunity to baby them.

[JodanOrNoDan]

And giving “advice” with no information whatsoever is? “That snake looks good to me” is what you said. You have no information whatsoever other than a picture. Answering just to answer isn’t helping anyone.

You can look on someone's profile to determine someone's experience and how helpful they are. I will leave it at that.

[Moose84]

You can look on someone's profile to determine someone's experience and how helpful they are. I will leave it at that.

Yeah I forgot. Number of posts and years of membership makes keepers experts. 🙄

[JodanOrNoDan]

Yeah I forgot. Number of posts and years of membership makes keepers experts. 🙄

You didn't forget. You didn't read. You are right, the number of posts and years of membership don't mean much, but 40 years of experience and hundreds of animals raised and sold have also taught me no one is an expert.

The purpose of this site is to help people and their animals. It is hard to get people to take good advice by being antagonistic.