Concerned my Yearling BP is on a hunger strike

[JJpeep]

Well it will come as no surprise to learn that I will suggest using the tried and trusted hairdryer feeding method ... mine all feed 100% ... unless they’re in shed or just not in the mood to eat

Royals go off their food for no apparent reason and I have a Corn who stops eating for a month or so each year.

I also bought an adult Royal Python a great years ago who was supposedly a great eater but it went 15 MONTHS without eating a morsel but was perfectly healthy and active and only lost a tiny amount of weight


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From the tips I got with my other picky snake. I did use all the methods including blow-dryer. Hopefully with the weather starting to warm up this week. Maybe he will have his appetite back with the rise in temps. We will see. Thanks for the reply.

[Bogertophis]

Don't forget that it might be more than just "temperatures" but also the day-length. The days get longer after winter- some snakes may be instinctively clued into that also.

[JJpeep]

Don't forget that it might be more than just "temperatures" but also the day-length. The days get longer after winter- some snakes may be instinctively clued into that also.

That is true! I am hoping he will start eating as it turns more spring-ish around here.

[JJpeep]

Hey everyone,
I wanted to give a little update Incase someone new to this like me, is browsing through and they wanted to get the end part to the story.
I see I started this story in March, well into his hunger strike. He went from, 414 in Feb to 405 in March, 402 in April. I weighed him last week and he ended up at 372, which now surpassed a male that is much younger than him. He took one very tiny fuzzy mouse through his duration of his hunger strike. I told Mr. Snake if he didn't start eating this month I was taking him on a trip to see the vet. Whelp to our surprise, we tried tong feeding, which he was always spooked when we went in there with tongs. To my surprise he struck so hard and wrapped the mouse. We offered another one just to see and really didn't expect him to eat them. He took the other one as well. It seems he prefers extra small meals of white mice for some reason. We were hoping to bump up all of our BPs to rats, but if that is what he will eat. I'll stick to it. I am so happy, cuz that last weight drop made me nervous.

[Bogertophis]

Now you know to threaten a vet trip earlier next time!

Seriously, BPs may prefer the taste/odor of mice, or the size (smaller is less threatening), or both. Glad you got him figured out & going again.

[JJpeep]

We have noticed. The last few bigger adult mouse feeding attempts. He would strike and then drop it and leave it. I think one of the factors could have been, bigger, more of a threat. He is such a chicken that I think that may have been one of the things bothering him.