I think my BP has forgotten how to eat

[psiam]

I've had my 9 or 10 yr old BP, Haku, for 7 years now. He's always been a fussy eater (always and only live feed) but I thought we'd developed somewhat of a routine. He's grown well and is a beauty. He's about 5' long and as of this morning, is 1099 gr, which is down 100 gr since last summer's weight.

HOWEVER. . .

He hasn't eaten since August 31 of last year. He's shed several times. I let him lead the way through the winter months since he tends to sleep in and started making suggestions about 3 weeks ago when he started showing hunting behavior. Got him a nice plump rat. He wasn't having any. The local possum got it. Repeated the action several days later with a smaller specimen and there was lots of striking and yawning and dislocating of his lower jaw. But he didn't kill it. That rat went to join the circus. Then I got a smaller rat. This time, Haku killed it after an hour or so and curled up on top of it and snuggled with it for several hours before I took it away to feed the possum out back. Yesterday, I tried a rat the size of a big mouse and got the same results as last time.

With all the big jaw action going on, which frankly I've never gotten to witness before, I'd swear he was hungry. After 8 months without a meal and losing weight and several sheds, you'd think he'd want to eat. He's often active in the evenings. We give him privacy after watching for perhaps 5 minutes. He used to strike and coil before I could get my hand back out of his enclosure after tossing in dinner.

What am I doing wrong?

[Erie_herps]

Seeing that he only lost 100g I don't think it's super urgent that he eats. Can you add a picture of him so we can see his body condition? He might just not be hungry, a lot of males don't grow much past 1000g. How often were you feeding him when he was eating? When you attempt to feed him you should wait 7-14 days after he refuses to give him another feeder.

[psiam]

Last summer, he was eating every 3 - 4 weeks which was pretty unusually often for him. To say that he's an erratic feeder would be an understatement. The previous winter, he went for 6.5 months without a meal and we didn't push it. When he's ready, he's ready. In the past, he might go 3 weeks. . . or he might go 2.5 months. It's crazy making.

I'll just hold off another few weeks again and see if he starts smacking the front of the enclosure, I guess. I swear he gives me dirty looks. Sorry these pics aren't of him stretched out to his full beautiful shiny self but he seriously couldn't be arsed.

As per your request, I've just uploaded 2 pics of our boy. For reference, the circumference of my wrist where you can see it below him is 6.5"/16.5cm.

Belly up just after taking him out earlier this afternoon, still tightly balled up.




Flipped back over and just starting to get curious about what was going on.

[Erie_herps]

He looks like a healthy weight, if anything a tad bit on the larger side. So, there's nothing to worry about, he'll just eat when he's hungry. Since pythons are evolved to be able to eat as little as possible sometimes they will choose not to eat for a long time, so just keep offering food every 2-3 weeks.

[Bogertophis]

@ psiam: By the way, I like your title of this thread- it sure feels that way sometimes. Some snakes specialize in frustrating us- you have my sympathy.

[Luvyna]

He looks very healthy although he isn't eating! His scales are shining and he looks well-hydrated and nicely filled out.