The reason Royals are such Bad eaters?

[Maki]

I belong to a few UK reptile forums and am losing count of the times I see threads with my Royal/Bp wont eat its been blah blah blah. So this got me thinking why are royals so fickle anyone got any explanations on this. I think it must have something to do with them getting stressed in captivity, has anyone done studies on the feeding habits of wild Royals, maybe they just dont eat regular meals in the wild. I know sometimes its other species but about 98% of the time its a royal on the "my snake wont eat threads".

Having said that I seem to be lucky so far as mine strike feeds every week early days yet.
Regards Maki

[Danielle(THM)]

Most of the time they don't eat because of the winter fast, and yet other times they're stressed due to improper conditions, or recovering from an injury, or just plain not hungry. In the wild ball pythons don't eat even close to the amount that we feed our captive pets, so it's really no worry unless they start to lose weight.

[Adam_Wysocki]

So this got me thinking why are royals so fickle anyone got any explanations on this.

Incorrect husbandry.

-adam

[elevatethis]

Question: The reason that royals are such bad eaters?

Answer: Their keepers.

PERIOD. 9 out of 10 people keeping these snakes have no clue about their temperature/humidity requirement and do not provide the optimal environment for them to thrive in. That's the #1 reason, bet my life on it.

[elevatethis]

Adam beat me to it.

[Maki]

Incorrect husbandry.

-adam

I was thinking that but surely its not that simple, some of these people claim to keep their Royals in ideal conditions temps and humidity, so are you saying that they are more sensitive to incorrect husbandry than other species? thats why its nearly always Royals and not for instance JCP. What about those that have kept their Royals for a year and in that time they have fed regularly and then they just stop?

Regards Maki

[Adam_Wysocki]

I was thinking that but surely its not that simple, some of these people claim to keep their Royals in ideal conditions temps and humidity,

Everyone thinks that they keep their snakes in "ideal" conditions ... most people don't have a clue.

so are you saying that they are more sensitive to incorrect husbandry than other species?

No. I am saying that royals are more likely to refuse food if not kept properly. In my experience, they have a much slower metabolism than other species and are generally less "hungry" to begin with ... add in keeping them wrong and you've got a faster.

What about those that have kept their Royals for a year and in that time they have fed regularly and then they just stop?

Young royals are eating machines ... for their first 12 - 18 months you can keep them in just about any condition and they will eat like crazy ... once they begin to reach sexual maturity they are much more sensitive to their environments and things get trickier.

-adam

[Pythons Rock]

I think they are just letting us know who is really boss and who has the control!