Pastel Not Eating - Need Insight

[monk191]

We have had a baby Pastel BP (10 months) for a few months now. Everything had been going great, and he had been feeding with no problem on FT adult mice, and then about a month ago, he stopped accepting food.

We would thaw the mouse as normal, place it on top of the screen to scent, and as usual, within a minute or two, he would come flying out of hide, seeming very excited. But when I presented the mouse, he would not take it. We have attempted 5 times in the last month to no success. A couple times he would make half-hearted strikes, but would either miss entirely or not follow through, after a few minutes he would go back in his hide.

His behavior other then feeding time seems fine. He stays in his hide all day, starts to peek out around 5 or 6, and then comes out once it gets dark. He isn't shedding. We see him drinking, and he is calm(ish) when we take him out.

We have him in a 10G Foil Treated aquarium with the sides and back covered. Temps are 92/82 with humidity in the low 50s. He is in our living room, with higher traffic, but it didn't seem to bother him the first few months.

We have thought about trying live, but we are nervous that we wouldn't be able to get him back on FT, and feeding live his whole life is just not reasonable for us. He is pretty small for his age I think. Last time I weighed him he was 300g. We had started feeding him a large mouse every 5 days for a while. (There was no local source of anything smaller then a small rat.)

Any thoughts? We are a little worried, and any insight would be very helpful.

Finally, a few pictures of Leonard:







Thank you very much,
Brandon

[jblaze]

Wiggle it in front of his nose? I wouldn't worry entirely to much, BP's tend to do this a lot.

[coldbloodaddict]

I suggest trying a live mouse...Sorry if it's not convenient for You, but if that's what it takes to get him to eat...

[dr del]

Hi,

I would try heating the head of the mouse up more and cutting back all handling until he is eating regularly again.

Have there been any changes to the enclosure or routine?


dr del

[LaFilleClochette]

we have the same problem..also with a pastel about the same age too. Ive tried wiggling it in front of him and even offered him a live mouse, neither of which interested him... so now we are just waiting for him to get his appetite back. Our guy has not lost a noticeable amount of weight and hes still acting like his old self so for the moment im not too worried... I offer him a thawed mouse every week, and when he doesnt eat it, i put it back in the fridge..one of these days he will get it and im gonna be wiked happy

[dr del]

Hi,

, and when he doesnt eat it, i put it back in the fridge..one of these days he will get it and im gonna be wiked happy

Um.....EEEEEEEWWWWW??????

I would only ever refreeze anything once - each time it freezes the cell structure gets weakened and the chances of an exploding mouse increases.

And each time it is thawed decomp continues so when it does explode you will really wish you had been born without a sense of smell.


dr del

[Montie Python]

though i feed my BP live, I would not recommend you feed it live(due to your preference of F/T), not just yet...check his weight every week, making sure it doesnt go down...once it does and he's still refusing then i will try live...

Also, the f/t may not be the right temperature...make sure you check the f/t belly for any cold spots and also make sure your thawing method doesnt make the mouse too warm either...


Good Luck...

[knott00]

Its too bad you can't find anything smaller. I hear quite a few stories of people having luck offering their picky snake food that is smaller than their normal prey. Keep trying F/T food. Its not uncommen for a snake a fast for 2 or 3 months. Don't get too worried, just do everything you can with the F/T food first, then try the live as a last resort.

[LaFilleClochette]

Hi,



Um.....EEEEEEEWWWWW??????



dr del

well no i lied, not everytime....we also have a boa and she usually gets it....but we have refrozen a couple of larger mice when the boa had already been fed...

[marvint]

had the same problem with my male lemon pastel, he started refusing food a month ago but before that he eats like a hog. what I did is just leave a F/T mice overnight and when I check in the morning its gone.He only eats every 2 weeks though but atleast he is eating.