Assist feeding

[Swingline0.0.1]

The snake itself, doesn't look too bad. He does not look overly thin, but you should try to get a scale to weigh him, if you don't have one already. Keeping track of his weight loss if any, is important.

[Bruce Whitehead]

I would attempt to curb your defensiveness first... I know you said you do not want to be flamed, so explain and do not react. No one is here to flame, the advice you get is just that... advice based on limited info.

The snake looks to be young and thin. Not deathly thin, but not the weight he should be. Younger snakes that are good eaters tend to be chubs till they hit around 600g or higher.

Just think sausage.

Can you be sure he ate prior to coming to you? Just wondering if you were sold a non-feeding snake or not.

What prey are you offering, how consistently?

One piece of advice I would give, as I live by it.... is that non-feeding snakes do not get handled till they feed except to change their enclosures. I do not handle any snake till it has taken 3 meals in my care minimum.

I also do not offer non-feeding snakes food more than every 2 weeks (every second feed in comparison to my other snakes).

Are you pre-scenting your room as well? Where in your home is the snake located? And what is the activity level like near them?

bruce

[Appolion]

I would attempt to curb your defensiveness first... I know you said you do not want to be flamed, so explain and do not react. No one is here to flame, the advice you get is just that... advice based on limited info.

The snake looks to be young and thin. Not deathly thin, but not the weight he should be. Younger snakes that are good eaters tend to be chubs till they hit around 600g or higher.

Just think sausage.

Can you be sure he ate prior to coming to you? Just wondering if you were sold a non-feeding snake or not.

What prey are you offering, how consistently?

One piece of advice I would give, as I live by it.... is that non-feeding snakes do not get handled till they feed except to change their enclosures. I do not handle any snake till it has taken 3 meals in my care minimum.

I also do not offer non-feeding snakes food more than every 2 weeks (every second feed in comparison to my other snakes).

Are you pre-scenting your room as well? Where in your home is the snake located? And what is the activity level like near them?

bruce

I wasn't trying to be defensive. I said what I said because I wasn't asking whether or not it's a fire hazard. This is a question about feeding, not whether or not my apartment is going to start on fire. Temps are perfect, thats all you need to know about electrical.
Nobody reads... I didn't buy him. I adopted him. Adopted snakes are free. He has shed twice since I got him with no problems what so ever. And how am I supposed to be sure he ate before I got him? I went by what the guy said and it looked to be a healthy weight by other pictures of BPs I've seen. I appreciate the advice, but constantly repeating myself and explaining things that have absolutely nothing to do with what I'm asking is annoying. I'll just keep trying to feed him every 2-3 weeks like I have before. And yes, I do have the mouse in the box on top on the tub for at least 30 minutes before I put the mouse in there at night. The mouse is alive when I put it in too, anybody wanna post about that? And yes, I've tried both f/t and alive. I've swung the mouse in front of the hide until my arm hurts on many occasions. I'm trying to keep a healthy snake and if it doesn't want to eat, I guess it won't. I've tried mice, rats, and both with used gerbil bedding. I've read over the caresheets so many times and gone through what other people do over and over again. I'm at the end of my rope and I've put a lot of time and energy into trying to get this guy to eat. I cried when I tried to assist feed it because he started moving around really fast and wrapped himself around my arm. What else can I do at this point? Why would a snake not eat for so long? I don't even get the slightest feeding response. People told me feeding BPs can be a major pain, but I never thought it would be this bad. This is not worth the stress involved. I'm sorry if I seem so defensive. I care a lot about my snake and I see his health as a reflection on how well I take care of him. I am doing/tried everything every guide out there says to do to the T. I really care about him and just want him to be a healthy regular feeder. Flame away if that's your thing. I probably won't come back because there really doesn't seem to be any point since I've tried everything I can find. Thanks for trying to help.

[dr del]

Hi,

OK the snake has enough size on him that he can probably go a while without eating without it becoming life threatening.

I would still monitor the weight but as long as it is not rapidly losing weight I wouldn't be massively concerned.

I know it can seem frustrating when people keep asking the husbandry questions but there really is a good reason for it. A lot of the time people say they have "pefect temps, humidity and security" and then when we look closer they have a different idea of what they should be than we normally recommend.

Or we find out they are measuring the temps with those crappy analogue dial type thermometers stuck half way up a tank wall.

You said you were worried it might be because something was off in your husbandry so here are a few things to try changing there.



Looking at the pic I have a couple of specific questions and suggestions.

Good call on the digital thermometer/ humidy meter - but the placement looks odd. It reads temp and humidity at the base unit but it is in the middle of the tub. Does this mean the heat gradient is set up as front to back rather than side to side?

You say the temps are;

Temperatures never go higher than 91 (hot) and never less than 78 (cool).

Do the temps stay stable at that level? Never going above 91f on the hot side might be ok if it never goes below 89 at the same time - and you could stand to get a few degrees higher either way as we tend to recommend 92-94f inside the hot end hide. The cool end temps seem ok as you should be aiming for 80-82f.

In the pic we can only see one hide ( I think) - is there one hot hide and one cool hide? (identical is best ).

To fit a second one in if needed you could probably lose the log and use a smaller waterbowl. You could also try the crumpled newspaper trick to increase the snakes feeling of security if two small snug hides (that touch the snake on all sides including the top ) do not make him feel safe enough.

I would also stop the handling just to see if that is causing stress - it varies from snake to snake so the only way to be sure is stop and see if it helps.

We don't have a problem with live feeding as long as it's done right.

Alternative prey you could try would be african soft furred rats and possibly even chicks. I wouldn't recommend chicks as the only food source long term but I would definately consider trying one as a temptation to break a fast.


dr del

[h00blah]

ive used that stat b4 i got my helix, and it fluctuates like mad. set it to 91, found it at 97 at one point. when it gets colder in m room, ive found it at 86..

[littleindiangirl]

Why not first ask whether or not I have it on the little rubber things it comes with.... ugh. Which it is BTW

Regardless, I believe the instructions for the UTH specifically say to NOT use on top of cloth like a towel or blanket, even if it is not directly sitting on the fabric. But, do whatever you want, not like I was trying to help you avoid a potentially dangerous safety issue.

[Appolion]

Regardless, I believe the instructions for the UTH specifically say to NOT use on top of cloth like a towel or blanket, even if it is not directly sitting on the fabric. But, do whatever you want, not like I was trying to help you avoid a potentially dangerous safety issue.

bye