Hi,
I've posted here quite a few times about this but I'm still freaking out.
Cleo hasn't eaten in ~8 months if i remember correctly, he was at 1400 grams when he stopped eating that long ago, now after this long fast he's down to 1045ish grams. Lost 51 grams~or around that much this month alone. Nergal was around 1200 grams or a little more, after around 4 months of not eating he's down to 1042 grams, lost 50 ish this month also.
They are in the same rack system with the same temps and conditions as our female bp madison, who is younger than them (boys both estimated around 2 years old, madison ~1-1.5 years old) and now happily eating 2 small rats a week after a 3 month feed strike. She just gained around 100 grams in a month, is now 1000+.
Anyway so I have been offering the boys rats semi weekly, just frozen small rats a guy around here had excess of from rodentpro and we bought off of him. They are not interested. I tried feeding them in their tubs, tried taking them out and putting them in a completed enclosed, dark tub for 30 mins; neither of them wanted it. Madison ate it instead
Some of my concerns:
Could boys be wanting to breed with Madison? She's almost breeding size...They're never out at the same time as her though...but their tubs are right above hers.
Mantra still hisses at max and I anytime we try to get him out of the tub. He's fine when we get him out and has never struck, he just hisses. He didn't used to; what might have changed?
We don't have hides in the tubs at the moment. The snakes seem a little jumpy but like I said Madison is eating fine. Should we put hides in there to help them? Will it make a difference in dark tubs?
Temps:
Warm side ~ 87
Ambient ~ 85
Cool side ~ 75
41 quart tubs is what they're in. Aspen shavings and some good moss for humidity. Boys shed about once every 3-4 months, all in one piece, no problems as humidity is good thus far. Both boys have shed since being in the rack. Neither pass urates more than about once/2 months ish if i remember right.
Questions:
At what point do I start to worry? I checked their mouths--no bubbles or water or mucous ANYWHERE. They both make a funny click/pop sound every once in a while but it almost sounds as if they are squeezing air out of their lungs or nose. Should I go to the vet at this point? What tricks can I try to get them to eat? Live is a last resort as I hate feeding live and it makes my mother very sad , we like f/t if possible. Both have been eating rats for around a year now. Mantra would never eat mice; Nergs has eaten mice happily before.
I don't think I can get ASF's around here, it's been heck just trying to find someone who has a steady supply of normal rats every month.
Please help. I'm desperate. I don't know why they aren't eating and I'm worrying...again.
Thanks tons.
Shellie