Of course, I've already emailed Adam (thanks again Adam for putting up with me when I know you are so busy right now) but just looking for any ideas or wisdom here folks from anyone that's ever dealt with a wild caught adult. Also, most people I know just don't get why I'm worried about "some snake".

Saoire came in to us a few months back as an adult female that hadn't been in captivity more than a year as far as we know (perhaps 6 to 8 months). She'd never reportedly eaten and when pushed to do so, promptly regurged. She was also extremely fearful of contact and balled up very tightly. She is obviously an adult, is almost as long as our other female Orlah who is about 1,700 grams but came in at only 620 grams! Very thin with a triangular appearance.

We'd got her eating (again thanks to Adam for some bang on suggestions for dealing with WC adults). She quickly gained and was at 900 grams three weeks ago and coming along strong. All of a sudden she just stopped eating again. We had tried before to move her to the snake room and that caused her to stop eating. We put her back in our quiet bedroom, she started eating again. Then suddenly this. No apparent reason, no change in anything other than the light cycle as the season's have changed here in northern Michigan. Her tub has remained constant though so temps have not changed and her humidity is bang on. I am concerned though that we had just started to handle her more and perhaps this stressed her and triggered the fast. We've obviously stopped all handling other than contact with her each week to offer food and regular cage maintenance stuff.

I weighed her this week and she's not losing weight but I am concerned if there is any trick of the trade to get her eating again. We've tried all the things we did to get her eating the first time other than the hopper gerbil thing. We've tried different size rats, even a small mouse to see if that would trigger her....nothing...no interest whatsoever.

I'm wondering if this is just normal behaviour for a snake that lived wild for so much of her life? Due to Saoirse's low weight (even at 900 grams she's obviously still underweight) should I be more concerned that a snake that went into fast in much better condition? I don't want to stress her with a vet visit or over-react to this but I also don't want to be stupid and miss something with this snake. As much as I adore each one of them, Saoirse is just very special to me and I'm a bit more worried than I want to let on.

I am waiting for her to defecate again so I can take in a fecal sample just to rule out any issues that way, though she's had a clean fecal before.

Thanks folks!


~~Jo~~