Sincere thanks to everyone who has taken time to reply. It’s a busy world, and I appreciate your efforts and willingness to help. Some of you, I’ve been reading your forum posts for more than a year. Truly appreciate all of your personal replies and respect your experience and dedication. “Each one, teach one” is alive and well on BP.net.

frankykeno asked about weight and length… he is 34” long and weighs 1600g. His weight has fluctuated as follows:

7/2008 1741g (he'd been fed extra during rehab to help him recover)
10/2008 1645g
12/2008 1640g
1/2009 1568g
2/2009 1549g
3/2009 1565g
4/2009 1580g
5/2009 1598g
6/2009 1600g

His greatest loss was a total of 192g over the winter. He had begun to gain back lost weight in 3/2009-4/2009. Right now he’s 1600g, down 141g from the original 1741g. But as I mentioned earlier, he's still robust and strong. I’ve spoken to my herp vet several times over the months about the weight loss, and he characterized it as minor considering the fast.

To those who suggested my male snake might be trying to bring sexy back… OK, I knew about fall fasts for mating hopefuls, but I didn't know bps can go off feed in the spring as well. Thanks for pointing that out.

To those who suggested hides… yes, in addition to the RBI hides I’ve also tried snug plastic round hides and larger RBI hides. We did the Goldilocks thing last summer with several sets of matching hides to see which he preferred. I’m embarrassed to tell you how much time I clocked last year trying to find a correlation between hide size, shape and feeding success. So far… none. But he does use hides.

To those who cautioned against handling… yes, absolutely, and since he’s not eating, I’ve stopped all handling. Exceptions: I did weigh him this month, and on his last shed I did examine him briefly to ensure all shed was gone. Other than that, no “recreational” handling. When he's on his eating schedule, I handle him 10-15 minutes a couple times a week; when he skips a meal, I stop handling.

To those who suggested downsizing his tubs to 32 qt. and below… he is an adult male and currently lives in a 3-tiered RBI rack with CB70 (30.6 qt.) tubs. The tubs measure 17.75” x 33.5” x 5.25” and fit snugly into the rack. Until now I hadn’t considered moving him to anything smaller. But Eddie, you mentioned you’d had success moving down to a 6 qt. tub, even? Definitely worth considering if this fast continues.

I will try Kysenia’s suggestion of covering the front of the tub.

To answer Eddie’s question, no, I haven’t tried ASFs but I have tried mice.

Again, thank you all for responding. I will apply the tweaks as discussed and keep the faith.