14 months since this guy ate....

[wax32]

I've posted a few times about this guy at various times during his "feeding strike". I haven't done one in a while so I thought I post another update!

This is Konjou, a male '07 I got from Tim Bailey at about 5 weeks of age. He ate an appropriately sized F/T mouse every week for a year with the occasional refusal. In August of '08 we evacuated from Hurricane Gustav. I had a LOT of snakes in a motel room for 5 days! On returning home he ate once, Sept 18th, and since then NOTHING!

Here are some photos taken today:









He seems healthy. He has lost some weight, but by no means does he look "starved". I mean he hasn't eaten in a year so some drop in weight is reasonable! He weighed 635g in December of last year (after not eating for 3 months). Today he weighs 514g.

So what do you guys think?

I have tried various numbers of hides, from 2 to 1 to none. He has a water bowl which I keep clean. His temps are good... same rack as my other 2 balls, exact same setups.

I've been told (last year around this time) that he probably just wants to breed. Well, too bad for him as my '08 pastel female is only borderline big enough and if I was going to breed her this year I'd for sure put her to my pinstripe!

I'm at a loss as to what to do next.

[wax32]

By the way, the specks you may see on him and on me are not mites they are bits of moss from his hide...

[greghall]

do you feed live mice rats ASFs,if not try it!

[Big Gunns]

Go get him a dose of Flagyl, and BG bets he'll eat shortly after that. You need to do something. Snakes that haven't eaten for a long time can look fine one day, and the next be near death. It's been too long...you need to do something drastic....even if it's assist feeding. BG would find some flagyl first though. It works for BG 90% of the time.

[wax32]

do you feed live mice rats ASFs,if not try it!

I've tried live and F/T mice and rats of various sizes. Not ASF's tho...

[wax32]

Go get him a dose of Flagyl, and BG bets he'll eat shortly after that. You need to do something. Snakes that haven't eaten for a long time can look fine one day, and the next be near death. It's been too long...you need to do something drastic....even if it's assist feeding. BG would find some flagyl first though. It works for BG 90% of the time.

Gonna have to call my vet I reckon. I'll give that a try.

[wax32]

Hmm, my vet would need a stool sample to decide if the snake needs flagyl... hard to get one of those from a snake that hasn't eaten in 14 months!

[WingedWolfPsion]

Assist-feed him a decent-sized prey item, wait, and get the stool sample. This is what I would do, at this point.

[dr del]

Hi,

I seem to recall they can take a wash from the vent and test that for certain things.


dr del

[ScubaDiver007]

before you stress him out with assist feeding.. Try an ASF?

Remember ASF's are the natural food for the BP's..