Not eating after breeding question.

[snakesRkewl]

lol, like I said, if you like your males off feed, go ahead, I'll keep mine eating ty.

This post is a fine example of why to regulate your male breeding

[Swingline0.0.1]

You live and learn. Have you tried pre-scenting? Do you feed live or FT? What are your temps and how are you controlling them? That kind of info might be able to help.

[Big Gunns]

No third person for serious advice.

When a male breeds for a long period of time without eating it actually can lead to death.... so don't take this lightly. You can try feeding it a mouse instead of a rat. Sometimes they'll take a mouse even though they always ate rats.

If you feel your snake is losing weight and getting weak I would suggest giving it some oral flagyl. This drug is a miracle worker for this problem. If it was me I would do it right now. I have never had a snake not come around and start eating very shortly after giving it flagyl. One simple dose usually does the trick. Good luck.

[Jeremy78]

Hey mate,
I'd try as advised earlier and start off with a smaller prey item, say one size down from the usual. If after a few weeks (only offer once every 7 days) he still doesn't eat maybe try a medium or small live asf to pop him out.

There's lotsa tricks to get em to eat.

How long has he not eaten? What have you tried so far?

Good luck .

P.s. Don't worry about the drama. Some people have a weird way of helping (but they still are helping ). In the future to keep em eating try the 3 day on 3 day off trick.

P.s.s. Welcome to bp.net!

[The Mad Baller]

Thanks to all for all the advice! I keep all my ball pythons in boaphile racks from41qt. on down. I have a ranco & helix thormostat. 90 on the hot side and ambient temp in the low 80's. I have acess to any medications and vet care whenever needed. I figured I would ask the community on here first since some of you'll probally know more than the vets or just as much due to having so many balls over years and all your personal expierences and knowledge. Also he hasnt ate now for probally around 2 and half months total. Again I try to buy animals the best and give them the best care. I just for some reason thought I was doing it right due to the books I read and people I talked to. I MESSED UP and now learned from it to never happen again thanks to this SITE & YOU'LL.

[SlitherinSisters]

lol, like I said, if you like your males off feed, go ahead, I'll keep mine eating ty.

This post is a fine example of why to regulate your male breeding

I know people are touchy on this, but I'll have to agree with you. That's exactly why you regulate how often the male is in with the female. A young male, especially, has the chance of stressing himself to death, by not eating or pure stress. I personally would rather not risk something that is based on fact in a round about way. Males can stress from over breeding, if your snake is stressed it doesn't eat, if your snake doesn't eat, it dies...... Simple yes?

To the OP, we all make mistakes, it's just the difference of an honest mistake or pure ignorance/laziness (it's not that hard to take the male out for a few days). I know you won't do it again. Good luck getting him to eat again He'll eat regularly next year for you as long as you give him breaks. Also, I can understand why you would be confused reading stuff online/from books. Don't worry about it. You didn't do it on purpose knowing that most people take the males out every few days for a break.

If you feel your snake is losing weight and getting weak I would suggest giving it some oral flagyl. This drug is a miracle worker for this problem. If it was me I would do it right now. I have never had a snake not come around and start eating very shortly after giving it flagyl. One simple dose usually does the trick. Good luck.

Where do you find that? I've never heard of it.

[Quiet Tempest]

I think it is a waste of time to keep them together, a great way to make post like this one even

My males eat every week during breeding season, why would I want to throw my males off feed leaving them in with the female?
Normally when my females are done with the male they sit on them.
Yes, the females sit on the male so he won't continue breeding or attempting to breed her, leaving him in there is only a fantastic way to stress him out and send him off feed.
If I place my male in with a female and she sits on him he's out because she has already said what's up and how it's going to be.
I'm not telling you how to do it, just what I do and why I wouldn't do it.

Up until a few weeks before my females were ovulating, my male was still eating on the same schedule as he always does. When he went off feed for over a month, I offered a rat pup and he jumped back into his old routine.

If he had stopped feeding from the get-go and started losing weight or looked poorly, I wouldn't have left him with the female for such long periods of time. I don't want to leave the impression that I'd throw a male in with a female and leave his fate up in the air. I do check in on my animals at least once a day (usually more if I'm waiting for a pair to start mating or to watch my females progress towards egg laying) and if I saw something amiss or obvious disinterest between them, I would separate and give them a break from each other.

[snakesRkewl]

OP:I Apologize for sounding so harsh, I'm sure you do care for your snakes and now have to figure out how to get him eating again, hopefully he comes around soon.
Your next season you should be more informed, more well read, and not make the same mistakes as you did this year.
We all learn as we go along in this crazy hobby, good luck with your future breedings!

[Big Gunns]

Where do you find that? I've never heard of it.

You'll need to go to a Vet unless you have Big Gunns connections of course.

Actually Big Gunns just knows a couple Vets that give him a discount. There are many large breeders that use Flagyl with their animals. They know it's a miracle worker for some problems.

[Adam Chandler]

I sucesfully bred my pastel male to my pinstripe female. I had them together for a couple of months. He's been out now for over a month but has no interest in eating yet.He is an 08 that i purchased in Daytona that year from for the love of reptiles. He would always eat prior to this. Is this normal or should I be worried now. Any advice greatly appreciated. This is my first breeding season,so I'm a rookie.

My male pastel was in with female on and off and didn't eat from November until the end of May. Once I took him out I washed him to get the scent of the female off him and them cleaned his tub and put fresh aspen in it. A week later he still wouldn't eat. I moved him into a separate room from the female and he started eating intimately.