Males and feeding

[DemmBalls]

Are their any tricks to keeping a male on food while breeding? For some reason most of my males go off of food early (like now) and will not go back on food until spring. I know of some people whos males don't even go off food. Any thoughts here?

[Akren_905]

Im not sure abotu how to keep them feeding besides offer them food. When i worked at a pet store they places 3 adults balls in the same tank beacuse of down sizing. They didnt know at the time that it was a female pastel n 2 male normals. They were always locked up and ate every 7 days with only 1 week of skip from the female, all 3 ate. They made 4 normals all were born small.

Could it be because of you temperatures? Or are you cycling your males to often?

[Stewart_Reptiles]

I move them in even smaller enclosure generally 15 quarts works with some but others they still go off feed no matter what.

You mainly need to make sure they have a good weight to start with, monitor them make sure they don't lose too much weight and be ready to pull them out of rotation if needed.

[DemmBalls]

I move them in even smaller enclosure generally 15 quarts works with some but others they still go off feed no matter what.

You mainly need to make sure they have a good weight to start with, monitor them make sure they don't lose too much weight and be ready to pull them out of rotation if needed.

They all have fine weights, but it just gets frustrating when I hear others talk about how their males rarely go off feed. Just makes me wonder if I'm doing something wrong? I was looking through charts from last year and they are all right in line with last season, so I guess it's just the snakes breeding schedule?

Will you even put the larger males in 15qt tubs? most of my males are around 1500-2000 grams...Except for a few of the younger guys.

Thanks for the tips.

[Annarose15]

Mine went off feed last November until March, and only lost ~30g (was 700g and first breeding season). I think they're fine as long as you monitor their weight and body condition.

[Stewart_Reptiles]

Will you even put the larger males in 15qt tubs? most of my males are around 1500-2000 grams...Except for a few of the younger guys.

With male that size I would not worry and I would actually expect them to go off feed, that's very large for males.

Try feeding smaller prey less often they will likely eat with more consistency, and stop worrying about it I would not worry a bit with male that size.

As far as going of feed or not I would say 30% of my males do go off feed completely the rest eat with consistency through breeding season and may occasionally skip a meal or two. Than again my males are feed smaller preys nothing larger than 55/65 grams and the largest male is likely 1400 grams (trying to keep the lean for breeding)

[SlitherinSisters]

I tried breeding 3 boys last year. One was a bad feeder his whole life so it was no surprise that he stopped eating on me. He's an '09 and only 450 grams. He's a real pain in the rear...

Anyhow, other than him, the other two males didn't stop eating, but I keep my males on the small side and feed them small meals every 10-14 days during breeding season. It was advice I got from a breeder that seems to be working well. I'm doing it again this year, so we'll see what happens.