Off food... assist feeding?

[Stewart_Reptiles]

We adopted a normal female BP. She is just shy of 4 ft and has produced clutches in the past according to the previous owner. Was told that she's been off food for @ 6 mos. now. She has refused both live mice and live rats for me. I was recommend to offer small so I tried to tempt her with a rat pinky hoping to slip larger food in behind it. She is all the way down to 800 grams now. It makes me wonder... has she really lost that much weight or did they breed her too young? She has shed recently and appears healthy otherwise but she is visibly under weight. Ultimately the question is, when should I start worrying and start considering assist feeding?

Short answer NO you do not assist an animal off food, assisting is for hatchlings that NEVER took a meal on their own or animal on death's door.

Do you know when the last clutch was laid and whether or not that female resumed feeding after laying.

She knows how to eat so right now it's about making sure your husbandry is optimal (proper enclosure, temps, humidity etc), low stress (NO handling unless it is for cage maintenance) you may even wan to consider downsizing the enclosure (I have had trouble feeders that sized switch to 15 quarts tubs in the past) and more importantly it is about patience.

As food goes offering a rat pink to a 4 ft snake will not accomplish anything (it will not likely be recognized as a prey item), you need to offer a small rat (around 4 weeks old) and see how it goes.