BP won't eat... or has a disorder

[Gio]

Your royal will experience winter whether you think so or not. It's well published that boa constrictors with the same type of consistent climate experience subtle changes in pressure, daylight, temps and humidity when removed from their natural environment and put into a captive one. Vincent Russo explains this in his book and Gus Rentfro another boa expert also states this. It is not strictly related to boa constrictors either.

Snakes HAVE seasons even if to us, things are always the same.

THE BIOLOGY OF BOAS AND PYTHONS is a good scientific read.

THE COMPLETE BALL PYTHON is another good read.

There are many other studies and books out there.

Don't be over eager to feed your animal. You will do more harm than good.

It's not really a coincidence that you see "stopped eating" posts pop up for royals this time of year. Your animal is a captive and it lives here or wherever you live. We do our best to recreate their natural environment but snakes are pretty hard wired to do what they do best. Surviving and adapting to subtle changes and being secretive is their specialty. Mature snakes will cycle through some type of mating behavior, they just do, and some will stop eating for whatever reason.

If you have purchased a royal thinking you will have an animal that is constantly on the ready to eat, be handled and to be active, you have the wrong animal.

As Eric Alan and others have stated, these are nocturnal animals, and royals especially, are very secretive.

Based on tail length, body mass and some other characteristics, they are terrestrial, and do not often forage for prey, they wait and feed when they are ready. This isn't every Saturday night at 7PM, or very 10 days. It's when they are hungry.

Almost anybody who has owned one for any length of time will tell you about food refusal. It is COMMON in this species!

Wait it out, offer, and if there is no response, wait longer and offer.

Although feeding is often our most exciting interaction with these snakes, you have to realize they run the show on when and if they are going to eat.

That said, if you see significant weighty loss, skin issues, or bizarre behavior a vet may be worth a look.

A lot of folks get very excited, myself included, to own a snake as a pet, but then realize, they are what they are and unless you have a diurnal colubrid that is an active foraging animal, you may not see your snake too often.

Once you realize that some of the little things snakes do are a big deal, you can reset your thoughts and really appreciate the animal for what it is. They are a successful design that is millions of years old, and is very adaptive to small changes and some not so small changes in their environment.

I'd suggest some in-depth research on snakes in general as it is a fascinating subject.