2.0 Juvinile & Hatchling off feed! HELP!

[onthefritz]

I picked up a 120g male pastel banana at Tinley in March. He was on live rat pups then but I switched him to F/T the week I brought him home. He has eaten like clockwork and was gaining weight until 4 weeks ago when he just stopped eating. My other male has also stopped eating. He's 410g and has been on F/T since he crawled his adorable self out of his egg. This Thursday will be 4 weeks since either of them have eaten. Neither show any signs of RI or illness.

Both males and my 250g female stay in a Reptile Basics Iris Sweaterbox rack. Since all 3 are still juveniles and hatchlings I keep at least one hide in each tub as well as an antler decorated with some fake foliage to help clutter things up a bit. Ambient temps at the front of the tubs stay at 78 while the back stays around 85-87 and they have a hot spot of 88-92 towards the back of the tubs. Humidity stays at 65-75%. I haven't changed anything and my female is still slamming her meals weekly.

The week that both males went off of feed, they were handled a little more than normal as my family came to stay and wanted to hold them. It wasn't an outrageous amount of handling, maybe for an hr for two days in a row? After they missed their meals that week I ceased all handling until they get back on track.

The larger male had a BM last night for the first time since he went off feed so I'm hoping that maybe he'll take his dinner this week. It wasn't a large BM by any means but it was pretty solid nonetheless.

I have noticed in the last few days that the smaller male is constantly out at the front with his head slithering up towards the top of his tub. When he's offered food he shows interest for a few but then focuses on trying to escape his tub instead. I know hes trying to tell me something with his primitive snake ways... I just don't know what it is.

Any help or advice would be greatly appreciated! I know that sometimes they go off of food but it's been my experience that it only happens when something is wrong. I need help figuring it out!

[anicatgirl]

Have you tried re-offering live? Are you sure that you're getting the f/t heated up to a high enough temp? Neither of them really are big enough to miss very many meals, but the little one is way too small for that.

[onthefritz]

Have you tried re-offering live? Are you sure that you're getting the f/t heated up to a high enough temp? Neither of them really are big enough to miss very many meals, but the little one is way too small for that.

I haven't re-offered live yet. I weighed them both last night and the bigger male hasn't lost any weight yet but the smaller male has lost 5g. I was off a little on my numbers for the smaller one. He was 160g on March 28. He was 155g last night. The bigger guy was 414g on March 28 and is still 414g as of last night.

I heat the rats in a baggy and let them sit in hot water for about 30 min for the pups and an hr on the small rats. The pups that I was offering a few weeks ago were solid white. That supplier started giving me animals covered in feces and looked like shriveled up raisins so i switched to another with much healthier and cleaner looking stock. The new pups are spotted. Could that be throwing the smaller guy off?

[anicatgirl]

It could be. Um. Hm. Do you feed in their enclosure? In the relative dark, at night? You can always try pointing a hair dryer at the feeder's head for a little bit and make sure the head is nice and hot. (Not like cooked. Just warmer than the body)

[200xth]

Since all 3 are still juveniles and hatchlings I keep at least one hide in each tub as well as an antler decorated with some fake foliage to help clutter things up a bit. Ambient temps at the front of the tubs stay at 78 while the back stays around 85-87 and they have a hot spot of 88-92 towards the back of the tubs. Humidity stays at 65-75%. I haven't changed anything and my female is still slamming her meals weekly.

Try putting two hides in, one at each end. Make sure the hides are small enough, particularly for that 120g one.

How are you measuring the temps? Temp gun? Analog or digital gauges?

Are you measuring each tub? Or just one tub and assuming they are all the same? I have the same rack and there are times I see some pretty large variations in temps from one tub to the next.

Have you done just FT feeding attempts? Or live?

[onthefritz]

I measure hot spots in each tub with a gun. Each tub also has a digital thermometer/hydrometer.

I normally feed around 9-10pm so its good and dark aside from the hallway light that I leave on just so I can see what I'm doing. I haven't offered live yet.


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[onthefritz]

I just offered food to each boy. The larger male jumped all over it so maybe he just needed to poop? The smaller guy still didn't want it. I put an extra little hide on the cooler end of the tub for him so hopefully that will help him feel more secure. It's a tiny box from some biscuits that's only an inch or so tall.


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