The 1000 gram wall

[Smitty33]

Well seems Walter has hit the infamous 1000 gram wall. He was 975 grams last month and now he's gone 2 straight weeks refusing meals. I've had him almost a year and in that time he's refused twice that whole time. Not too worried about it a he's nice and fat but I'll weigh him tonight and keep an eye on his weight. Do you think I'd be okay skipping him next week and just offering every other week for awhile till he gets going again? Just hate to waste the rats as I don't have another snake big enough to give them too.
On a good note I successfully switched my daughters hatchling mojo from f/t mouse hoppers to f/t fuzzy rats last night. She skipped last week due to being heavy in blue so I figured she'd be extra hungry this week and it would be a good time to try. Just thawed it out with a mouse for her corn snake to scent it some and she nailed it without any hesitation.

[AllThatInThemGenes]

Do you think I'd be okay skipping him next week and just offering every other week for awhile till he gets going again?

I think thats a good plan. when you do attempt if he does not go for it you can always try leaving in with him overnight.

[Smitty33]

I think thats a good plan. when you do attempt if he does not go for it you can always try leaving in with him overnight.

Oh yea I always do that. He's ate before like that. But last two weeks I've still had a dead rat laying in his cage in the morning. Funny thing is he was about 5 or 6 inches out of his hide all night just looking at it.
Fully prepaired that he might not get going again until spring but he's plenty chunky so not too worried about it. More worried about wasting good f/t rats.

[bumblebee1028]

Fully prepaired that he might not get going again until spring but he's plenty chunky so not too worried about it. More worried about wasting good f/t rats.

Our adult males seem to slow down their eating during the winter time, too. It's nice that we have a few on the same size rat - I just thaw one every week or so, so there's less waste if they don't eat. Winter fasting seems pretty common, so it may be that vs. the 1000 gram wall.

[Darkbird]

And if he doesn't eat after skipping a week, I have moved some of mine to trying every 3 weeks to a month. As long as your keeping an eye on the weight it won't matter. And this is just me, but I've actually gone to feeding males every two weeks unless they are recovering from being off feed for a while.

[Albert Clark]

I think thats a good plan. when you do attempt if he does not go for it you can always try leaving in with him overnight.

I definitely agree with this! Extra point however is to make sure to really heat the rat up before you present it. Focus on heating the head really well with a blow dryer if you do it that way. That may help to bring him out of the food strike.

[Smitty33]

I definitely agree with this! Extra point however is to make sure to really heat the rat up before you present it. Focus on heating the head really well with a blow dryer if you do it that way. That may help to bring him out of the food strike.

Oh yea I always heat them up good with a blow dryer. In fact I always slide one of his doors slightly opened on his T8 before blow drying to scent him up and it doesn't take but a few seconds and he comes piling out of his hide. He didn't last night so I knew something was up.
Last week he came out as normal but even though he wouldn't strike he smelled it all over and at least seemed interested. He normally won't strike a white rat but will eat it if I leave it in his cage but no dice that time. Last night was about a 90% black rat I figured for sure he'd slam but no dice either.

[Sauzo]

My girl too has decided food isn't needed. She spends most of her nights out wandering around and destroying her cage. I just try every 2 weeks or a little longer. Luckily I got 2 garbage disposal boas who are more than happy to eat any surplus lol.

[Bcycling]

I got my 1050 gram male switched to every two weeks now also. I don't need him any bigger so I am not pushing him. I was actually thinking if going three weeks between feedings but not sure if that's a good idea or not. He is also my only snake who refuses f/t.

[Smitty33]

Ok I weighed him tonight. On 12/24/15 he weighed 954g and tonight on 1/11/16 he was 951. Last meal was 12/26/15, and first of the year he shed an pooped. I'll post some pix tomorrow.