Not Eaten Since January 21st - Lost 64 grams

[alexcessive]

Ugghh, I'm sorry I keep losing my threads on these forums!

Anyways, I'm still a relatively new BP owner. I got her in September, she's 10yrs old, and was a terrific feeder (it only took one try to get her from live to f/t and then another from mice to rats)..... until January 21st. I thought maybe it was that "time of the year," since she was also extremely active seemingly without a cause.

On a previous thread I made like a month ago it was suggested her increased activity and fasting was stress from the new hide I added. I switched them and nothing changed. She just finished shedding March 27th, so my second guess was the time of the year spilling over into her shed cycle; it'd make for an unhungry BP, right? Well I tried feeding her again tonight(31st) and still nothing.

I'm going to PetSmart tomorrow to get one of their frozen mice, at this point I'm wasting money trying to force rats on her every week or week and a half. (And the next reptile expo where f/t dealers will be isn't until May 30th )

Which also brings me to another question-- if she's not eating, how often should I be offering her food? I think I messed up big time because I had the flu recently and I lost track of schedule, though it was also during this time she was shedding.

OH Last thing, I did weigh her earlier this month and she's gone down from 1534 to 1470g. I'm going to weigh her again but it's starting to really worry me. (She weighed about 1371 when I got her and now she's losing all that weight I've been helping her put on!)

Other than that she's been fine, her shed was perfect and she looks gorgeous right now, her temperatures are perfect (85 cool, 91 warm, 55% humidity although I need to make her a humid hide), her activity has completely evened out and she's still curious as ever......just not eating!!

[DennisM]

offer food about once a week. the weight loss is minimal really, about 4%, she'll eat soon enough if husbandry is correct and she has no health problems.

[Sauzo]

My girl quit eating for about 5 months. She just took a rat 2 weeks ago and last week she went into shed. She finished her shed yesterday and has been patrolling around for a rat. I just offered her a rat every 2-3 weeks when it was boa feeding time. As long as husbandry is correct and the snake is healthy, they can go a year without food. I wouldn't worry too much.

[ItsAllNew2Me!]

That weight loss is nothing to tell you the truth she will be fine. If I were in this situation I would do like Sauzo and and skip a feeding or two before trying to feed again. I'm sure she will pick up again. It is just in their nature to go off from time to time. I have read so many threads and have many friends that go through this with their BPs. It sounds like you husbandry is right on point so I say just be patient. She will be aggressively feeding in no time!! I have screwed up my schedules many times with my BPs. They are also various different sizes so their feeding days are all over the place. None of them have had any adverse affects. Keep trying. Good luck!!

[alexcessive]

Thanks, you guys! This makes me feel so much better. Here I was with experience of caring for BPs in school zoology labs and thought when I got my own BP their fasting wouldn't freak me out.... Guess I was a little self-fulfilling

[Stewart_Reptiles]

The weight loss on an animal that size could be a bowel movement.

At her size she could go a year without food.

The only thing you can do is make sure your husbandry is optimum, enclosure not to large, tight hides, proper temps, minumal handling etc and most importantly be PATIENT.