Help! Not eating!

[CooperSchardt]

So I’ve had my bp for a couple years now, and shes generally been ok,(took to the vet once due to tip of tail losing circulation due to stuck shed) and lately she hasn’t been eating. It’s been a little over a month and I’m getting nervous. When I tried to offer her food today she shied away from it at first and when I heated it up some more she struck and constricted but then became uninterested. I have hides on both sides and temps are 75ish on cool side and 90 on the heated side. Is there something wrong or is this normal?


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[Bogertophis]

So I’ve had my bp for a couple years now, and shes generally been ok,(took to the vet once due to tip of tail losing circulation due to stuck shed) and lately she hasn’t been eating. It’s been a little over a month and I’m getting nervous. When I tried to offer her food today she shied away from it at first and when I heated it up some more she struck and constricted but then became uninterested. I have hides on both sides and temps are 75ish on cool side and 90 on the heated side. Is there something wrong or is this normal? ....

Are you the first owner? (so she's about 2-3 years old? are you sure of the gender?) What is her size? (wt. & length)
How often do you normally feed her? -what size prey, & are they rats or mice? She's very pretty, by the way...

When BPs get to be adults & breeding age/size (about 3+ years old) they often "decide" to fast at times. This varies quite a lot & frustrates us but it's usually normal.
However, you need to rule out other issues just the same. You mentioned the tail problem, what's the humidity in her cage? (you may need to cover
more of the screen top to get the humidity to stay up...and you can also put in a "humid hide".

Are you SURE she just isn't going into a shed cycle? It's much harder to see early warning signs on a snake like yours (light color) but they often know long before we do.
The behavior you described is typical for a snake that knows it's going into a shed...OR one that knows (by temperatures & length of daylight) that winter is coming soon.

Temperatures are also critical for BP success...your "cool side" might be a little low at 75*. What part of the cage does she spend most of her time? Sometimes we have
to read between the lines...

[Craiga 01453]

A little over a month is nothing.

As long as husbandry is right and she's not losing weight at a drastic rate she's fine. Just a BP being a BP.

[CooperSchardt]

Are you the first owner? (so she's about 2-3 years old? are you sure of the gender?) What is her size? (wt. & length)
How often do you normally feed her? -what size prey, & are they rats or mice? She's very pretty, by the way...

When BPs get to be adults & breeding age/size (about 3+ years old) they often "decide" to fast at times. This varies quite a lot & frustrates us but it's usually normal.
However, you need to rule out other issues just the same. You mentioned the tail problem, what's the humidity in her cage? (you may need to cover
more of the screen top to get the humidity to stay up...and you can also put in a "humid hide".

Are you SURE she just isn't going into a shed cycle? It's much harder to see early warning signs on a snake like yours (light color) but they often know long before we do.
The behavior you described is typical for a snake that knows it's going into a shed...OR one that knows (by temperatures & length of daylight) that winter is coming soon.

Temperatures are also critical for BP success...your "cool side" might be a little low at 75*. What part of the cage does she spend most of her time? Sometimes we have
to read between the lines...

Thank you! I think I’m the first owner, I got her from petco when she was fairly small. It’s been 2 years since I bought her.Haven’t measured her length, and humidity is about 60 on the cooler side and 40-50 on heated side. I usually can tell when she’s going through a shed because she gets noticeably duller in color and this doesn’t seem to be the case. Also, she does seem to spend most of her time on the heated side, so what would you recommend I do to up the temperature of the non heated side? If I put another lamp it would cause all the humidity to go away. I try feeding her once a week, but usually becomes every two weeks due to being super busy on the weekends to feed her. They’re medium sized rats(frozen thawed)


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[Craiga 01453]

I try feeding her once a week, but usually becomes every two weeks due to being super busy on the weekends to feed her. They’re medium sized rats(frozen thawed)


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Ummmm...48 hours in a weekend, 10 minutes tops to feed one snake...and there's 5 other days each week.
I'm not trying to be a jerk, but if you can't be bothered to feed, what else is lacking???

[Bogertophis]

Thank you! I think I’m the first owner, I got her from petco when she was fairly small. It’s been 2 years since I bought her.Haven’t measured her length, and humidity is about 60 on the cooler side and 40-50 on heated side. I usually can tell when she’s going through a shed because she gets noticeably duller in color and this doesn’t seem to be the case. Also, she does seem to spend most of her time on the heated side, so what would you recommend I do to up the temperature of the non heated side? If I put another lamp it would cause all the humidity to go away. I try feeding her once a week, but usually becomes every two weeks due to being super busy on the weekends to feed her. They’re medium sized rats(frozen thawed)


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I think she is just "growing up": you shouldn't be feeding her once a week on a medium sized f/t rat...that's just too much food. When they're young & eating smaller prey it's ok for a BP to eat once a week, but the time between meals should get longer as the snake grows larger and begins to eat larger rodents (which just take longerto digest. Eating too much is as bad for a snake as it is for us, and like us, some will continue to over-eat while others get up from the table as she seems to do.

I do think you should make some modifications to the cage, it sounds like her humidity & temps need some help. While the speed of her digestion depends on warmth, it's also critical that she can choose higher & lower temperatures; over-head lights tend to dry out the air, and aren't efficient anyway-most of the heat rises away & out of the cage. I prefer to use UTH, and that might be just the thing you need for her digestive comfort ("belly heat" that rises from the floor), but all heat accessories MUST be regulated (thermostat) for your snake's safety. Those with screen-top cages usually reduce the air-flow significantly to keep in humidity, but you can also add a "humid-hide" using moisture-retaining (& thoroughly dampened) sphagnum moss, and some substrates hold in moisture much better than others too. (to be clear, I'd add UTH to this set-up, and keep using the over-head light for warmth too but run that with a lamp dimmer to balance the warmth with the UTH.) Every cage set-up is a little different though, because much depends on the room temperatures in your house too...as the seasons change, her cage may either be too cool or too hot, so you need to stay on that...make changes as needed & be sure you're measuring the temps. accurately.

[CooperSchardt]

I think she is just "growing up": you shouldn't be feeding her once a week on a medium sized f/t rat...that's just too much food. When they're young & eating smaller prey it's ok for a BP to eat once a week, but the time between meals should get longer as the snake grows larger and begins to eat larger rodents (which just take longerto digest. Eating too much is as bad for a snake as it is for us, and like us, some will continue to over-eat while others get up from the table as she seems to do.

I do think you should make some modifications to the cage, it sounds like her humidity & temps need some help. While the speed of her digestion depends on warmth, it's also critical that she can choose higher & lower temperatures; over-head lights tend to dry out the air, and aren't efficient anyway-most of the heat rises away & out of the cage. I prefer to use UTH, and that might be just the thing you need for her digestive comfort ("belly heat" that rises from the floor), but all heat accessories MUST be regulated (thermostat) for your snake's safety. Those with screen-top cages usually reduce the air-flow significantly to keep in humidity, but you can also add a "humid-hide" using moisture-retaining (& thoroughly dampened) sphagnum moss, and some substrates hold in moisture much better than others too. (to be clear, I'd add UTH to this set-up, and keep using the over-head light for warmth too but run that with a lamp dimmer to balance the warmth with the UTH.) Every cage set-up is a little different though, because much depends on the room temperatures in your house too...as the seasons change, her cage may either be too cool or too hot, so you need to stay on that...make changes as needed & be sure you're measuring the temps. accurately.

Ok!What side and temp should the uth be at?


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[CooperSchardt]

Ummmm...48 hours in a weekend, 10 minutes tops to feed one snake...and there's 5 other days each week.
I'm not trying to be a jerk, but if you can't be bothered to feed, what else is lacking???

I don’t know what I’m doing wrong then , but including thawing the rat in warm water and her taking 20-30 minutes to eat it and putting the cage back up like it was, it usually takes me over an hour.


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[Bogertophis]

Ok!What side and temp should the uth be at?


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Is that a counter-top that her cage is sitting on? That's great for UTH, if so. You need to experiment some...to repeat, what is YOUR ROOM or HOUSE temperature
kept at? & what about seasonal changes, does this location get colder? how cold? What size is the snake's cage (length x width)? You need to use enough to achieve
the right temps. for the snake...and it MUST be on a thermostat so it's not too hot. IF (?) you use a lot of A/C, or it's chilly in winter, the best thing to do is to insulate
the glass first...the sides & back of cage...with something like white or black foam board (other things work too) cut to fit & taped on securely.

The size of UTH used is normally recommended to be not more than half the cage floor, so the snake can choose warmth or cooler...BUT it totally depends on YOUR
situation AND the kind of snake. BPs need more warmth...IF your house is on the cold side, you might want to use UTH on 2/3 of the cage floor, & ONLY WITH a
thermostat controlling it. You'd also need to measure the heat accurately IN the cage and OVER the UTH to dial up the thermostat to optimal warm temps. for a BP.
If you use a UTH product like Flexwatt, it comes in different widths...that's what I use, but there are other brands too...every set-up must be customized for what you
need.

[Craiga 01453]

I don’t know what I’m doing wrong then , but including thawing the rat in warm water and her taking 20-30 minutes to eat it and putting the cage back up like it was, it usually takes me over an hour.


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Defrost the day before. Leave it in the fridge. Then it heats up in just a few minutes the next day when you're ready. Easy breezy.
But yeah, I see what you're saying. It takes a good 10 minutes for my BP to eat. My other snakes are quicker.

What do you mean putting the cage back up like it was?


My snakes eat on different schedules. But occasionally all four eat the same night. Takes me 20 minutes tops to feed all four.