Feeding after Laying

[JASBALLS]

What is the longest any of your snakes took to go back on feed after laying her eggs?

I have a female that was 1850 grams when she went off feed on 12/13 (last meal). On 5/21 she laid 6 eggs and weighed in at 1190 grams. She has refused both F/T and Live small rats (ate small live rats while eating last year) since laying her eggs and she actually shed 2 days ago on 6/3. Any advice would be greatly appreciated!!

I always start them off with something really small after they lay. Some feed the next day. some a week later. Did you palp her after she finished laying? No more eggs in her right? And you did wash her and the bin real good to get the egg smell out?

[JenH]

I think smell has a lot to do with it. One of my girls layed 7 pretty eggs, I cleaned her up real good and she wouldn't eat for 3 weeks. She was constantly moving around in the tub. Just so happens that the incubator was in the same room. I really think she could smell the eggs from the bator. I took her tub to another room in the house and put her in another rack. She settled down and ate the next day.

Was it smell or just going to another rack? Who knows? I'm just glad she is eating....

[PhillyBoyInTN]

Well I cleaned her real good and cleaned her tub pretty good as well. Perhaps I'll try switching her into a new tub. Incubator is not in the same room so that should be a non issue.... Thanks for the advice.

[ShawnT]

Same thing happened to me. She dropped her eggs and refused food for a month straight. I finally decided to soak her tub AND her,(I cleaned her tub thoroughly after she laid eggs) and 3 days later she ate a rat (she was a mouse eater) And has taken a rat every week since!

So I would suggest like the others have said, give her and her tub a soak

[frankykeno]

I always start them off with something really small after they lay. Some feed the next day. some a week later. Did you palp her after she finished laying? No more eggs in her right? And you did wash her and the bin real good to get the egg smell out?

Yep like John said.

One of our females ate within a week of laying, though a smaller than normal rat. Over the next few weeks feedings we just gradually moved her back up to her normal size and she's already almost back to her pre-breeding weight (her hatchlings are about a month old now).

The other female didn't want to eat at all for weeks after laying. I phoned Tim Bailey and he gave me exactly the advice John's just given you and it worked. After another wash up for the snake and another full strip and scrub of her enclosure we waited a day and offered her a lively rat pup. She snapped it right down and has progressed each week since - eating very well, gradually moving back up in prey size and starting to put the weight back on. She was on newspaper for breeding and laying and we also did put her back on her normal aspen bedding after the second go round of cleaning/bathing.

It's good advice, I'd listen to it (and I did!)