Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Any suggestions? He has only eaten twice since Feb. Tried to eat last week but spit it out after he kills the little hopper. He still drinks water and etc.....just won't eat.

Need more details.....
are you watching him when he tries to eat?
do you leave the food in overnight?
does he have and use his hiding spots?
any signs of illness?
post a pic of him if possible, a recent one Tom Stevens
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TomsSnakes.com

Here are the details Tom…

He is 2 years old and about 23” long.
Are you watching him when he tries to eat?
Nope.

Do you leave the food in overnight?
Yeah He used to eat at night

Have and use his hiding spots?
He has two hiding some, one on the warm side (cave) and one on the cool side (8” thick hallow grapevine log)

Any signs of illness?
Nope. He has always been a finicky eater. When I bought him as a baby he went 6 weeks with out eating, then finally started eating one mouse a week and half. But, since Feb he has only eaten twice.

Post a pic of him if possible, a recent one here you go. Also pic of his setup. Cage is a 36”L X 24”D X 24” with ceramic heater element and UVB 24” bulb.
Temp ranges from 72 to 75 on cool side and 79 to 84 on warm side.

forgot cages setup here you go

If that is a male he may be thinking of breeding, and when males are in breeding mode it is common for them to go off feed. He looks fine to me and that cage is really great for him. I asked for the pic because a girl was on here crying the blues about her sick snake....she posted a pic of it when it was healthy so eveyrone said it looked fine. She sent me a recent pic and it was on the verge of death all kinds of messed up. Glad to see this is not the case with you. If you do not know the sex try n find someone to help you determine it. If it is a male he will turn on eventually and eat, and even if it is a female it looks to be in OK shape anyway so I would not worry too much. It is handy to have a scale at times like this, you can weigh the snake and check on it periodically to make sure it is not losing too much weight. Hope this helps Tom Stevens
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TomsSnakes.com

thanks tom. I will pick up a scale this week and get him check again to make sure he is a he.I worry about this snake all the time.

I have a female that is just a year old and she is 30" long and a pig when it comes to eating. But she is very aggressive though. She has actually came out of the cage and took a mouse out of my hand before I was even ready...lesson learn there.

My breeder Mexican Black King only started eating within the past 2 weeks since being cooled over winter. I have many other males barely eating at all, typical this time of year.Don't worry too much, it is great to be aware of things but not feeding for a while is no reason to panic. Mucous or bubbles around the mouth and nostrils, or bloody poop or a bloody / crusty cloaca are symptoms that somehting is wrong... but having the scale will tell you a lot. As long as the snake is drinking water he should be fine, he will eat when ready Tom Stevens
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TomsSnakes.com

he's smelling that girl and won't eat until the breeding season wanes.

Tom is right.

Most of my males haven't touched food in over two months. I have a male pyro that just ate his first meal last night. He came out of brumation in late Feb. Eleven weeks without food. He does the same thing every year.

I wouldn't worry, just keep trying to feed him every week to 10 days.
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Vichris

Vichris Variables

Like all the others said, sexually-mature males will do this, especially when you have a female in the same room. No need to worry. Give him a range of temps so he can go where he needs to go to maintain the temps he wants to.