Just a little pat on the back to me really for perserverence !!
My small male 05 green has finally after more than 15 months decided to feed.
I think this must be a record for fasting !!
When I got the snake (august 2005) he had been fed 2 live gerbils - it was only just over 2ft long when I picked it up and obviously a very young animal.
Anyway over the coming months I tried absolutely everything - from frozen everthing you can imagine, to lve finches, gerbils, mice, fish etc .. all to no avail.
I tried all connotations of environmental manipulation - still with the same result.
In february 2006 I force fed it one small mouse ... and of course continued to try to get it to eat on its own.
Since that time I have force fed it another 5 times, once resulting in a regurgitation.
Surprisingly the animal continued to maintain reasonable body tone and obviously drank well - it defecated on occasion and shed a number of times.
At the end of november the snake started to look quite thin and had loose skin.
I happened to be moving a few animals around and found an uneaten mouse in a viv containing some small boas (only from the previous night) ... anyway I threw it in with the anaconda and left it -- the following day I checked and it had disappeared to my surprise.
Since the week before christmas the snake has eaten 7 small mice, all of its own volition and has improved tone incredibly. I have not measured the snake as I do not want to disturb it too much and want it to really settle into feeding again, but would estimate it's size at about 27 -30"
Hopefully it will continue to go from strength to strength and eventually will pair with my female.
Sorry for the long post but I am quite pleased that perserverence and patience has paid off and above all that the snake seems now to be on the road to a normal life.
Carl
