Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hey guys,

I have this beautiful 11ft female Albino tiger retic. She has not eaten for nearly 4 months now. She still has good body weight, but I am at a total loss of what to do.

I have tried f/t Rats, Rabbits and Gpigs. I have tried them wet just out of the water. I have tried them dry. I have tried them dry and extra warm. I have tried live rats...but she is generally scared of them. She is a VERY VERY VERY docile retic. Mostly everything in the world intimidates her. She JUST RECENTLY started to get angry when you mist her.

She is set up in a 6x2x18" melamine cage with sliding front doors. Her cool side is around 79, and warm side around 84 with a hotspot of around 90. She uses both of these sides almost equally. I keep her cage covered to prevent traffic stress.

Patrick at Prehistoric has given me some awesome advice as always...some ideas I have not tried that may work in time, but not quite yet.

Any ideas?

Thanks,
Chris

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Chris Foley

has she eaten regularly for you in the past? did she just go off feed for no apperant reason? what does her stool look like... runny, bloody, etc, ect?

could be one (or combination) of things:

she is cycling
she has intestinal parasites
birth defect in the intestines
tumor of some other obstruction in intestines

i would start by ruling out the things listed above. i know some sub adult female retics will cycle even if they dont ovulate.

i also know that some retics will stop eating if they are eating to much... maybe to lose weight?

nothing you can do really - except force feed... but thats a last resort.

try bumping up her heat a little and see how she behaves... maybe that will get her hungry?

good luck
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invest in the stock that never depreciates... your education.

Reticulatus.Net

When I purchased her in July she was taking HUGE Gpigs with no problems. Then in August she did not want them anymore, and began to accept jumbo rats. The previous owner said she switches on and off between rats and rabbits as a preference.

She ate consistantly from July until November. I moved Dec. 1st. (only an hour away). If anything, the move only improved her conditions.

I really doubt the parasites. She went directly from Prehistoric to Rodney Pray, who has a flawless collection. Her stools are always well formed (although she has not had one recently due to not eating).

I am unsure how I would tell about any kind of tumor without xray/ultrasound?

I also have been considering cycling. She is older than she appears...about 3 years old. Many other snakes in my collection have been breeding. The male I have for her would be more than willing to breed her. Maybe I just need to be more patient?
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Chris Foley

Hey Chris-
It sounds to me like she's cycling buddy. I'd be willing to bet that if you bump her ambient temps up just a little bit and give her another month or so that you'll have a good eater once again... for another 6 months or so that is! Hope this helps.

I guess that is the case...maybe I just needed some reassurance.

How do you go about raising the ambients? It's easy to raise a hotspot or something with heat tape or a light bulb....but how about the overall?

The room heat is actually on 83. Her cage is just in a further point of the room from the heater (the only place itll fit).

Thanks!
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Chris Foley

What happens if I put the boy in there with her? I do not intend on a breeding...but maybe it'll snap her out of it? Or might it only make things worse?

Thanks
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Chris Foley

I know when my Emerald Tree Boa would not eat, I got the advise to heat it up using the infra red lights. He said there was somthing about it that made it work. I did work.
My concern is that there is somthing deeper wrong with her. For example my Burm went off feed, did the same things you talk about temps the same, and sure enough I came home one day to find her dead. This is just my experence and she did not eat for 3 months did not really lose that much weight, but did deficate the day before she passed because I cleaned her that night. Now there could be many reasons she could have passed, unfortuantly I will never know. RI, Bad Heart, Kidney failure, some one said Lung Worms. If I could do it over, I would have taken her to a Vet two months into not eating. And for the price of that Albino Tiger I would take it to the vet just because.
Then I have heard its breeding season so they do stop sometimes, or can tell the change in the weather. Again things I have been told.

Good Luck, I hope she eats soon

Jeff
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0.2 Rotts
1.0 Super Tiger
1.0 Amel Retic
0.1 Ball Python
0.1 Red Tail
0.1 Blood Python
1.0 Green Ananconda
1.0 Emerald Tree Boa

Chris,

I'm not sure if anyone mentioned the part of the country you live in. My adults for the most part stop feeding in September and start up around April. I live on the east coast. They loose a little body weight but not as much as you would think. My younger males and females will feed all winter. If another male is introduced to a cage, the ones that were fasting will eat during the winter. I assume this to ensure size dominance over the other male.

Very strange....but it happens every winter. I was really worried in the beginning but now I just make sure they are well fed going into the winter.