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Im working with a Burmese that has gone off of food for a little over a year. A vet looks at it weekly. I am looking for help with ideas to getting it back eating. It is in a very large enclose by itself. Everything from rats, rabbits, to quail have been offered. A live pigion has been offered that the snake struck at and killed but did not eat. The snake has been force feed a few large mice coated in egg but that is all that he has consumed in a long time. he has stayed on his regular schedual of urates showing up and a fecal has apeared after the force feedings. Im looking for some new ideas any thing will help.

Any more info such as age, gender (male?), length, weight, temps, humidity, background (have you always owned this snake)?

That might help when giving advice since the first place to start is a proper environment (not implying that you don't have it in place).

One more...has the vet done a complete blood panel on the snake to determine kidney and liver function?

I dont have all the specifices for you today but can get them tomarrow the snake is at my work and I just started so Im trying to trouble shoot the problem myself and think up new solutions that havent been thought of before. what I do know is the snake Male and is about 10 foot long. the enclosure is about 11 foot long 3 foot wide and 4.5 foot tall. The bedding is made of aspen mulch (I think i will check on the type) There is a water bowl that he will climb in himself in the cooler end of the enclosure and a heating panel at the other. He is a very active snake in the morning around 8am and is not active again till around 3pm. He has been in this cage for over six years but I will get the exact time for you. I will check on the temp (the room temp is aroound 80 degrees F but i will take the specific cage temps in the morning)and humidity and age. There is no female in the building. he has had frozen/thawed rats, and fresh killed rats offered, also frozen/thawed rabbits of varing sizes. the quail I saw offered was around 150g. The only live prey he was offered was the pigion but I dont know the size of that. He is offered food every other week to eat on his own. The vet wants to force feed once a week now to try to stimulate the stomach. I was a little off of the time with out food, I was told today it is closer to 15 months without eating on his own. and I found out that he did it once before for 6 months and returned on his own to eating.
The vet has drawn blood and has found nothing there for the reason he wont eat.
The urates are always white that I have seen.

Sorry this was long but i will try to get the rest of the info to you ASAP.
If this helps let me know. If there is something else that will be useful I will try to get it to you.
Thanks again
TA - zooanderson

"...I found out that he did it once before for 6 months and returned on his own to eating."

It's normal for some sexually mature males to go off feed for about 6 months or so during breeding season. 15 months is a long time but not necessarily dangerously unhealthy for a healthy snake. Maybe, maybe not. It's definitely not normal for them to go that long without eating. If it looks real thin & sickly, the it could be at, or near, the point of force-feeding.

It's good that it's under a Vet's care, or, at least that a Vet is seeing it fairly regularly. I hope it's a qualified herp Vet.

Whatever it was eating on a regular basis before it stopped eating, I would try a live one that's slightly smaller. I don't advocate the feeding of live prey but this isn't an ordinary circumstance. Let's say that it was eating large frozen/thawed rats before going off feed. I would try a live medium rat. You'd have to keep a close eye on it to make sure the snake doesn't go to sleep & the rat chews on it. Two, maybe three, hours is all I'd leave the rat in for. I'd also try feeding it during the times it's normally active.

For finicky eaters, offering unusual prey or prey that's too large or too small, rarely gets them to eat. Some are finicky about the size, some about the scent, some about the temperature of the prey, and some that are flat out finicky about all of those. However, stranger things have happened and it sounds like now's the time to pull out all the stops.

If you wanted to try F/T again before trying live, I'd suggest using a medium - large rat, thaw it, wash it with hot water and a tiny bit of mild soap (like plain ol' Ivory white bar soap). Heat the rat under a light bulb or something to between 90 - 100 degrees, to where it's slightly warm to your touch. Then use grabbers or something to move the rat around the cage to simulate that it's alive. Just don't put it right in the snake's face or intimidate the snake with it. Tease it by moving it slightly away from it when it's checking it out. Encourage a chase, but don't make it hard for him to catch/get it.

I know, I know. Washin' a dead rat? I don't know the condition of what you've tried feeding the snake. I was given some frozen rats by a friend that stunk to high Heaven of rat urine & feces when thawed. Even my garbage disposal Burmese wouldn't touch 'em. I washed 'em with hot water & Ivory soap and none of the snakes turned 'em down. I've even done it with frozen mice from a pet store. All I know is - it's worked for me.

More often than not it's a change in environmental conditions that causes changes in behavior. Was the cage relocated or any changes made to heating, humidity, etc, just before it stopped eating? Was a cage mate removed, or anything else that could've disrupted its life?

Any change in temprement?

If at least one side of the cage is glass (see-through) it might help to cover it with a sheet, blanket, or something to give it some privacy during feeding. Of course, you'll have to figure out a way to peek in & check on it every so often, without the snake knowing, to make sure the rat isn't harming the snake.

Is it normally fed in its cage or a different area? If it's used to eating in its cage and doesn't eat the live, smaller animal within its cage, you might consider trying to feed it in another, bare, enclosure. Exercise extreme caution if you do so, because the snake could still be in feeding mode when you go to try to put it back in its cage. If normally fed in an enclosure other than its cage, try feeding it in its cage instead (If it doesn't eat the live, smaller animal.).

Hang in there & best wishes!
HH
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Due to political correctness run amuck,
this ol' hillbilly is now referred to as an:
Appalachian American

www.natures-signature.com

You could also ask yur vet about an appetite stimulant such as Megace? It works in people. Just a thought. I don't know if reptile vets use it. The Billys' the Man.

Hi!
If you could answer Laura's questions it will really help narrow things down faster. Please be a specific as possible. Something along the line of:

It is a 2yr old male that's 8ft long. His cage temp is 92 on the hot end & 80 on the cool end. Humidity is 60%. His cage is a 125-gallon aquarium with covered screen top. I use a 50 watt flood light for basking and aspen bedding for substrate.

I've had him since a hatchling. He is kept alone in his cage but there is an 8ft female in a cage next to his. 8 months ago, when I first put him into this cage he stopped eating (or did he gradually decrease in appetite?). He urinates mostly clear, sometimes white, urates every 5 days. He's active, constantly moving, but will not eat. I've tried live rats, stunned rats, frozen/thawed rats, etc... You get the point.

No signs of respiratory infection? Any gurgling while breathing, with your hand underneath it, near his throat? Holding it's head up constantly?

Hang in there!
HH
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Due to political correctness run amuck,
this ol' hillbilly is now referred to as an:
Appalachian American

www.natures-signature.com

I know of a couple people that have gone through similar situations with boids and solved the problem by dipping frozen thawed food in chicken broth and that stimulated the snakes' appetites for some reason.

Will it work for you? Maybe?

Good luck, either way.

I split a f/t cornish hen in half for an 8ft. green male i have that refused for 6 months he took it with great enthusiasm.

I had this problem with a Burmese that I had rescued a few years ago. He was eating will and then stopped for about a year and a half. There were no problems but he just would not eat. I ended up putting him in a dark plastic tube with holes in the top. I would place a heating pad underneath and then introduce a pre-killed rat. I would place the lid on the tub and leave it for just over an hour. After I tried this a few times the rats started disappearing. I started feeding in a clear tub again and he stopped again. Then when I put him in the dark he would eat. One question I would have is was this snake a wc or cb? I have heard of wild caught snakes that would quit eating if they did not hybernate during the winter months. I personally have never had this problem but I have known of a couple of people who say that they have. I hope that this helps. This is only my view and idea but then again maybe it will help.
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Dragonmwt

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