Reptile & Amphibian Forums

So I posted a month or so ago and everyone said not to worry too much. He was a ferocious eater since I got him. Before he stopped eating in the Spring he was eating 3 fuzzies every 4-5 days. I would rub the F&T on a boa skin. So still don't know if the skin lost its scent over 9 months I've used or if he just isn't hungry. He is very active scouting the cage daily and still very friendly to hold. Every week I put a F&T in there for a few days and he ignores.

Should I start getting worried now? Get a fresh skin?

Thank you,
rob

Post a picture. That thing must be emaciated by now.

Bones sticking out on top?

Posting a pic would also give us a better idea of the size and overall health condition of the snake.

Also have you tried LIVE mice yet??
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www.Bluerosy.com

He actually looks and behaves very healthy to me. I’m not an expert and first King in over 15 years, but I wouldn’t be worried if it weren’t for I know he hasn’t eaten.

Gorgeous snake there!!

He actually looks surprisingly well, given the time that he has not eaten for you. Even so, he needs to be getting fed as soon as possible.

How are you thawing out your mice? Is the mouse warm, if you thawed it in hot water, when you give it to the snake? Like Doug had mentioned, sometimes some snakes prefer the food to be warm, as if it was alive.

Also, do you have access to corn snake skins?? Perhaps the boa skin does not an appealing scent to it?? Whenever I would have a picky hatchling cal king refuse to eat after it was born ( I was lucky to only have this problem happen maybe twice at the most ), I had gotten them to eat pinks, rubbed and scented with corn snake skin. I would feed them one scented, and then throw in another pinky but un-scented. After doing that once or twice, the cal king was switched over to un-scented from that point on.

Have you also tried to feed the snake a mouse from forceps or tongs, wiggling the prey in front of it? Some snakes prefer that as well.

Is the snake being watched as the food is placed in his cage? Some prefer to be totally alone in the room, lights off and all, to eat in solitude.

Just some ideas. Keep us posted, and good luck!!
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Genesis 1:1

Thank you, all credit goes to Shannon for this amazing perfect banded Bishop, CA Cali.

Right now I’m trying a slightly “heated” fuzzy, usually they are just room thawed for an hour. I have tried tongs and all. Next try will be the mashed up skin and water.

Was there a reason that you HAD to use snake scenting before for it to eat?. Understandably, the reason it went off feed in the spring was to key-in on finding a mate(as they typically do) in the spring. it should have started to come around by now and started to eagerly resume feeding, but I would try as soon as possible to get him interested in accepting the easier "preferred" un-scented rodents. Try appropriately sized live mice, then thawed frozen mice(slightly warmed to natural rodent temp), and if that fails, try "braining" a mouse and squeezing some brain material around the dead mouses face. These things usually spark a sure feeding response in these types of snakes. Also, make sure it has nice tight hiding places and be sure the temps are optimal. These things are VERY important.

A temp of about 84 on the warm side, and high 70's on the cooler side of it's enclosure should be adequate. Whatever the case, it definitely needs to get eating soon.

~Doug
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"Better to be silent and thought a fool, than to open mouth and remove any doubt!"

I always used scented F&T. In the Spring at the exact same time he stopped eating was when I stopped trying unscented and also moved up to Hopper mice (8 grams) from the three 5 gram Fuzzies he was eating a week. After about a month of him not taking the unscented Hoppers, I tried scented again and then also went back to Fuzzies with no luck. I still have the same old Boa skin I used, but not sure if I need a fresh skin or he isn’t eating regardless.

I still don't quite get exactly why you always fed him shed-scented prey in the past, unless it was because he didn't accept any other mouse "tricks" at ALL. Unless absolutely necessary, you don't want it to become soley dependent on scented stuff, when you could have been gradually weaning it onto normal un-scented food.

In any case, it doesn't look as bad as I thought it might.

Again!,......try those OTHER tricks we mentioned FIRST!!, then if none of those are accepted, you might be forced to go back to the shed scented prey just to get some nutrition back into him.If it's a must to do this again, try putting a section of the old shed(if it's the only one you can get) into a little shot glass with just a couple drops of water added to it, then mash it up. This will create a shed "soup" slurry of sorts, and will tend to revive the smell of it back to life.

~Doug
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"Better to be silent and thought a fool, than to open mouth and remove any doubt!"

I had one that went off food from for about 7 months. He drank and that's it. Barely lost weight.
Then one day in late Feb. I tried feeding and he ate a couple of mice and was business as usual.