Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I have a 2002 whitesided bull male, who previously ate like a pig, suddenly begin refusing food last week. No changes to his environment, no illnesses, mites, or other visible changes.

My other nonfeeder is an adult male San Diego Gopher snake, who also previously ate like a pig. Same thing. No changes.

Is this my cue to begin cooling them? My female pits and male sonoran gopher are still chowing down-its only these 2 males behaving like this.
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My collection and herp photography

www.lowergroundreptiles.net

If there have been no changes to their captive conditions, and they are in apparent good health (i.e. acting like they should act, good body weight, etc.) then don't worry about it. If you intend on breeding them, perhaps now would be a good time to begin their cool-down. Snakes can be weird sometimes, as I have had quite a few that have decided that they were not going to eat for a few months, and then decide (for no reason I'm aware of) that they were hungry again....Roll with it, and don't worry about it unless they start to behave strangely or start to lose alot of body weight.

-Kris

>>If there have been no changes to their captive conditions, and they are in apparent good health (i.e. acting like they should act, good body weight, etc.) then don't worry about it. If you intend on breeding them, perhaps now would be a good time to begin their cool-down. Snakes can be weird sometimes, as I have had quite a few that have decided that they were not going to eat for a few months, and then decide (for no reason I'm aware of) that they were hungry again....Roll with it, and don't worry about it unless they start to behave strangely or start to lose alot of body weight.
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>>-Kris

I figured it was probably just that, time for a cool down. This was to be their last meal of the year anyway. Both of them have excellent weight on them, and were eating two small rats or one medium rat a week, so I'm not worried about them being sick or anything.

I'll give them another 30 days to empty their systems (more if I don't see any feces) and then begin their cool down process.
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My collection and herp photography

www.lowergroundreptiles.net

A word of caution....2 small rats a week seems a bit much to me, and (as I'm sure you're aware) it's easy to "over-feed" a snake to the point that it becomes obese....This in turn leads to a shortened life-span and lowered reproductive potential...

I have a pair of Northern Pines, and I feed them a medium rat once every 14-21 days....As I plan on breeding them next year (I won't this year because there's alot going on with me right now), I will keep this feeding schedule until that time, to avoid overfeeding them.....There have been no issues as they both have excellent body weight and are just over 4 ft long....

-Kris

>>A word of caution....2 small rats a week seems a bit much to me, and (as I'm sure you're aware) it's easy to "over-feed" a snake to the point that it becomes obese....This in turn leads to a shortened life-span and lowered reproductive potential...
>>
>>I have a pair of Northern Pines, and I feed them a medium rat once every 14-21 days....As I plan on breeding them next year (I won't this year because there's alot going on with me right now), I will keep this feeding schedule until that time, to avoid overfeeding them.....There have been no issues as they both have excellent body weight and are just over 4 ft long....
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>>-Kris

The small rats I feed are from rodent pro, which seems to think a 3 1/2" rat is "small" - I've noticed other people's small rats are much larger.

-cat
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My collection and herp photography

www.lowergroundreptiles.net

several of my yearling female Sonorans went off feed about a month ago. everything was perfect, so i chalked it up to them trying to cool for the winter.
i didnt like it so i offered both of them live mice in their fifth week of stubbornness and both turned right on and are back on track.

hope that helps.