Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Im at a loss why my black rat male has went off feed.Ive tried brained,live,chicken,anoles,mouse/rat pups in chicken broth, hamster pinks,etc.
Temps are perfect,extra hides,fresh water,in a quite place and left alone.He is going on a 6 weeks without feeding.He is half the diameter of my female now and a shed behind.He is less than a year old so I will assume it's not related to breeding .His fecals came back clean.
He is very restless and is always on the move.He will kill live prey and not eat it.
Any ideas would be helpful....Paul
Hibernation is not an option at the moment..thanks.

I really dont know what the problem is but the coxi post below may be informative. Did you try Beheading them like it says below? My LTR was picky when i first got her. So i teased her with a f/t pinky and she got pissed enough to chow one down. Have you tried leaving an f/t in his cage overnight? Best of luck, id hate to see something bad happen to such an awesome animal.
-----
-Doug Daly

"Aren't you two a little old to be drinking illegally?"

0.1.0 Leucistic Texas Rat Snake (Elaphe Obsoleta lindheimerii)

Hi,
We have the same problem with our black rat. He just went 4 weeks without eating. We just keep trying. Last night we put a pinkie in with him and he didn't want anything to do with it. We then brained it and as he climbed out of the feeding container and was trying to go his merry way my son just kept the pinkie right in front of his face and after about 10 minutes his tongue hit the oozing brain fluid and he just calmly opened his mouth and started eating. I am always convinced that he Isn't going to eat it. It seems to take an incredible amount of patience. My son has a lot more than I do! We then easily got him to eat another one the same way. Sometimes he will eat right away and then he will go weeks without. After a couple weeks of refusing to eat we just spend a lot of time with him keeping the pinkie right in front of him as he trys to move around. Like I said it takes a long time and it is almost like he finally gives in and says "alright, alright, I will eat it." He is a year old this month and has ALWAYS been a fussy eater.

My problem is the male came to me feeding and in great shape.He ate 5 meals in 3 weeks then shut off.He will chase and kill hopper mice.Im trying to figure out an angle to convince my wife he needs to be put in our crisper for a month.It stays 39 in there and maybe a little nap will pick him up some...Paul