Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I've got a pair of beautiful Transpecos rat snakes (one blonde and one silver). I've owned them for about 11 months. I first purchased them in December of 2004 and set them up in a 15 gl tank with UTH. Both snakes ate consistently for me until this summer and now the male eats like once a month while the female is eating every week. They have access to a warm spot of 95 and a cool side at 78. It's really strange. On the bright side the one that is eating is the female.

Any advice on getting the male to remain interested in feeding? I feed F/T and have not tried feeding him live but probably will just to see if that sparks his interest.

Thanks,
Russ

I dont know if this will help, but here goes.
My pair have a similar problem, my female eats absolutely
anything, at any time, but the male is a different story.
Ever since i got him (hes an 03) he has had a liking for rat pinks
and until very recently would eat nothing else, i gave him his
usual 4 pinks but added a small d/f mouse, and to my amazement
he ate it, i am now giving him a small mouse at every mealtime
and so far he has not refused any.
Might be an idea to give him the odd rat pink.
The female is a chunky four foot while the male is a weedy 2ft
Good luck

Trans-Pecos ratsnakes will start to shut down in the wild around this time of year. If you try to feed an animal that is biologicaly shuting down you will stress the animal. My last meal for the year is Thanksgiving. I keep the heat on for one more month so they can clear their system of all food. I then cool the snakes for three months at 65F for TPR but some only cool down to 70F.

Hey man,
How are your Black Gap subocs doing (You never sent me any pics!)?? Did you ever sell the group?
By the way, I should have some REALLY cool subocs hatch out starting next year. A lot of potential for some brand new morphs.
Later,
Dusty

I lucked out. I made silver breeding wild females to wild gap silver. They are black and white and real clean. They are all light but three are axanthic. I made a total of 22! Ten are locality Gap. I will send picture you will have to shoot me an E-mail and you are welcome to post pictures if you wish. I have 3 spare males.Bill

Sometimes Bogeys slow down at this time of year. And male subocs are especially more prone to fasting than females. Just another reason to love them. Do you have an actual thermometer on the cage or are you guessing? Several things could trigger it like reduced photoperiod (if he can see the days getting shorter, etc), parasites, etc. Is he lethargic or is he still active? If he is active then it is most likely not anything serious or pathological.
You may want to increase the ambient temp by using a towel on top of the cage for several hours each day. I did this when some of mine slowed down prematurely (I wasn't ready although these two were LOL) last year and it brought them back into the swing of things.
And like you said, try live mice, scenting or try moving him into a new cage. I have an adult blonde male that only eats live and hasn't eaten a f/t in almost a year. You could also take him for a ride around the block. Seriously! I know that sounds funny, but sometimes it just takes a little bit of environmental stimulation (introducing a new hiding place, changing cages etc.) to get those snakes into a more homeostatic situation.
Hope that helps!
Dusty Rhoads

Some of my subocs will only eat smaller sized mice than the larger ones that they are certainly capable of eating. It seems to be a charcteristic of the species, although not all individuals are like this. If you have got him on fuzzies, try pinks. If on adults, try hoppers etc.
D.R.

Do you keep them in the same tank? If so, I would seperate them. And there are several reasons why that is a good, safe thing.
D.R.