Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Wanted to check in with the experts and see if I should be concerned about anything.

I have a 2 year old anery KSB (DOB = Aug '07) that has recently decided not to eat.

He had been eating F/T mouse fuzzies weekly like clockwork. Then November 13 this year, he decided to not eat. I kept offering every 3-5 days or so like I used to do (F/T at night, leave him alone in the dark), and it's right where I left it in the morning. After 5 attempts, I got concerned and fed him a live mouse fuzzy on 12/6 and he ate it. Then I tried a F/T on 12/14, and a smaller F/T on 12/20, and he refused both again.

Note: For one of those feeding attempts in November, I put him in a Deli Cup with the F/T fuzzy and just a small piece of crumpled paper towel in with him and left him overnight. Still didn't eat it.

Enclosure details:
- Sterilite tub in a rack
- Flexwatt belly heat at the back creating temp gradient of 80-95.
- Aspen bedding
- Ceramic water bowl

He appears healthy, not skinny. But I'm concerned that he used to be an eating machine on F/T and now he's not. Is this typical? Is it due to the winter months?

Thanks,

It could be he is looking for a girlfriend My 3 males went off feed about a week after yours and they have just started to take their f/t meals again. Males tend to go off feed more often than females, especially during breeding season. Keep a close eye on him and offer food maybe every ten days or so to see if he'll start eating again.

Good luck and i hope you have a happy Holiday Season!

Chrissy
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1.0 Ball Python-Siegfried
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0.1 pug mix

Thanks for the reply Chrissy. Maybe that's it. I do have a girlfriend for him (double het snow) but she's a little too small yet. Hope to breed them soon though.

I have had adult males (greater than 50g) go off feed for several months (desire to breed and very focused). Keep an eye on the weight and offer prey items periodically. If he does not lose weight I would not worry.

-Chris
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Christopher E. Smith
Contact
Captive Bred Herps
Wildlife Research & Consulting Services, LLC

Okay, great. Thanks for the advice. So far he still looks plump and healthy, not at all like he's lacking for food. So I'll just continue to monitor and provide prey every now and then. Wish my female was ready for him.

One of the mistakes that i have made in the past with many of my snakes is overfeeding. I used to feed all of my snakes weekly...until i gave up a pair of my cornsnakes and was told how grossly overweight they were.

Unfortunately, i was unaware that i was doing any harm to them. My ghost stripe male died shortly after of a large mass in his lower intestine that caused a major prolapse.

Since then, i have realized that snakes don't need to eat every week. In fact, giving them a bit of a 'break' now and again is good for their systems. My adults and sub adults are now getting fed smaller meals once every other week; and maintaining healthy weights.

In the wild, snakes do not get fed on a regular basis. While people are more geared to keep everything on a schedule, we have to realize that snakes aren't like us. That was a fatal mistake on my part.

I wholeheatedly agree with everyone saying that your boy is in breeing mode. I have a 10 year old male ball python that does this every year...And now that i am new to the KSB scene, i am learning that males are a pain to feed.

I just recently had to breed mice to get my anery to eat. Pain in the butt, but he is finally (after 2 months) putting on weight.

As long as your guy maintains a healthy body weight, i am sure he could go a month or more before you should worry.
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"Brains for dinner, brains for lunch. Brains for breakfast, brains for brunch. Brains for every single meal; why can't we have some GUTS?"-Misfits

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