Reptile & Amphibian Forums

My girlfriend has had her KSB for over a year now and it always ate like a champ. Then, this past January, it just stopped. 7 or 8 months of eating great and now this. Her last meal was 01/18/10 and nothing changed in her life whatsoever with regards to her housing or temps. She was thriving and then bam she just stopped taking her meals. I am hoping this is fairly normal for these snakes? She has not lost weight and if anything looks quite plump. Just wondering if this is a common thing for these snakes to go off feed so abruptly or if we should be worried. Maybe its due to the time of year and come spring time she will eat again..I dunno though. Thanks for any input!
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~Markus

The very existence of flamethrowers means that sometime, somewhere, someone said to themselves..."You know, I really want to set those people over there on fire...but I'm just not close enough to get the job done!

This is not uncommon, nor a reason to worry. As long as she is maintaining her weight, she's probably a totally normal, healthy KSB. When I've had KSBs go off feed, I typically cut back how frequently I offer them food until they start back up again. I've heard of large females that would go nearly a year without eating (but I can't back that up, as I haven't actually witnessed this, and it would be a terrible experiment.)

Maybe someone else has some ideas or experience with handling and snakes off feed, but I personally have a sort of superstition with any animals that have gone off feed, and I NEVER interact with them. I let them be, and only refill water/spot clean cages.

My female Paradox Albino Sand Boa last ate December 27th, and she has maintained a good weight throughout her fast, so it is normal for them to abstain from feeding. As long as she is maintaining weight and not showing any abnormal symptoms or signs, just be patient and she will start eating when she is good and ready

Chrissy

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1.0 Ball Python-Siegfried
1.0 BRB-Pedro
1.0 Blair's Phase GrayBanded Kingsnake-Elvis
0.1 Paradox Albino Sand Boa-Cleo
2.2 Dodoma's
0.1 pug mix

Thanks keego73 and chrissyk35

I feel a bit better now!
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~Markus

The very existence of flamethrowers means that sometime, somewhere, someone said to themselves..."You know, I really want to set those people over there on fire...but I'm just not close enough to get the job done!

Is the female an adult (2-3 years old, 200 plus grams)? If it is only a year old that is kind of strange for a female (normal for a one year old male). Adult females will go off feed, especially if they have good body weight and are gravid. Males will go off feed during the breeding season (they only have one thing on their mind). The longest I have had a healthy kenyan sand boa go off feed is ~7 months (it was an adult male). Typically my males go off feed for 1-3 months every year. My females only refuse food when gravid.

As long as the weight is good I wouldn't worry too much. Just to be sure though....

What are the temps?
depth of substrate?
type of food offered (f/t vs live)?

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

Oh man my apologies I never responded to your questions Chris! She is young still, only about 14 inches long eating frozen thawed mouse pinkies and fuzzies (since she grew a bit). Well she was eating those. She is as of today still off feed. Her last meal was 01/18/10. Nothing in her life really changed after we had her eating normally for 5-6 months leading up to it her food strike. We had her in repti sand the whole time, but I switched her to aspen about 2 months ago. She is much more active now and has all kinda of tunnels she has made. I would say she has about 4 inches of substrate depth. Temps are probably 70-75ish cool side, and 85-90 warm side via UTH. She still has good weight on her, seems very alert and healthy too and comes out on top of her bedding to cruise around all the time. She just wont touch food anymore. We offer food to her once a week in a small dark box we put her in that she used to regularly feed from. I had to get a baby clean up snake (Black Milk) for my girlfriend so we dont waste so many fuzzies haha! But yeah this girl is stressing us out with this not eating dilemma! We tried cutting the feeder in half before too, but no dice.

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~Markus

The very existence of flamethrowers means that sometime, somewhere, someone said to themselves..."You know, I really want to set those people over there on fire...but I'm just not close enough to get the job done!

Well, she finally ate over the weekend. Unfortunately it was a live fuzzie. She refused a f/t the day before. So now I gotta figure out how to get her back on f/t.
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~Markus

The very existence of flamethrowers means that sometime, somewhere, someone said to themselves..."You know, I really want to set those people over there on fire...but I'm just not close enough to get the job done!

Ditto.

Bastards go off feed just to worry the hell out of you. I think it has been scientifically proven.
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Mark Huntley
Sand Boa Morphs

Kenyan Sand Boa's
4.1 Rufescens
1.2 Albinos
0.5 Dodoma
2.1 Flame
2.5.8 Normal (orange)
3.4.10 Anery
0.1 Snow
2.2 Hopeful Yellow Snow
0.1 Splash Albino
1.0 Splash Anery
1.0 Orange Stripe 100% Het Anery
1.0 High Orange Stripe
1.0 Yellow Stripe
0.4 High Orange Tiger
2.2 High Orange
2.3 Boston Terriers
0.2 Sooners
8.30 Rhode Island Reds
0.0.15 Tropical Fish
0.1 Moody Wives
1.1 On the fence in-laws
2.1 Rug Rats

http://sandboamorphs.blogspot.com/