So here’s the gist of what I’m dealing with. I acquired a female het clown that’s 1200g about 2 and a half to three months ago. The guy said she ate like a champ but has not eaten since I’ve had her. I have executed all my tried and true methods that worked with my other snake but ive never had such a stubborn snake like her. Last thing I want to do is assist feed. I will only consider it if absolutely neccessary. So if any of you have advice on what I should do next I would greatly appreciate it.
If you believe she is healthy and your set ups right, then just wait.
It could be the rehoming that has just threw her of balance a bit. Don’t worry dude, these guys go for long periods without seeing prey in the wild, regular feeding like she is supposed to have had would have been rare and chances are she is in better condition than 75% of a wild animal.
She will eventually eat out of hunger, and if it gets to a point she needs to eat see a vet.
Just keep trying, and to save pennies attempt to feed her before any other of your snakes, if she refuses I’m sure you’ll find another willing
Two or 3 months is not a big deal at all. I’ve had males go 7 or 8 months. I have a crystal male who has only ate 4 times a year for 4 or 5 years. I would never force feed an adult they will eventually eat if they are healthy. And if there not healthy force feeding isn’t going to fix the original problem. Hang in there she will eat eventually
Maybe she is in breeding mode? That usually makes them go off food for a bit. But as the others have said, a few months is nothing for an adult BP. Unless your snake is skin and bones I would never assist feed, chances are assist feeding may make it worse on the snake. Not to mention assist feeding babies is hard, it would probably be nearly impossible on an adult since they are so strong. Have you tried a live mouse yet? That is what got my little female to eat consistently for me as she is now slamming FT rats, though she is still just a yearling. I have also heard, but never tried it myself, that gerbils are things that BPs love. So a live gerbil if the mouse doesn’t work? If not, I would just wait for her to eat on her own. Also, did the breeder ever say if she was a mouser or not?
The guy said she has eaten both but he never mentioned that she ever fasted or that she was a mouser. I also thought maybe she was ready to breed? Only thing is that she is only 1200 grams and I thought that would be too small. Do you think pairing her would kickstart her to eat again? And she’s by no means underweight. I just dont know what to really do next cause I haven’t had a snake fast this long. I may also pick up a gerbil or mouse for her next week when I offer again .
I wouldn’t pair her at this size unless she is at least 5 years old, just because she is off food for a bit. I have heard of snakes fasting for a whole year and being fine, you just gotta let them do their thing. As long as she isn’t dangerously under weight I wouldn’t worry too much.
I wouldn’t try feeding her something that you aren’t prepared for her to eat all the time. If you getting gerbils or soft furred or something else she may not go back to the prey you prefer her to eat. 3 months is nothing to worry about. I have quite a few adult ball pythons lol and I’ve never had one that didn’t fast at some point. Unless she starts losing a lot of weight I wouldn’t try other types of prey.
We’ve had them go off feed for an extended time. When Jeff Lumen was still in the game we bought an eight year old bumblebee female from him. Had her shipped. Finally after 9 months she started pounding meals. But it was a long 9 month wait. She lost a couple hundred grams and added up at 2800 grams before she fed again. Stressful waiting that long. And all tricks were tried to get her to feed. Also around the 1000 gram mark they can hit the “1000 gram wall” some seem to stop gaining and go off food for a little while. Such is the case with a Wizard we have. She got to 1200 and just shut off. As long as °/% are good, all you can do is offer meals. They will eventually feed. This is just our experience. Hope this helps.
I have a couple that aren’t quite 1000G yet but they’re giving me a lot of issues lately. Sigh. Just a waiting game.
Yeah that’s all apart of having snakes. Wouldn’t be fun if it was so easy
It’s actually not unusual for adults to shut down and stop feeding when moving to a new environment, I would say 50% of adult I had coming in took 6 months to a year to adjust and get feeding again.
Not to mention that 1000 to 1200 grams is usually what we call the wall.
Not much you can do except having your husbandry as close to what the previous owner had it and be patient.
And in that time she doesn’t eat, let’s say 6 months to a year you dont think she will lose a crazy amount of weight? Anything significant? I just wanna make sure I’m doing everything right and thank you for your input. I especially like to read your replies
They do not they are very efficient in that way a healthy animal will lose a minimum amount of weight of course a lot of people worry because they do not eat but it is part of working with that species in particular and patience is always key.