ANYTHING else I can try to get my BP to eat?!?! please help!

Does anyone have any suggestions to get my bp to eat again? I understand that they go off food for a while in the winter sometimes, but it has been since Oct 2 that she has eaten.

Her temps in her 20L are warm side about 91 and ambient air is about 84.
two hides one on each side and fresh water in the middle. she is active and likes to be out with me although I haven't had her out as much since she went off food.

I have tried live, which is what she has been on her whole life; I have tried frozen thawed and dangling it in front of her; I have tried frozen thawed left in front of her hide over night.

I am reluctant to try pre killed since I just don't think she will eat it and then I will have killed a mouse for nothing.

any other suggestions?

Well you obviously know about the curse and the joy that comes with BP's. One of mine went off feed for 9 months one time--but he's is my only import (CH)--and I only buy captive bred now--not that that probably had anything to do with it, but after feeding last night, once again, he did not eat while my other dozen or so each had at least one prey item. Although he will always be my favorite, I don't worry about him like I do with my others--since he is going on about 8 years and every so often he just doesn't eat for awhile.

Anyways, here are my suggestions:

1. Just let her be, she will eat when she wants to.

2. Try another prey item--live or otherwise, such as gerbils or african soft fur rats (if these are available to you), but keep in mind that switching prey may make things worse if she has been eating mice and risking the chance that she may take a liking to another prey type and then not want anything else.

3. Cool her down for 2-3 weeks. Then bring the temps back up. This will sometimes trigger their inherited time table for seasons--and now its time to eat again.

BabyMowgli said:

Does anyone have any suggestions to get my bp to eat again? I understand that they go off food for a while in the winter sometimes, but it has been since Oct 2 that she has eaten.

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Has she lost much weight, if any? If she hasn't, then I wouldn't bother about it.

One of my girls hasn't eaten since around August, when she started breeding this year. I would panic, but she's not lost any weight (actually, she's put on 100g).

If you haven't already, I would try defrost, with the head boiling hot - for most of my royals, I pop the head in a cup of boiling water for 15-20 seconds, until it's really hot. The superheated prey item might trigger a response in her. The other thing I would try is moving her into a different tub, generally something smaller.

But if she hasn't lost any real weight, I wouldn't worry about it ... may be that she has just decided it's Winter now, so she's not eating.

Yep .. My girl stopped eating a few weeks ago and to be honest i am not even going to bother feeding her now. i will leave her without feeding till about march. It does no harm to them and it is very normal for this to happen.

The only thing I can say is make sure the room is dark when you feed. That's always been important for my BP.

That failing, I have found that Chester will simply eat when he wants to. He fasts every so often and always ends up taking his f/t prey. He broke a 2 and a half month fast this week. As others have said so long as the snake continues on in good health and weight, I wouldn't be overly concerned.

Brianna,
Try the suggestions of keeping feeding her in the dark. Try adjusting your temps. If all else fails, shoot me a PM and we can see if he will take a gerbil. I have a nice size colony right now and I can spare one.

I would try to get the cool side of the cage down into the 70s first.