2 yr old Male Opal refuses to eat

[Fozzy8810]

Hey everyone,

I have a 2 yr old opal male, who has refused to eat his food 3 times within the past month ( i usually feed him twice a month). I read some discussions, talking about how March is breeding season and that males tend not to eat at this time. I know that he is not about to shed, because within this month of not eating, he already shed, and after he shed he still refused to eat. He is actually very active, and i tried to leave him a plastic container ( like a large critter cage) in the dark, next to a warm heat source, but he still won't eat. I feed him adult mice. Should I have any concern for his eating hiatus? I was thinking about feeding him again this thursday before I went on a weekend vacation.

Thanks, Really Appreciate

[jon31072000]

Hey Fozzy. First off, let me say, the best advise I got whenever any of my reptiles didnt eat was relax. I stress alot about my animals and worry that something could be wrong at the drop of a hat... lol. As long as they are active and appear healthy, they will eat when they are ready. There are tons of reasons for them to stop eating or slow down for no apparent reason including breeding season, shedding, heat changes, changes to their enviornment, and so on. Even recently, my baby amel refused to eat for 2 weeks and I was starting to stress when i just happened to offer a pinky almost as a joke while I was cleaning her cage. I set the small feeding cage aside and cleaned the cage and all that, looked over and there she was eating away.... The main thing I can try to stress to you is, if he looks healthy, he is probably fine and will eat when he is ready, so relax and wait for him to be ready. I offered mine food about every 4 days and left them in the feeding tank for 15 mins, if they didnt eat, wait another 4 days and try again. Jon

[starsevol]

I have a 2 year old male cinder and I WISH he would refuse food ! That would tell me he wants to mate. So far he is eating like a piggy and I wish he would STOP!! :)

[PJ@PJCReptiles]

I would first ask if you have a female in house over the age of 18 months old? If so, he just might know she is there and want to breed. He will eat again if he was healthy before this started. Sometimes I will have one here and there that will not want to eat for some reason or the other. You said you feed him twice a month...one mouse. How big is this guy? How long have you had him? Any pics you can post?

I would not worry too much if he is still active and no loosing any weight.

Hang in there and keep us posted.
PJ

[Fozzy8810]

He's two years old, turning 3years in July ( I forgot the exact day). Here's a pic I have of him, that i took in december or november. He's about the same size, and he has shed twice since then. The only girl i have in my house is a kitten, she LOVES to stare at him, but doesn't try to harm him. At times he will come to the top of the tank to see her, he never slithered away from her. :)

[ratsncorns]

Sounds like he is looking for love. I wouldnt worry about it. Ive had male corns go off feed for 3 or more months and only lose 10g. Its easy to stress about their feeding schedules, but even hatchlings can go long periods of time without eating.

[Fozzy8810]

So, I FOUND the problem ( i think). On THursday ( 2 days ago ) I tried to feed him a mouse, and he again refused to eat it. So my mom thought that maybe the problem could have been the condition of the mice that we were feeding him. All of the mice that we bought for him were from a vendor from reptile show in VA, and we usually go to the one in MD but we missed the MD show. These mice do have lacerations to them, opposed to the ones in MD that were completely in tact. We had fed him these mice from the VA vendor since September, so initially i didn't think it was the problem, but I went ahead and went to Petsmart to pick up some mice to try something new and in tact. and it worked. I guess now I know why i should never miss the MD mouse vendor AGAIN.

[Caryl]

LOL! That's kind of funny. I had one little guy who'd go off feed if the mice had been in the freezer for more than about 6 weeks. I guess your guy is just opinionated about his meals! Glad it's sorted out.

[SnakeAround]

LOL it could still be a coincidence,,, I'd try anotherone of the lacerated mice just be sure. It would be funny how a snake can be that picky :)