9 yr old refusing to eat - help!

hi

im in the uk so please dont suggest live food - its illegal here!!!

max hasnt eaten for about 5.5 months and shed about 2 weeks ago and still will not feed. his behaviour has been quite quiet as youd expect in the winter so i havent been too bothered. then about a week before he shed he just seemed to have too much energy and was looking hungry and aggressive, then shed and is still looking as tho he is hunting. then he bit my boyf! hes never bit anyone! i have tried different heat sources and temps and dif humidities and still no luck.

he isnt looking too skinny yet but is just not interested.....any ideas pls....hes been a brill snake for so long - its just odd!

cheers
hazel

It hasn't eaten in 5.5 months!!! That the middle of September you know.
If true that rules out spring fever.

"i have tried different heat sources and temps and dif humidities and still no luck."

What tricks have you tried in the way of preparing the mouse???

Have you had a fecal check done?
Be sure to do both types the float and the direct stain (I think it is called).

i just checked and its just under 5 months.

hes been trough a lot in his life and is a tough cookie so im not sure if i should just leave him for a bit?

sorry lol! i cant spell!

Ok....can you live him in a plastic container with the mouse over night. How long are you giving him to eat it?

spinrek said:

hi

im in the uk so please dont suggest live food - its illegal here!!!

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If you buy a mouse at a pet store, you don't have to tell them what you're planning to do with it. I know there are other folks on here from England and I've heard that it's illegal, but not enforced too much. I'm sure your government has more important things to do than monitor live mouse sales at pet stores. We have a law in King Co., north of me, that it's illegal to sell an animal for the consumption of another animal. That means ALL rodents - live or f/t, feeder fish, etc. It has yet to be enforced in any pet store. Just don't announce your intentions to feed it to a snake and you should be ok.

dionythicus said:

We have a law in King Co., north of me, that it's illegal to sell an animal for the consumption of another animal. That means ALL rodents - live or f/t, feeder fish, etc. It has yet to be enforced .

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If that's the case, do they just sell "lab" mice.

I don't want to hijack this thread, so I'll PM you.

For info, it isn't illegal to feed live here in the UK. However, I understand that this has never been tested in court and so there is no legal precedent. If taken to court, your only defence is that feeding live was the only way to save the life of your snake. It hinges around the principle of "unnecessary suffering"; What was suffering most? The starving snake or the eaten mouse? Either could be argued in court.

My old male once went through a long starvation period - he ate twice in just over 7 months. He took a dislike to my house move in the summer and went on hunger strike through the winter. This then melded into his usual breeding season fast (as I suspect yours has done). Keep an eye on his weight - mine only really started to drop weight in the final 2-3 weeks of his fast, at which point he started eating again with some help.

For some reason, he wanted to be hand-fed - don't know why, as he never had been before. I took a defrosted, warmed mouse and dangled it in front of him with a pair of feeding tongs. Took about a minute of wiggling before he latched on, but it went down in record time. I used to put him in a feeding tank with the warmed mouse and if he hadn't shown interest in 10 minutes, I hand-fed him (I didn't want him to learn that the smell of food could be ignored). After six months of hand feeding, he latched on by himself and has never needed it again. Might be worth a try for your guy.

When he first went off his food, had anything changed? A new tank or viv, a new snake in the house, a move to a new house - even to a new room or a new position in the same room? They can be real creatures of habit sometimes and can take exception to the strangest things.