6 month old not eating
 

I have a 6 month old female that isn't eating. Its been over four weeks now. My first question would be how long can she go without eating before its a problem?

I've tried; making it dance, leaving it over night, scenting with chicken broth, giving two pinkies one scented one not, I've put her in a small container over night, tiny pinkies, bigger pinkies, put the pinkie on a towel and let her cruise around, teased her with it, and still no bites.

When the pinkie is in the cage she will go and check it out. Spends a moment inspecting it and then moves on. In the small cage she just slept right next to the pinkie. By the way they are all F/T. I also went and bought a brand new case thinking the ones I had might be bad.

She is very active. Always out and about in the evenings. She has even gotten comfortable enough that when I put my hand in the cage she'll climb up and out on it.

She has pooped a few times since her last feeding. Once after a warm bath. The only thing left I can think of to try is cutting the pinkie in half or attempting to force feed which I really don't want to do.

Any suggestions? When do I actually start needing to worry?

my amel did that at first i put it in a very smale container and just left the warm pinky in the container left the room and eventually she ate it

First, be reassured that a healthy 6-month old corn can go weeks and weeks without eating. Relax. I know how frustrating your situation is, but it's not dire.

You gave a lot of info in your first post. I have a few more questions, though.
1. How long have you had her? Did she eat before for you and just went "on strike," or is she new to your home?
2. Did anything change about her environment? New viv, new bedding, new room, new pet, major schedule change for the humans, etc?
3. How often are you trying to feed her?
4. Where is she usually fed? I noted the comment about "when the mouse is in the cage."
4. How much is she being handled?
5. What are the temps in her viv?
6. How do you prepare her mice?

Again, don't worry more than you can help. As long as she's active, moving well, drinking, and seems healthy she most likely IS healthy. She'll eat again. There's certainly no need for force-feeding at this point.

Don't

Thanks for the responses.

I've had her since mid last Sept. She ate just days after arriving. She has been a real good feeder. She has skipped a week or two in the past but that was when she was shedding and then she went back to feeding with no problem.

I did change out the bedding at the end of December. Other than that not much has changed. She is kept in my room where there isn't much going on. It stays pretty quiet. When i cleaned the cage I was careful to put everything back just how it was before.

I have been trying to feed her every 3 days or so. Is that to frequent?

She usually feeds right of a little ceramic tray I leave in her cage. I figured if its just permanently there when food is on dropped on it she wont wig out.

She gets out of the cage daily for at least 15 minutes unless its a day I'm trying to feed her. On feed days I leave her alone.

The herpstat keeps the cage at a constant 88 for the warm spot and drops 5 degrees at night. Her ambient cage temperature ranges from 74 to 76 degrees.

For mice prep I usually put the pinkie still in its bag into a cup of lukewarm water. I let it sit for an hour or so to be sure its totally thawed. Give it a little squeeze to make sure there is no frozen bits. I've washed them before and given them a good rinse. I also have done the chicken broth. She has been taking them both ways. So far it hasn't really mattered. I make sure they are relatively dry so they don't stick to the ceramic tray.

Thank you for the reassurance its not dire. That's my major concern. I'm not trying to power feed her or anything. As long as she is healthy that's all that matters. I'm most likely more stressed than she is haha.

It sounds like you're taking good care of her. She may have skipped a feeding due to the different bedding. It doesn't sound like much of change to us humans, but to your snake, the world just altered. For some of them, that's enough to go off feed for a while.

You've had her for a while and you've gotten to know one another. I doubt that handling has anything to do with her recent refusal. You said she'd skipped before when going into a shed. Is she due to shed now? I have one who simply won't eat when he's even beginning a shed cycle. He goes off feed before I can see a color change, but hey presto, in 2-3 days he's blue.

Feeding on the ceramic dish is probably fine. If your bedding is a particulate type there's a little risk that she might drag the mouse off the dish and ingest a bit of bedding, which can cause issues. You might consider feeding in a little plastic container or a box to avoid that.

Offering every 3 days isn't really necessary, though I understand your need to try and feed her. (I've been there, too!) You might wait 5 days before you offer again. And yes, you're most likely more stressed than she is. :-) Believe me, we understand what the worry is like.

Best of luck!

Thank you!

She shouldn't be shedding. Her last shed was the end of December. I'll wait five days to try again. I was concerned about the bedding when she first started to refuse pinkies. So I gave her a bath but with in five minutes she went to the bathroom.

Thanks again for the reassurance. I've had all sorts of pets but this is my first snake.

Happy to provide reassurance. Snakes are different, and as with other new pets, the worries are different, too. Thanks to the results you got post-bath, you know her digestive tract isn't blocked!

Your girl may actually be heading into a shed, if her last over a month ago. Individuals vary, but a shed every month or so is perfectly normal for a healthy juvenile. Just a thought. Don't fret more than you can help, and give us an update as needed.

Thanks again.

I tried feeding her last night but no luck. I left it in the cage over night and she still didn't eat it. I went to the pets store and picked out the smallest pinkies they had. She's eaten bigger ones so size shouldn't be an issue. Not sure what her deal is. I believe its five and a half week since she has eaten.

She is still way active. She was all over her cage this evening and was poking her head up at the screen. I pulled the top and put in my hand. She climb right out and was cruising around for the whole half hour I had her out. Super active so I can't figure out whats up.

Have you tried slitting the mouse or braining it. Sometimes the smell of blood is too hard to resist for them.

A pinky will thaw in about 5 minutes when placed in water as hot as you can get it out of the tap. That is what I use, and I don't use a bag. Pinkies that are out in lukewarm water for an hour or so have had more than enough time to get plenty of bacterial growth and also tend to get "mushy". Since I have a large number of snakes to feed, I will take meals out to thaw in groups so none have to sit out too long before being offered to the snake. Yes, some will still wait until I am gone and it's the middle of the night to eat, but it's their choice to eat that meal.

You might want to get a live pinky and offer that. Live prey will often jump start the reluctant feeder that has been doing well in the past.

I agree that you need to not try so hard and wait 5-7 days between offerings. Sometimes when a young snake is "pushed" too hard, they get totally turned off eating. An entirely new feeding container with a brand new type of meal might not trigger that aversion response.