Jupiter
New member
Hello, its been a while since i've posted any updates, but me and Sir Blinky are doing great! I moved him into his new 55 gallon about 2 months ago, and everything has been 100% normal until about 2 weeks ago. It started with me noticing that Sir Blink has been SUPER active, almost always out and about, and never just chilling in one of his hides like he normally does. I thought maybe he had outgrown his hides (thats how little he was in them, i didnt think he was capable of using them anymore at all lol), so i switched out 2 of the old ones for 2 new, homemade ones, and kept one of the old ones that im sure he can still fit into. I noticed this hyper activity around March 10th. Along with the burst of activity is his newly found hobby of wedging himself in the small crease between the bottom of his mesh tank hood, and the inner plastic lip of the tank itself. its not a large gap at all, only his head and neck area can fit into it, once he tries to get the bulk of his body in, he falls down onto his aspen bedding, or one of his hides with a thud. The fall is probably about 12-15 inches, but its not the landing im worried about, its the scales on his neck and head. Where he has been rubbing that area of his body on the metal mesh screen, his scales have this flaky-ness about them. There has been no real signs of pain i guess, he doesnt react at all when i touch them, no blood or anything, just a bit of flakes, Is this and his sudden increase in activity Ok?
The finale question is the one im least concerned about, its that hes not eating. I read the sticky and saw that its pretty common for males to go off of food in the spring, and sure enough when i tried to feed him on the 14th of this month he was VERY hesitant to take the meal. Up until now (all 82 feeds, i keep track lol) he has been amazing. Always taking his food with excitement. This time he avoided the mouse, and only struck AT it, then when he finally latched on, he let go and went the other way. I touched the side of his neck with the mouse and this time when he latched on i wiggled it about and he reacted normally and constricted and ate. i checked his temps/hides and all was normal. Then 10 days later, on the 24th he was having NONE of it, he actively avoided the mouse and didnt even strike at it. i left it in his tank overnight and it was still there in the morning. This is normal, right? Last spring he was but a weeee little baby, no more than proabbly 60 grams or so. This spring he is up to well over 200g (probably closer to 300 now, i need to weigh him again) and around 32-36 inches long.
Sorry for the long post, just wanted to make sure this was all normal spring-time behavior. Ask away if you have any questions at all and ill respond as quickly as possible.
The finale question is the one im least concerned about, its that hes not eating. I read the sticky and saw that its pretty common for males to go off of food in the spring, and sure enough when i tried to feed him on the 14th of this month he was VERY hesitant to take the meal. Up until now (all 82 feeds, i keep track lol) he has been amazing. Always taking his food with excitement. This time he avoided the mouse, and only struck AT it, then when he finally latched on, he let go and went the other way. I touched the side of his neck with the mouse and this time when he latched on i wiggled it about and he reacted normally and constricted and ate. i checked his temps/hides and all was normal. Then 10 days later, on the 24th he was having NONE of it, he actively avoided the mouse and didnt even strike at it. i left it in his tank overnight and it was still there in the morning. This is normal, right? Last spring he was but a weeee little baby, no more than proabbly 60 grams or so. This spring he is up to well over 200g (probably closer to 300 now, i need to weigh him again) and around 32-36 inches long.
Sorry for the long post, just wanted to make sure this was all normal spring-time behavior. Ask away if you have any questions at all and ill respond as quickly as possible.
