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8% weight loss too much?

C

Cam5

New member
I have been reading the "sticky's" and several books and spoken with 3 vets. So now I am going to ask the experts...you all.

Our 3 year old male corn ate his usual 2 hoppers in April...then not at all...then had one f/t fuzzy on June 9th.

He has been treated for coccidia and roundworm...however I think after all my reading the vet most likely saw the dead egg of the parasite from the feeder mouse and not very likely it was "Stretchy's" own parasitic load... We have been treating him since May....last dose was last week.

He has lost 8% of his body weight (about)... He was 353 grams and now he is 328grams.

He is shedding monthly, and drinking and moving about, although a bit slower than usual perhaps...

I know he is probably looking for a mate, and stressed from the meds shoved down his throat every week...but no matter the cause we are very worried. :cry:

I hate to stress him out more by force feeding him. I have tried braining the f/t mice and going way down in the f/t size (down to fuzzies and pinkies).

Is there a percentile loss we can expect to be "okay"?

Thank you so very much for your time....
 
I was told 25% by the owner of the local snake store, when I was trying to get my Eastern Hoggy to feed.

Right now none of my male snakes is eating, and all are active. Zee hasn't eaten since June 1st. It's worrying, but many of them do it.

Nanci
 
I would say you are right, he is being "difficult" because he was looking for a mate and because of the stress of being medicated.

They can sometimes take a long time to pick up weight after going without food for a while. My big adult male stopped eating at the beginning of winter (beginning of summer in USA) and he's only just starting to eat properly and gain weight now...
 
Nanci said:
I was told 25% by the owner of the local snake store, when I was trying to get my Eastern Hoggy to feed.

Right now none of my male snakes is eating, and all are active. Zee hasn't eaten since June 1st. It's worrying, but many of them do it.

Nanci
Click to expand...

Thank you so much. Wow! 25% he'd be a 4 foot noodle :rolleyes:
We all adore him, and he is our 7 year old son's pet...so there has been a lot of extra snuggles invested in his care :)

I just want to relax and enjoy him like we did before...but I guess part of the MOM job deswcription is to worry even when it has no effect on the outcome.

Godd luck to you and your boys :wavey:
 
Velvet said:
I would say you are right, he is being "difficult" because he was looking for a mate and because of the stress of being medicated.

They can sometimes take a long time to pick up weight after going without food for a while. My big adult male stopped eating at the beginning of winter (beginning of summer in USA) and he's only just starting to eat properly and gain weight now...
Click to expand...

If the boys have a mate do they still go off food? Just curious...(I do not want to be irresponsible by introducing a female...) Maybe I could get him a stuffed animal snake to snuggle with :)
 
if they have a mate they still go off food as they are obsessed with mating. my male corn has been off food for 4 months now, and i totally agree it is very worrying. hopefully we will all be able to get them eating again but unfortunatly that is not the case for everyone.

good luck,
hope the lil guy is ok,
lee
 
snakeboy24 said:
if they have a mate they still go off food as they are obsessed with mating. my male corn has been off food for 4 months now, and i totally agree it is very worrying. hopefully we will all be able to get them eating again but unfortunatly that is not the case for everyone.

good luck,
hope the lil guy is ok,
lee
Click to expand...

Oh dear...are some little guys too weak to start eating again?
Do you still offer food every week?
 
My first feeding strike experience was Maizey last year. He started in July or August, and went at least two months. I was freaking out and trying everything- and nothing worked- then he just started eating again and kept on eating just fine. The thing that got me so worried was everyone said it just happened in the spring, and this was pretty late in the year, but here we are, end of July, and ALL my males don't eat, and roam the vivs hoping for love...

I'd be very surprised if yours got weak. Jake started his hunger strike at 875 grams, he's at 825 now, and healthy as a horse. He refused two weeks ago, again, and last week I didn't offer- but I will tomorrow when he's had two weeks to think about it. It's scarier with a smaller snake, but he came to me out of brumation at 750ish, and porked right up to 875 in a couple months- they can really put weight back on fast, too.

Nanci
 
Are there any "treats" to entice a corn snake?
Off hand I cannot come up with anything that I would consider safe/healthy.

(For our fat tailed gecko when she was being finicky with her crix and mealworms we tossed in a few wax worms and that was all it took for her to regain her interest in eating everything else.)
 

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Is that him now??? He isn't starving!! That is a big healthy snake!

All you can do for treats is fresh-killed, live, tuna water scented, lizard scented, Ivory soap washed, rat pup, chicken broth scented, slit the back if you don't already...

Do you have any gecko shed laying around?

Seriously, I wouldn't be worrying at all if I were you.

Nanci
 
That photo was taken last month....it is an exteme closeup too. I will get a new one of him in he morning to post...but I guess he looks about the same to me.

Great ideas!!!!
I have tried the de-braining thing but none of the other stuff. Our geckos eat their sheds...our rankin beardie doesn't eat his but he just shed a week ago....what would you do with the sheds?

I was thinking I could pass on any potential critter to critter illnesses by rubbing the prey item an another reptile? Maybe I am too big of a worrier :shrugs:

maybe I should find a calendar of cute female corns...although that would probably make it worse :rolleyes:

Thank you so much for your encouragment.
Colleen Stretchy and the boys :wavey: :wavey: :wavey:
 
All you can do for treats is fresh-killed, live, tuna water scented, lizard scented, Ivory soap washed, rat pup, chicken broth scented, slit the back if you don't already...


Do you soak the f/t in the tuna, broth etc? For how long? Won't the residue from the soap make him ill?
 
You just dunk it in the broth or whatever. For Ivory soap, that's to get the mouse smell off. So you wash it with the soap, then rinse really well. For lizard scenting, you rub the live or thawed lizard on the mouse. To use a shed, you put a tiny piece of shed on the mouse's head.

Nanci
 
Updated Picture

I hophave been trying to post pictures but they are "too large" and I havev no idea how to shrink them? I can re0size them in the photobucket account but I don't know how to transfer a photobucket picture to the forum...I'll keep working at it :shrugs:

Would you be able to see a spine etc? Or not until it is far too late?

We went to the store and picked up somne tuna and broth, now we just need to warm up and soak :flames:
 
Cam5:
That's a beautiful snake. I love that morph. It's one of my fav's. I have a baby female coming in 2 weeks form Kathy Love and I can hardly wait!

T : )
 
tracy0416 said:
Cam5:
That's a beautiful snake. I love that morph. It's one of my fav's. I have a baby female coming in 2 weeks form Kathy Love and I can hardly wait!

T : )
Click to expand...

Thanks, we think he's pretty special too. Our son was 4 when he picked him out. I thought for sure he would have picked the "traditional" brightly colored corns. He saw this guy and said, "I love him. He is very special." And he was right :)
What is the name of his morph? We have heard everything from phantom, to stonewashed. It is so neat how his golden brown coloring is showing up as he has grown.

They sure are a lot of fun.
Take care. Have fun with your new little one :cheers:

Colleen
 
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