good feeder to fussy eater :(

[punkyjen]

HIya everyone,

For the past few weeks my male amek Sephiroth has not been himself at all. He used to be a really good feeder and would eat as much as i gave him, but now iv tried t move him up to 1 small mouse a week he is not happy.

Iv treid 3 times in the past 3 weeks to get him to take a small mouse, have kept the scent on it, washed it off, and last night i left him in a tub with it all night, but its still in there.

He has seemed off since i had to take yuffi out (because i found out she is female) When i get him out of his viv, he is usually very active, but i got him and yuffi out last night (tought he might be lonely) he was very calm and curled up with her in my hoody pocket.

Do you think he is not eating because maybe he is lonely? if snakes even get lonely, im quite concerned as he just wont eat

[paddy]

to my knowledge snakes dont get lonely and are quite happy being kept alone, i would check the temperature and humidity is right first and try him again. this is a bit gross but if you split the skull open on the moouse so as the snake can smell the brain this can start him off eating again after smelling the scent, alternativly and again gross, you can split the stomach open for the same affect. Hope he eats for you soon there is no need to worry just yet as long as he is of a healthy weight and is still active .

regards
paddy

[punkyjen]

i had tried opening the stomach, he is very uniterested in eating, he never was a very active snake, he rarely comes out the hide, if ever. he seems quite dehidrated also, i change his water daily, and have tried to tempt him to drink.

I dont think it could be because of mating season, has he is only a 06 lol. they dont get randy so young do they?

[jonnydotcom]

3 weeks is nothing both my royal aint eaten since the end of november,
now i know royals do this but wow is it stressful.

[Paul]

Have you tried braining his food? or rubbing it against other foods such as chicks?

[punkyjen]

yeah iv tried opening the mouse up, he sniffs it then he leaves it, maybe he thinks its too big? Am gona get some fuzzies today for him, he must be so hungry

[PeterUK]

I have had corns mate and produce fertile young at the tender age of 8 months and without any cooling period. Snakes cannot read books written by experts and so do what they want, when they are capable of doing it. I wouldnt expect any male colubrid to be interested in food this time of year if a female is around.

[punkyjen]

the girls are above him in another viv, but maybe he can smell them?

I got him to eat 3 fuzzies, so at least thats something ay.

[PeterUK]

punkyjen said:

the girls are above him in another viv, but maybe he can smell them?

.

Errrr.... Yes.
If the females are in another room and the doors are open he would be able to smell them

[punkyjen]

Snow is going off her food now too lol,i know this one is female though, had her probed.

[fionak]

I know the experts say snakes don't get lonely, but I have my doubts on that.

On another forum last year, someone owned two Royals. They'd lived together quite happily but the advice from that forum was they shouldn't be kept together so he separated them. After he did that one of the Royals became aggressive. Everyone gave every excuse under the sun for the Royal's behaviour and ridiculed the idea that the snake might be missing his cage mate. The two snakes had lived together quite happily for some time with no problems and no aggression so I'm not too sure that they can't get lonely.

My rescue Royal when he was with the rescuers wasn't doing very well initially. Apparently he seemed to be, for want of a better way of putting it, thoroughly miserable. The rescuer decided to try him in with a few Royals and he perked up very quickly.

As for the size of the food item that does have a bearing on it. My Royal, Byron won't eat food he thinks is too big for him. He's sniff it, lick it then turn away from it. He eats weaner rats. I've been trying to get him to eat larger weaners for a while now and he won't look at them so what I do is give him as many small weaners as he wants. He's quite happy to eat two or three small weaners depending on their size. To be honest, if your snake is eating I wouldn't worry what size the mice were just have plenty defrosted and let him eat as many as he wants. He'll move on to bigger food items in his own time.

[punkyjen]

Thanks for all the info, ever since i took yuffie out his viv he has not even come out of his hide, im thinking of putting him in with the girls. doubt they will breed, dunno i might just get another male to go in with him, and i know most people say 'you cant do that, they will fight' but they wont, i know lots of people who keep two male corns together, and they never fight, unless there is a female around.