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Pastel Male Feeding Problems ADVICE NEEDED

P

Pythonbreeder99

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I have this pastel male who I was hoping to breed this year, he's 500g's and he got that size for a reason. I've had him for about 3 months now and I've honestly tried every trick I can think of. The previous owner said that he left the food on the hotspot over night and it was gone the next morning, but that has proven unsuccessful for me. I've tried frozen thawed mice of all sizes, f/t rats of all appropriate sizes, live adult mice, live small rats, scented frozen with live, scented with tuna water, frog scenting, gusto, teasing, weeks with hides and without, as well as different subs. Nothing is working, he doesn't seem the least bit interested in anything I put in front of him. He wont even look at anything on tongs or hemostats. I don't really want to force feed but if I absolutely have to I will. Just looking for any suggestions from people with more experience with SUPER picky eaters.
 
Pythonbreeder99 said:
He's in a 32qt sterilite, it's 91 on the hot spot and it is an animal plastic hide. Current sub is paper towels.
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What's the cool side temp? How often are you offering food? Are you handling him (other than for routine maintenence)?

What I do with problem feeders is completely black out the sides of their tubs (or cover it with a towel or something). I leave them alone for a week, then offer a live appropriate sized (usually on the small side) prey item at night. I just open the tub, toss the prey in, and leave for 20min or so. For a 500g snake, I would probably use a 3-4wk old rat.
 
Are you feeding in the place it lives? Or are you taking it out and putting it in another tub? Also, when are you feeding? What time of day is it? Are you holding the snake at any point on feeding day? In this 3 months has it shed? Poo'd ? was it normal? Have you checked the mouth for any signs of issues? When you feed do you have the lights on in the room?
A pic of theset-up would help alot.
Thanks.. Sorry so many q's..
 
FireStorm said:
What's the cool side temp? How often are you offering food? Are you handling him (other than for routine maintenence)?

What I do with problem feeders is completely black out the sides of their tubs (or cover it with a towel or something). I leave them alone for a week, then offer a live appropriate sized (usually on the small side) prey item at night. I just open the tub, toss the prey in, and leave for 20min or so. For a 500g snake, I would probably use a 3-4wk old rat.
Click to expand...

Rock Star Reptile said:
Are you feeding in the place it lives? Or are you taking it out and putting it in another tub? Also, when are you feeding? What time of day is it? Are you holding the snake at any point on feeding day? In this 3 months has it shed? Poo'd ? was it normal? Have you checked the mouth for any signs of issues? When you feed do you have the lights on in the room?
A pic of theset-up would help alot.
Thanks.. Sorry so many q's..
Click to expand...

Cool side is about 84-86, I offer food every Monday, I typically feed at night around 8PM and I don't normally handle unless people want to see him or I'm cleaning and VERY rarely on feeding day. I feed in the tubs they live in, also it has shed and deffecated both were normal and the mouth looked healthy. When I feed I only have on the end table lamp on the other side of the room. I'll try the separate tub and I'll post a picture of the tub setup in a minute.
 
Here is a pic of the setup, it's pretty basic. He's under the hide.
 

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86 is a little warm for the cool side. 80-82 might be better. What are you using to measure the temps? Temp guns work best but some may be off by quite a lot. Try blacking out the tub and leaving him alone for a week, no noise or touching him, then try a live hopper mouse. my problem feeders usually go for that or leave a rat fuzzy that hasn't opened it's eyes yet in overnight. I've never had one turn one of those down. If he's losing large amounts of weight sometimes assist feeding a very small meal ( don't want to hurt them) will kick start their feeding. Some just go off feed this time of year, especially if they smell girls. He should be fine, just watch that he doesn't lose a lot of weight.
 
Try not touching him for a week let him be. Then one night (9-10)after week see if you can get a african soft fur toss in wait 15 to 20 min. I have few that only eat at night. I have also had a new snake refuse every week for 4 months. Then one night I looked at his tub seen him moving around so I grabbed a asf tossed him in and wham hit asf hard. Now he eats every week at night.
 
If he's not looking thin, I'd leave him alone. Maybe he's just decided he doesn't feel like eating for a while. Happens.

Good luck with him. :)
 
Shadera said:
If he's not looking thin, I'd leave him alone. Maybe he's just decided he doesn't feel like eating for a while. Happens.

Good luck with him. :)
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I couldn't give any more karma but +1 to you Shadera.

This is what I'm saying though. No need to worry for awhile if he looks okay.

Good luck though, I hate that feeling of being at a standstill. :ack2:
 
radera5 said:
Good luck though, I hate that feeling of being at a standstill. :ack2:
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Me too, he's SO CLOSE to being breedable, he's producing plugs but I'm not going to let him with any girls until he starts feeding consistently. Thank you guys for all the advice, I'll try separating him from the females and not touching him for a week then throw a live in with him.
 
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