Ok, here's the deal.....you are all great people, and if you could give me some advice on what to do next here, I would really appreciate it.....again.....! As some of you may know, a month ago (Nov 20), I introduced Monty (male) to my huge female. Only for about an hour at a time and only 4 times. We let them crawl on each other while my husband and I watched them on the couch. They were only in the tank once together and never ever locked tails. They were both eating just fine before this. Since then, my little boy will not eat. I've had him to the vet and had a couple of posts on since because I've been worried about him having parasites, etc. well, he doesn't have parasites, internal or external. I have his cage temps and humids all correct. He has plenty of places to hide and feel safe, etc. etc. etc. Then, on Nov.29th he pooped and a sperm plug took a ride out on the poo. That's the very first one I seen and since then I haven't seen anymore come out of him and can't pop any out. He shed on the 17th of Dec, and needed help with it even though he had plenty of humidity., That stressed him out because I had to help him by bathing him in luke warm water. The skin was glued on and all the time in world wouldn't have let him get it off of himself, so It was now or never. He is a very underweight snake for his age as it is.
when I purchased him back in april-06 he weighed 500g and was 3.5 ft long, and 6 years old and half starved. Once I got him, He ate 3 large adult mice every week to ten days up until his last meal on Nov 20th. He didn't gain anything during those 8 months. WHAT UP WITH THAT????? He was only being fed two mice per MONTH before I got him. I triple his diet and he doesn't gain an ounce? That's why we suspected internal parasites. But none. He poops, he pees, he eats fine, until I introduce him to the female to make sure that they would try and eat each other. Now he's lost weight down from 504g two weeks ago, to 484g today (Dec. 20). He did have a shed and a big pee in the tub with about 4 big urate chunks which could account for the weight loss. I've spent about an hour to two hours each night for the past week dangling mice over this guys head (live and dead) and no luck. Two nights ago he struck 4 times at the live mouse I was dangling over him, but they were half assed strikes, and more like "leave me the hell alone bites " than anything. If he wanted that mouse, he had plenty of opportunity to eat it. So I tried to gently force feed him last night, and I got the freshly killed mouse half way down his throat, he was breathing fine, and each time I let him go to see if he'd finish it, he just regurged it. I only tried a few times before the mouse's nose started to bleed and it was getting pretty messy. The vet told me on Dec 13th when I had him in to check for internal parasites, that if he lost more than 50g without eating, that I should bring him back and we would have to "tube" him with some liquid food to get his digestive system going again. He thinks maybe its a combination of being put in with the female and wanting to mate (evident by the sperm plugs) and also it's the winter season, and the stress of me not leaving him alone. I phoned the previous owner, and she told me that they never had a problem with him eating. He ate every two weeks for 6 years straight (one small mouse). well, of course, he was in a dark basement room, no UTH, no humidity but a water bowl and no sunlight. He was half starved and was in the peak of his growing because they purchased him as a baby. of course he's gonna eat. Now he's almost 7 years old, and he's the size of a baby snake, but 3.75 ft long. Very skinny and long. Here's some pics I'll insert for you to see taken this morning., He looks like he weighs more than 484g doesn't he? but three scales can't be wrong....
TAKEN TODAY....
