Martha won't eat....one week post shed

Hi, I have been reading and reading until my eyes are red about feeding problems in bp's. My old girl (I really don't know how old she is) won't eat post shed. When I purchased her on Sept 22, she was ready to eat. I fed her 3 live mice and she ate them well. Up until and including October 17th, she had eaten approx 13 live adult mice. Then I noticed a small mite problem in both my bp;s tanks. After cleaning and disinfecting and treating them, she went into a shed cycle. When feeding time came around again on Oct 23, my male gobbled his three mice up like no tomorrow, but she refused (I attributed this to her being is shed mode). She shed her skin along with eye caps intact on Oct 28th, along with two big handfuls of poo and a soaked dish towel in pee and urate chunks (she really unloaded I tell ya!!). I thought for sure she'd be hungry now cuz most snakes are ravenous after a big shed and dump like that!! I inspected the poo and pee for anything abnormal, and all was fine (all mouse hair and water). Well, I've been trying to offer her live mice, dead mice, frozen mice, warmed up mice, everything I could think of to get her to eat.....she refuses. My male is also refusing to eat since Oct 28th, but that's not too long ago. I'm not worried about him yet. It's the female........She didn't shed her tail with the shed on the 28th, and I went and picked at it a little to try and get it to come off. What happened next was GROSS!!!......a big chunk of her scale came off like dried up scab and exposed her bare flesh all bloody and raw. Now she has a very sore tail since then. I've been keeping it clean and for the first few days I put ointment on it, but now it's all dried up and looks normal. Except I can tell where the peice came off because I was the one who did it. It must have been just waiting to fall off because I didn't pull very hard on the skin that was shedding. Her tail looks so sore now and I just don't know if I should keep it moist to try and shed the skin, or wait until the next shed to see what happens. I had a bandaid on her tail for two days to keep it moist hoping that it would shed nicely, but it only annoyed the hell out of her. The only thing that I can attribute this fast that she is doing to is all of the activity that's been going on with her. First of all the mites (I washed her body every day for a week in plain water for 5 mins to ensure the mites wouldn't return....she hated this), I also took away her substrate of bark and moss and mulch and replaced it with paper towel and face cloths. I tried to force feed her last week because I was getting worried....that didn't work at all and I never even got the mouse in her mouth. (she is a big girl 2650g and I couldn't hold her down to open her mouth. Shes stronger than I am). I think I have just stressed the living crap out of her hey???? For the last week we have only taken her out of her cage once, and that was to put in a nicer, bigger hide for her to curl up in that actually fit her (the other ones left her tail hanging out and would not completely close down around her). Now she has this nice set up and hasn't come out of it for days. Should I just give this time? Quit offering her mice for a while? Keep offering her mice every few days? I also put some drops of that mouse maker on the mice for her. She showed a little interest then with her tongue, but after a minute, shyed away. She drank some water the other day.....I caught her drinking out of her dish, which I haven't seen her do yet at all. Her eye is still wrinkly, but I think she was born with this (There is another thread all about this eye thing and it's been chopped down to a birth defect). Anyways, I know balls can go a while without eating, it's just that her appetite when I purchased her and for a month after was so ferocious. It's just after all this mites and shedding business that she's changed. Its been almost a month since the mite thing so I can give her the bark substrate back agian. Maybe this will make a difference. She isn't acting lethargic or dehydrated at all.

Cher

Mites: You're going to need to do more than rinse her with water to get rid of mites. Follow the instructions in your other post on mite's and treat the cage with something like Provent-A-Mite.

Tail wound: If it's healed/healing OK, if not a trip to the vet may be in order. Just make sure it doesn't get infected, neosporion once a day may help. If it's an open wound keep her on paper towels or clean kraft paper, change the paper when slightly soiled. I don't think you want to get any Provent-A-Mite or Rid on the open wound.

Feeding: Don't worry about a week. Having mites and a tail wound would take anybodies appetite away. I've had BP's not feed for months and not lose much weight at all, they would start eating again like nothing happened. I tried to feed them every week or two anyway. Force feeding is the last thing you want to try, maybe in six months you would try force feeding. As long as your snake doesn't lose too much weight non-feeding shouldn't be too much of a problem.

Since this is a relativity new acquisition, I would make sure the temps are good, have several hides available so she can feel secure and leave her alone as much as possible. If the cage is in a high traffic area move it to a quiet area.

Only try to feed once a week. It sounds like you normally feed live so now is not the time to change. I would quietly remove any cage obstructions and place the mouse in the cage, back away, sit down and observe the cage from a distance. If she doesn't feed in say 15 minutes I'm guessing it's a no go and I'd remove the mouse. Usually if my BP's don't feed in the first 5 to 15 seconds they aren't going to, I do have one that feeds overnight (f/t).

Remember sometimes this time of year BP's stop feeding just to worry their owners. Maybe she was cooled enough in her mite/shedding/tail sore ordeal to cause her to go into a winter fast.

I had one of my best feeders, a male pastel, stop for 5 months. This snake comes out of his cage to get the rat off the tongs. When he's eating I think he would eat a fuzzy rock, he just stopped eating one day. For 5 months he showed no interest in food, I was just about ready to take him to the vet and then one day I opened his cage and wham. He's been eating again non-stop.

Give it time, make sure you husbandry is right.

Ok, thanks, you've cooled my heels for now. I did treat both snakes with mite treatment from the people I bought her from at Petland. I haven't seen hide not hair of a mite for about a month. I thought that I would give her the substrate back that she was on (coconut bark) and that would make her feel better. I was rinsing her daily after the mites mainly because I wanted to make sure none burrowed back on her. I only did it for about three days I think, maybe four. Ive seen pictures of people having their snakes on some sort of wood shavings. What is that? It looks a lot nicer to care for than the coconut bark or wood chips. Is that pine? I'll have a read and see what I can find out about it. Thanks again.

Well it shouldn't be Pine. Were not supposed to use Pine or Cedar, bad for Snakies. I know that your a lot more experienced at this then I am but my Vet taught me a neat trick to tell if they have mites. You probably already know but I like testing my knowledge and sharing. Anyways, he said the mites just love that split under their lower jaw and the anal vent. You guys should know what I'm talking about, the split for dislocating the jaw. Thats what I know. Check there and do what wcreptiles said because he really covered it. lol

I thank you for your advice about the mites. I did not know this about the chin split or anal spurs/opening. I have checked both and they are clean. Thanks for the tip!!! A friend of mine put her corn snake on pine shavings, it died two months later from the oils secreted from the wood. It's just that I've seen so many pictures of people using this yellow bedding that looks like sawdust shavings, only bigger more coarse. I wonder what it is. I will keep on looking.....Thanks again, and If I can help out in any way, just ask.

The substrate you're most likely asking about is aspen.

While it's good for many animals and lots of people use it for their balls, I just switched to cypress mulch and like it a lot better than the aspen I used for years. It helps keep humidity up, too.

Well, after much much coaxing and a lot of patience and a very sore arm muscle from dangling.....I finally got Martha to eat. she at three pre killed fresh mice. For some reason she was shying away from the live ones as though they were going to hurt her. All she's ever had is live mice. I think she's having a hard time with her eyesight on her right eye. I know snakes mostly use heat to sense their prey, but I think that she sees the movement and cannot quite sense that it's a live mouse, and it scares her thinking something is after her. I drowned the mice, and she at them all head first one after the other after about an hour of coaxing and wiggling with the tongs....etc. Now she is digesting because she is going back and forth from her warm hide to her cold hide about four time a day....thermoregulating....which is great! A little patience and all will work out in the end.