[Cazador]

Hey Stephan,

I've been reading through your thread, and I just had a male T.s. pickeringii go through the same thing. He ate very poorly for about 5 weeks, but fall was coming, and he was also courting a female. I kept offering food, and he eventually snapped out of it. I would have put him into brumation, but I brumated him out of cycle. He went into the fridge in about May and came out in about late August. I suspect you've already raised the temp to around 28-29C?

You may end up having to put yours down into brumation, but if you don't want to, you'll have to offer other food items. In another thread, I recently mentioned sprinkling water into the food/water dish to excite the snake. As I recall, you used to offer some sort of small fish. I forgot what kind. Try threading some thin fishing line through one of those fish, and give it some motion while you're sprinkling water into the dish. Motion really makes any food item more attractive.

I know you're not a fan of it and would probably opt for brumation over it, but force feeding can "reset" a snake's appetite. I don't exactly understand it, but it's as if they forget how good it is to eat, and once they get the taste in their mouths, they're good to go again. Strange, but it works and isn't as difficult as you might imagine.

If this isn't an option for you, and you still don't want to put the snake down, you might consider offering a live amphibian. It's a decision you'll have to weigh... the possibility of parasites vs. weight loss. It depends on how desperate you become, but they're really energy-rich and loaded with lipids.

Rick