Once easy-to-feed BP on a feeding strike?

[LadyParvati]

OK, everyone, I now have to eat my words about my easy-to-feed BP! He's quit eating. Will you please share the benefit of your experience with me?

This BP is about 7-8 months old. I purchased him (?) in June (June 21); he had been fed only mice pinkies. I upgraded him to hoppers as of June 23. On June 28, he weighed 133 grams and was about 16" long. By October (with encouragement from posters here), I had upgraded him to rat pups (35 grams each), and he took the rats readily the first two times I offered them.

On Nov. 2, he shed. The shed is a little over 29" long. Nov. 3, he ate one rat pup and one hopper mouse (refused a second rat pup). On November 10, he weighed 305 grams.

However, since Nov. 3, he has refused to eat. :S Today, he weighs 287 gms.

I've watched for behavioral signals as an indication of hunger, such as hunting, hanging out over the water bowl (must be watching for some critter to come get a drink so he can drop on it, right?) and tried to offer F/T prey as soon as possible after noting these signs. Unfortunately, the result has only been that I have had to throw out quite a number of rats and mice.

I've tried both separately and together, and I've tried warming them together to mix their smells. He smells of them carefully but won't eat either.

I've tried _not_ taking him out to feed him (previously I had always followed the instructions I was given to take him out of his vivarium and put him in a feeding container for feeding, and he always ate immediately until three weeks ago).

I've tried using a feeding tongs (which I hadn't previously used, again without any problems).

I've tried leaving the prey in the vivarium with him for several hours.

Last night I tried again, reverting to all previous _successful_ feeding actions--i.e., take him out of the vivarium, put him in the feeding container, let him relax & start exploring, warm up the F/T prey, offer it without using the tongs. No success.

Several of you have suggested that a decrease in appetite is normal at this time of year (decreasing light hours and/or decreasing temperature leads to decrease in appetite). However, I've also been told that some snakes' appetites seem to _increase_ as the temp decreases . . . I'd be OK with the lack of appetite due to seasonal changes if it weren't for the fact that this is _not_ a full-grown BP, and he's losing weight.

I've been told that they eat less often as they get older. OK, but--a full month between meals seems excessive.

A couple of you guys have mentioned slitting the skull of the F/T prey (yech, but I'll do it if it is necessary). How do you do that? Do you use a knife or scalpel or ?? How long a slit? How much brain do I need to expose?

As it has been nearly a month now, I'm a little concerned and would feel better with some input from more experienced BP keepers. Thanks, everyone!