Snake Hasn’t Eaten In 13 Months

[NJHerp]

Hey everyone,

I’m at a loss here as to what to do next. I have an approximately 8 year old Blood Python that I have owned for 6 years. When I got him he was a typical sausage of a snake like Bloods are at about 16 pounds in 2009. The previous owner told me he would eat a jumbo rat per week.

Whether that was true or not since the day I got him he has not been a great feeder. He will go off feed for 4, 5, 8 months at a time then start eating again bi-weekly for a bit, then go off again. Very frustrating. Has no feeding response whatsoever. I have to leave the rat in the enclosure and he’ll eat overnight or the next day.

This last stretch has been 13 months and this time he has lost dramatic weight. The last weigh in was 10 pounds. I recently went to the vet and he said that there’s definitely something wrong. By appearance everything looks fine so he wanted to take blood. He had a few failed attempts and didn’t want to stress the snake out any longer so he asked me to come back to give it a try again next week. He also suggested tube feeding a carnivore mix next time to give him some calories.

What baffles me is that there is no change in behavior whatsoever. Same level of activity in and out of the cage, very responsive, drinks water regularly. Anyone here have any insight on this?

Husbandry- 4’x2’x15” enclosure 85 hot 78 cool, 60-70% humidity, hide, newspaper substrate. Have tried dipping rat in chicken stock, trying different size rats, you name it!

Thanks