royal rapidly losing weight

[temerist]

we have a lovely male royal but we are seriously concernd by his weight. he is CB06 and was bought from a private seller, we were told he eats perfectly but we havent managed to get him to eat yet, he shows no interest in food at all. we are not the most experienced of snake owners and have only owned them over the past 12 months. he has been to the vets today with my husband but they say there is nothing medically wrong with him, but we dont feel satisfied as he has lost a lot of weight in a short space of time and we are worried we are going to loose him. if he doesnt start eating soon my husband is wanting to rehome him but this is something i really dont want to do.

date purchased - 11th April 2009
weight on date of purchase - 1128g
weight from yesterday - 994g

[Patmufc]

how long have you had him? he may not have settled in yet. Royals are infamous for being fussy eaters. Have you tried more than one food type or scenting or even braining?

[temerist]

Originally Posted by Patmufc

how long have you had him? he may not have settled in yet. Royals are infamous for being fussy eaters. Have you tried more than one food type or scenting or even braining?

we got him on the 11th april so not long at all which is why im concernd about this what i think is a huge weight loss, ive tried mice (various colours), gerbils and rats. ive tried braining and even warming them slightly, sorry im not sure what scenting is.

[Patmufc]

its ok scenting is when you scent the food item with something else more popular with the snake.
Like a hognose not eating could have a mouse scented with a frog as this is what they eat in the wild.
Not sure what ball python is though, maybe a certain type of gerbil, someone else i'm sure will have ideas.

[midori]

has he had a poo since you have had him?

[SSamm]

Try a PK, did the seller say it was fed on frozen? could be fed on live.

Also whats your housing like? if you say put it in a viv, and it used to be in a really useful in a rack, that would stress him out alot and wont feed.

Some even want the same hide when they go in a new home. say the previous owner had a exoterra, giving him one of them might make him feel more secure kinda thing.

[markhill]

Originally Posted by midori

has he had a poo since you have had him?

thats what I was going to ask

A good old dump can easily weigh what he's lost.

Its also the back end of royal breeding season and I have two males just started eating eating for the first time in about 5 months.

Give him settling time, just do water changes and offer food no more than once a week.

No handling till he's eating regularly, except to weigh him every few weeks to monitor his weight.

[matt1969]

Hi! I really wouldn't worry too much! This is fairly normal for royals, i bet almost every royal owner will tale you far more scarey stories of how long thiers has gone without food!.....Patience! I'm sure he will eat when he wants to!
Dont try anything too drastic yet, cos you will just stress him out!
Keep an eye on the weight and offering the food.
Try them nice and warm! They do like them quite warm.
Best of luck, and keep us posted!

[matt1969]

Its quite normal for adults to go for more than six months without eating, and some a lot more! Can be worrying though eh?
Dont!

[kerryrep22]

its lucky royals are so pretty to make up for the fun of non-feeding eh, us royal owners must be mad!