help with darwin carpet not eating

[timothy1993]

hi i have a female yearling darwin carpet im not sure on the exact age but i would say between a year and two years cannot be sure though sorry. she last fed on the 20th of november. at 7:15pm she took a bit of time to finally strike at the food, so i did i bit of teasing and she stuck and ate it. that was the last time she even attempted to eat. i have tried once a week since then to give her some food (fuzzie rats) but she shows no interest in it what so ever. she is the most gentle thing and doesnt strike at anything which is becoming an issue. on the 26th of november she showed signs of impending shed so i left her alone and on the 1st of december she completed her shed eye caps and all. i tried again on the 3rd of december to feed her but again no interest so the next day on the 4th i set up a make shift enclosure in a tub with heating and left her in there for 8 hours with food to see if she would eat if just left alone. she didnt eat again. on the 11th i tried feeding again to no avail. i just tried feeding her once more today but still no sign of interest ater about 30mins of trying. i wasnt really all that concerned up untill today when i noticed that her spinal line was becoming more pronounced and she appears to be loosing weight which i am led to believe is unusual after only a month of not eating. she is still a young and relatively small snake so i dont think she would have the bodily food reserves yet to not be eating for long periods of time. her viv is kept at 34 degrees in the hot spot with a temperature gradient going down to 27 degrees in her cold spot. she also has underfloor heating which keep the temp at 34 degrees at her floor warm spot. she has a nice branch running floor to ceiling for her to perch on. water is changed everyday cage is checked and spot cleaned when necessary with a monthly complete clean. the humidity is at 40%. night temps do not vary much if at all. i have never had any issue at all with my other snakes (one male darwin carpet and one jungle carpet) they eat like there is no tomorrow and tend to feed every 7 to 6 days depending on whether i know i will be too busy with work the next day. what i would like is some advice on what to do i have tried feeding her many different foods i tried fuzzie rats hopper rats and adult mice. i dont think live feeding would do any good she is just too placid i think a mouse or rat would do more damage to her than she would to it which is not something i would be willing to risk. is it time for a visit to the vet or is there more i could be doing. is there something im missing with her that im not missing with my other two snakes.
[doublepost=1513560648,1513560466][/doublepost]i should add that i have not been handling her at all during all of this i have been trying to keep her an un stressed as possible i only handled once when it was necessary when cleaning and was only for about 1 minute while moving her around.

 

[Bl69aze]

Live feeding should be the ABSOLUTE last option.

Your baby will be fine for multiple weeks up to a month or 2 or longer with no feed so don’t worry.

When you go to feed her, is she active?

You can try leaving food over night

Using the ziplock bag method to defrost and make it super stinky and yummy

Or try ripping the tip of the nose so a little bit of blood comes out

 

[timothy1993]

Live feeding should be the ABSOLUTE last option.

Your baby will be fine for multiple weeks up to a month or 2 or longer with no feed so don’t worry.

When you go to feed her, is she active?

You can try leaving food over night

Using the ziplock bag method to defrost and make it super stinky and yummy

Or try ripping the tip of the nose so a little bit of blood comes out

do you mean active as in moving around before i try feeding? yes usually i try to feed at night when they are active.
if you mean is she active when trying to feed her again yes she is actively trying to get away from the food being offered.
i tried leaving food in but no luck with it.
what is the ziplock method sorry i havent hear of it but i may as well give it a try.
thanks for the advice

 

[Flaviemys purvisi]

Only attempt to feed if the snake is actively looking for food after dusk. If mine are out and moving around and respond to my presence after sundown, I'll offer them food. If they're curled up and hiding away, I don't evben bother. Their behaviour after dark is very indicative of whether they want feeding or not.

 

[kittycat17]

I would be concerned if she has lost that much weight in a month... that is unusual even in young animals. I would be taking her for a vet check to see if there is an underlying issue


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[Flaviemys purvisi]

I would be concerned if she has lost that much weight in a month... that is unusual even in young animals. I would be taking her for a vet check to see if there is an underlying issue


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Could have parasites?

 

[kittycat17]

Or possibly cancer... though that is worst case scenario


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[Bl69aze]

do you mean active as in moving around before i try feeding? yes usually i try to feed at night when they are active.
if you mean is she active when trying to feed her again yes she is actively trying to get away from the food being offered.
i tried leaving food in but no luck with it.
what is the ziplock method sorry i havent hear of it but i may as well give it a try.
thanks for the advice

It’s just defrosting your food in s ziplock bag and it soaks in the condensates juices

 

[AmyDefty]

im having the exact same issue with my year old female darwin too! Just posted a question myself hahahah its so frustrating as none of my other snakes have ever been this persistent about not eating.