Sure I'll eat it....but

[guidofatherof5]

Early this morning I was down in the big snake room to turn off the light(late night). While there I decided to feed a few snakes that were giving me the eye.
While feeding my adult Red Sided garters I offered my albino male a worm. This was only after all the females were eating. I didn't time it well enough as one of the females grabbed the other end of his worm. He quickly turned the worm over to her without a fight and hardly a tug. I quickly offered the male another worm. He refused to eat and went off to the hide.
This isn't an unusual situation for this male. Any disturbances to his eating and he drops his food and refuses to eat until the next day. I don't dare touch him while he's eating or he'll drop the food and run.
Anyone else out there have any snakes like this.

[Didymus20X6]

My Little Dude does this too. Any disturbance in her eating, and she won't touch anything for the rest of the day.

[kibakiba]

Snakey is like that, if his food is a live, non-cut up worm... If it fights him he'll drop it and not eat.

[ConcinusMan]

This happened to Big Bertha the other day. I finally got her to take a piece of tilapia (she fasted the last 3 weeks of pregnancy and has eaten little since giving birth) but one of the plants shifted, it scared her, and she dropped it. Flat refused food for days again after that. Well, I'm starting to suspect that something else is wrong. The Baytril is definitely working and her respiratory infection is clearing. Big improvement. That's great.

However, if I can't get her to eat after giving birth.... It's just I've seen snakes go downhill fast if they don't start pounding the food after giving birth. Something else is wrong. 4 times now, I give her a room temp piece of Tilapia, she bites it, starts to work her jaw, and drops it. I can't get her to eat after taking it. It's like maybe something is hurting her? I can't see anything wrong with the inside of her mouth.

[BLUESIRTALIS]

Not to scare you richard but are you sure that she hasent retained any babies or slugs. I had a female one time that retained some slugs and she would do that. She would sniff and bite the food but she wouldn't eat. I hope everything turns out ok.

[ConcinusMan]

I don't think so. I have palpitated her several times. Seems she is completely empty. Also, I checked her weight. It's right where it was before she got gravid. Her body mass is good. She ate very well while gravid.(except for the normal fast at the end) She seems to be in pretty much the same shape she was before she got gravid and no excess weight. She grabs it, works her jaw back and forth as if she wants to swallow it, then spits it out.

I don't know man. I don't think she's going to be around much longer even if I clear up this respiratory infection (which is clearing up nicely). She's pretty old and it shows.

[guidofatherof5]

Hang in there Bertha.

[BLUESIRTALIS]

Well i hope she will pull through.

[ConcinusMan]

When I'm done with the Baytril, about a week later, I'm giving her a probiotic. If I can get that down her and get her eating, that will be key to her survival. It's a good thing she came out of this with good body mass. That buys me some time.

[kibakiba]

Mama will do that sometimes. Snap and Ember have also done that. It always happens when I watch them, or when the food is too big. If I cut it up into smaller pieces (smaller than their heads) and leave them alone for a couple minutes they get it down and eat it.