Chris' garters

[chris-uk]

I left some fish in a dish in my boys' viv while I fed the same mental checkereds upstairs this afternoon. I came back to find that one of the boys (I suspect Vlad because Lipwig seems to have started a non-eating spell and Twoflower is in deep blue and he doesn't normally eat when he's blue) had left an exchange for the fish.



Thanks for the fish. Here's some you fed me earlier.

[guidofatherof5]

Classic garter move.

[chris-uk]

Her royal blackness shed today. The shed is rather large.



I know that sheds stretch, so I don't think Lacci is actually just under 120cm, but she's certainly a big girl.

At the same time as removing the shed I also found three jellies, but these are almost certainly from Adora (Lacci's radix tank mate).

[guidofatherof5]

Maybe not 120cm but yet a big girl.

[chris-uk]

Maybe not 120cm but yet a big girl.

Indeed. She's still got growing to do too. I got some rather pups in the last frozen food order because even the largest mouse pinks were swallowed in the strike, she pounds down a dozen or so smelt in a session too. She's never bothered with worms though.

[chris-uk]

Couple of things to update.

Lacci has just finished a fasting spell, which I think is because she was preparing to throw some jelly beans. She's lost weight over the last two months, and after her last shed at the beginning of July she hasn't eaten and has been more withdrawn. Last weekend I found a bunch of jellies, which I'm pretty sure were hers (rather than Adora's). Since then she's eaten twice, once on Wednesday when I had some food out to feed the tiddlers, and again today - when she pounded down a couple of rat pups, and maybe 20 or so smelt. She's back to normal now, coming out to my hand when I open the viv (at least for long enough to work out whether I have food...).

I had a shed today, it was the first shed I've actually seen for a long time and happened right in my hands. I separate my cyrtopsis from the two checkered girls she lives with for feeding, so she'd been in a RUB for about 30 minutes and eaten well. When I went to take her out she'd broken the skin loose on her head, as I had to transfer her back to the viv anyway I thought I'd just see if she'd slither out of her skin if I held her. Lo and behold, a minute later she was clean shed. She's been feeding really well now (feeding better than Binky, my albino checkered) for about 2 months, she's put on a good amount of weight so I'd be almost be happy that she'd be OK if she stopped eating for six months.

All the others are doing well, except for my male cyrtopsis. He's not taken any food since October now. His body tone seems OK, and he isn't particularly active so he's not burning up a lot of calories, he's obviously drinking else he'd be dead by now. He just doesn't want to eat. I tried force fedding him a couple of weeks ago, he spat the food out after I got it into his mouth, and I just just got musked for my efforts.
So, what's the longest anyone has had a 2 year-old snake go without eating and survive/thrive?

[guidofatherof5]

Glad to here most of the update is good. Hope that male will start feeding soon. Tried any live fish?

[chris-uk]

I've not tried live fish. He's eaten pinkies, smelt, salmon and trout before. So I've not really considered that what I'm offering isn't right. I could pick up a couple of fish next time I'm in an aquatic shop - the sort of size fish that would be suitable for him would be fair game for my golden Panchax if I put them in the aquarium though, so he'd have to eat that day or I'd have a fatter fish and a still hungry garter.
I'm considering putting him in with some of my males that do feed, to see if the stimulus of other snakes around him feeding turns him on. What's stopping me is that he is quite a lot smaller than Vlad, but Vlad is a wimp. Lipwig can be pushy, but he's in a fast at the moment, so it might be worth a try.

[guidofatherof5]

Flopping fish can trigger an eating response in the most stubborn of eater.

[chris-uk]

I might not need to go for the live fish. I put a smelt in his viv this afternoon and had a feel of Vimes before I left him alone, his body tone is getting bad - he just feels empty and floppy. So I told the wife that the next time I visit an aquatics shop I'll be buying half a dozen guppies (I'll need to buy half a dozen as buying a single shoaling fish would raise questions).

I went into the office a couple of hours later and the fish wasn't in the dish. I can't see it laying around the viv, and Mr Vimes is coiled up with just his head and a few loops visible so I can't see whether he's got a fish in him and I don't want to dig around and disturb him.
I've just checked my records, he last ate on the 15 October - that makes almost exactly 10 months since his last meal (12 weeks of that he was in brumation). In that time he's dropped from 46g to 40g.

I'm now hoping that this is a turnaround. I'll have a good look in the viv tomorrow and add a couple more smelt to the dish. But I'm more optimistic now than I have been with Vimes.