Adult Male Woma in Brissy won't eat

[Gavatron]

My adult male Woma has stopped eating here in Brisbane for the last 7-8 weeks. He was always very active, solidly built and looked hungry, had typical feeding arousal (flicking tail, bobbing head) but simply refuses everything. He sniffs all over the thawed adult rats but refuses to eat.
He went quiet then went into shed, had a small liquid poo then got all active again the last week or so.
Still won't eat but seems happy enough in handling etc.
My temps are 31 during day to 27 at night with underfloor heat cord plus Brisbane summer weather.
I've tried going from rats to quail but no good.
It's been 7 weeks now and I'm worried.
Also my Bredli is getting fat on his leftovers! LOL

Could he be simply on the hunt for a female and food is not a priority?

Ive changed his substrate from coconut husk to paper.
Ive tried different food temps
Different rat suppliers
Quail was refused
Inspected for mites
Gave him a couple of water baths before shed and sprayed with water to help him too
He shed fine a week ago
Handles fine, can touch his nose. He never gets aggressive
He was always a bit retarded at feeding time and often played with his food and nibbled the feet etc.
His cage is a converted tv unit with a Bredli in the house below
He drinks plenty and swimms
He's lost weight

 

[andynic07]

How much weight has it lost? I would not worry about not eating for that short amount of time at this stage especially if it's behaviour has not changed. I would not think that he is looking for a mate this time of year.

 

[Ramy]

I've got more experience with carpet pythons than womas, but still...

My most common reason for having a python reject in summer is when it's too hot. Can he escape the heat on a hot day? Is there a spot that stays under 25 degrees? Have you noticed him hanging around his water bowl during the day?

He shouldn't be looking for a mate at this time of year. It is possible he's not hungry, my pythons become less enthusiastic about food if they're well fed. (If he's losing weight, it's less likely he's not hungry.) In my mind, 2 months is not long enough to be concerned about not eating, though the runny poo might be a sign of digestive upset. If you're worried you could call a vet (there's a list of reptile vets on the wiki).

 

[Gavatron]

Thanks Ramy and Andy.
I don't know how much weight he's lost as i never weighed them. I'll start doing this.
Temps will be 30 all over the cages on sumemr days. Maybe this is the problem as you suggest. They have been swimming a bit.
The cage is inside the lounge room of my Queenslander so it does get hot some days.
If he doesn't eat in another couple of weeks I'll move him to a different enclosure and see if that triggers a feed.

 

[Ramy]

One thing people suggest is putting ice bricks in water bowls on hot days. If the forcast predicts a hot day, you can turn the heat off for the day. Maybe consider a styrofoam container with a hole in it as a hide, so he can try to avoid the heat a bit.

 

[critterguy]

Also try checking inside his mouth, our woma did the same thing about this time last year, she'd developed an infection in the top of her mouth, took about 2-3 months to get rid of with treatments, then still not eating because winter had set in/or remembered the pain of trying to when her mouth was infected.
So all up she didn't eat for about 5 months, only lost about 100grams though as we overfed her back them (every 7-10 days, now is 2-3weeks), so she was quite robust.

 

[Gavatron]

I'm feeling less worried now that I've read your ideas/comments. I'll give them a go.
He was very well fed before he stopped (every 7-10 days) and I noted he looked a bit fat/solid.
I forgot to mention, I even tried him with a chicken neck.
He has a large plastic dog bowl for water which he hides in on the unheated side and a large log on the warm side.
The enclosure below has the same sort of arrangement and the big Bredli likes it fine, and she normally curls up all the time.

What about enclosure size? His is about 800mm wide and is a corner TV unit. He is about 1600mm long.

 

[critterguy]

Mine is in a 4ft tank with a heat pad under some glass on one side, rack on wheels with 2 shelves on the other and newspaper and a water bowl in the middle. Back then she had the heatpad and water but had 2 hides and a forked stick to climb on (she likes climbing).

 

[andynic07]

I would ditch the chicken neck idea , feeding them to your snake occasionally will not hurt your snake but a whole animal is much better and provides everything that a snake needs. The only thing that the chicken necks do is provide a cheap alternative but will not be good if used too often. I generally feed my woma every 3-4 weeks depending on if he looks hungry and brumate him from the end of April to the middle of August meaning no food and he will not drop a lot of weight. It is a little unusual for a woma to not want food so be vigilante but I would not be too worried if he is acting normal and does not drop too much weight. Make sure you weight him and then maybe every month after to keep an eye on him. Of course if his behaviour changes or he drops noticeable amounts of weight then get him vet checked.

 

[Gavatron]

It sounds like I'm overfeeding. The shops all say every week, but of course they want you to buy more food. My Bredli is obviously way overfed so I'll have to change her to two week intervals then maybe out to 3. By then they'll be cooling off in winter so won't feed anyway.
What temps should I run down to in winter?
I want to keep regular handling through winter. Do you handle yours much in winter?

 

[Gavatron]

Well finally he's eaten. After 5 full months with no food at all, he took three mice last night.
In the end it was moving him to a glass style herp tank from inside the house to out on the deck that made the difference. It also coincided with the colder weather that started a week ago. I have a heat mat under a tile inside his tank and the average ambient temp is well below 30. He like to rest on the tile half the time.
When he took the food he almost launched himself out the door. He was massively agressive with multiple strikes at each mouse. His head went into that jerky robotic mode and his tail was flicking so hard I could hear it.
Massively relieved!